June 8th 2002

Our clematis are giving a good show now, the ones that have flowered this year, can be seen on "Our Clematis page".
The weather here so far this month is not very good, not a lot of sun and a good deal of rain. There are quite a few greenfly, and blackfly about, also an unusual amount of frog hoppers (cuckoo spit). 

The wet weather has also brought out the slugs and snails. However the plants are growing well, Delphinium, Asphodeline lutea, Alliums, Digitalis, Campanula persicofolia "Alba", Astrantia major, Rosa "Remembrance" and "Pink ocean" are all in full flower.

         

Next weekend we will have to get the cake recipes out !! . We are expecting a coach full of visitors, on their way back from a day out in Weymouth, they are stopping to view our garden and have tea and cakes, hope the weather improves.

June 29th 2002

Well the weather did improve, a nice sunny afternoon, we still don't know how we managed to get 44 people sat at tables, on our back lawn. It went very well, with lots of compliments about the garden and the cakes.
Our main flower season is now under way, some of the canna are just about to flower, and the clematis are flowering well, some for the second time already, like Pink Flamingo and Markhams Pink. The yellow Brugmansia has at least 100, yes 100 buds on it, and one of the Agapanthus has about 30 buds, so the next few weeks should be very floriferous.
                   
Clematis "Madame Julia Correvon"            Agapanthus in bud.

There are only three weeks to go before we open our garden for the National Garden Scheme, we have not a clue, how many visitors to expect, will we beat the 162 on our first opening last year ?.
We are nearly ready for the opening, our plants for sale will have to be marked up with their  prices, we seem to have more plants than last year, including 60 cannas, and this year some Brugmansia, which we raised from cuttings from our own parent plants, the largest are about 1.25 mtrs tall.
We have just put up the first of our posters advertising our opening, and will have to visit the nearby garden centres to ask if they will find a place on their notice board for us.
Tomorrow we will be visiting another National Garden Scheme open garden, which is about a mile away from us in Hazel Drive, we will be looking closely at the garden, as they won first prize in the 2001 Ferndown in Bloom competition, for best front and back garden.
We have entered again this year, and the gardens will be judged in mid July.
So please excuse us if the next couple of updates are either short or late, we will probably be in the garden !!!!