2023 May to August

HIGHER MORWELL GARDEN DIARY 2023

30th January

These pages are a rolling diary of the changes and events in the garden for the year 2023 in words and pictures.

May to August

3 May, on the left is the prunus ‘Royal Burgundy’ that was attacked by deer days after it was planted in 2020. Our repair to the branch has held well and the flowers are a delight this year. Equally delightful on the right is the rescued rhododendron that has kept its colour a secret until this year, flowering here on 10 May. It is a colour we don’t have on any other rhodi.

2023 has seen plants flowering at unusual times compared to other years, the orange azalea was still showing a lot of colour on 17 May and the bigger rhododendrons really at their peak. The brown patches in the grass are not golf bunkers but soil we have used to fill depressions in the ground in places where there used to be a path and circular bed. This was also the start of a very long dry spell so the grass hasn’t grown to cover the bare earth.

We wondered about strange white mould growing on the floor of the gin palace. Taking up part of the floor on 17 May revealed a bad case of dry rot, and it took a lot of cutting and digging out to put it right. We discovered that the makers have used imperial sized decking planks for the floor, no-one seems to sell them now which made it all a bit more difficult. But the gin palace was back in service by the end of the month!

The laburnum has grown a lot since we moved here and when in full flower catches the late evening sun of which there has been plenty in May. On 1 June the council closed our road for two days to repair potholes, giving us the chance to clear the front Devon bank without too much fear of maniac drivers. Growth on top of the bank seriously impairs vision up the road when driving out of the gate so this should be an annual job.

As noted above in the front garden picture, unusual flowering times. Here on 3 June the cornus kousa is just about in full flower yet the big pink rhodi still has some of its flowers left. For the wedding in 2017 the rhodi had long finished and cornus kousa not started flowering.

A nicely prolonged warm spell gave us the impetus to make a shady refuge, I put down a concrete slab and covered it with sandstone slabs, placed between the field maple and the willow tree near the polytunnel. The hardest part of this job by far was clearing the weeds and their roots whilst trying not to dig out too many of the tree roots. But it has proved worthwhile and a very pleasant place to sit facing north for a change.

8 June, the clematis at the front of the new arbour is flowering in ever-deepening shades of purple, although its twin at the back looks to have suffered wind damage. Not the wildflower patch though, the ox-eye daisies are far more resilient in adversity and it is looking spectacular again. We’ve even found a poppy growing in there!

11 June, the workshop bed rather looks after itself most of the time, this year the ever- abundant rose has gained some ox-eye daisies for company. Foxgloves keep popping up too, just below them another rescue rose has just produced a blood- red flower but no fragrance.

Vegetable beds 1 to 4 are in use this year, 5 is having a rest with the aim being to dig out the earth and whatever else we may find, it regularly underperforms at the moment. Usual mix, bed 1 has the beans and peas, bed 2 the garlic and courgettes, bed 3 the onions and butternut, bed 4 just potatoes. All seen on 13 June.

18 June, the cucumbers are doing very well this year in the polytunnel, we’ve even had twins joined along their length, tasted twice as good as usual per slice of course. Outside our small but growing collection of clematis plants are showing mixed fortunes, and Crystal Fountain has put on a great display of flowers this year. Unfortunately soon after this picture on 21 June we had very strong winds and some clematis suffered broken stems. We’ve made a note of the names of all our clematis so that we can apply the right pruning at the right time come February!

Two views of the polytunnel beds, left is 11 June and right is 25 June, the growth put on by the cucumbers in particular in exactly two weeks is amazing.

The shady seat area has been planted and we’ve kept a record of what has been put where, for once! Left seen on 25 June, there are still a lot of bramble and convolvulus roots that will trouble us but we will do our best to discourage them. Right, after commenting on the lack of ladybirds this year, the following day our beans became host to a multitude, all the traditional British two- spot variety pleasingly.

The callistemon brought from Warwick has really shown well this year, recovered from a deer mauling a while back. The red brushes are so soft to stroke! This was 8 July. Also down in the north-west corner the lace-cap hydrangea is smothered in flowers on 17 July. This corner really needs some work, the cornus and rhododendron in the corner are spreading along with the inevitable brambles and convolvulus.

The grass bed has developed well this year and the promise we saw last year realised. Miscanthus malpartus has shown lovely red inflorescence contrasting with the yellow stipa gigantea, which this year is a little down on its 2022 performance.