The shade garden in summer

It’s a great path when you don’t trip over the cat.

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time trying to coax Artur onto the large rock in the shade garden, rather than leave him to lie on the path.  He is so frail now that I fear an inadvertent trip will have both of us fetched off.

He isn’t madly biddable, but even he gets sick of the wheelbarrow bearing down on him.

I am very pleased with my mediterranean take on a shrubbery. I thought I might give you a picture story today.

I’ve pruned all the shrubs on the right hand side of the path. but left some of the honesty plants on the left.

So there is more to do. But actually I like it scruffy. Structured but scruffy.

I have hemerocallis coming along but this is predominantly a green garden. Until the iris foetodissima fruit and then I get a blast of red berries.

But just beyond the potting shed to the right you can see the terrace bank which has a lot more colour.  Anything for an explore along the gravel paths. Me? I’m heading into the potting shed for a spot of tidying.

But before I do; here is a reminder of the shade garden before I started boasting. A little delve into history if you will.

 

I love to keep the small box ball as a reference point in the garden.  And try and limit the size of the shrubs around it.  Which means quite a bit of pruning in spring.  But it’s a pleasure. And it’s in the shade.

And now for somewhere even more shady now that I have put the greenhouse shading over the panels of the polycarbonate roof.

Well as far as I can reach. I’ll have to let the virginia creeper do its job for the rest.

For some mad reason I decided I needed to sort out all the pots and trays that are almost redundant unti the next seed sowing season.

Quite pleased with that.  And then when I turn the other way and face the burgeoning potting shed crop of cuttings I can see that it has been a productive time in the shed in the shade garden this year.

Enough boasting. It’s time to get back to earth with a bang. Some of my lilies have been munched by beatles and laid eggs on the leaves. Brown little pellets of slime not unlike lentils. But more elongated and very very sticky.  And of course the flowers are ruined. Sigh.  Nature never lets you boast for long.