GPE #9 : IDV's Fruity Goings On

My favourite fuchsia: Blacky

 

I N E X P L I C A B L E   D E V I C E' S

Divided Loyalties

 I didn't spend as much time in - or any money on, I've just realised - my garden this year, mainly because it was either occupied by The Parents or was far too hot!  So, this year's garden photos aren't really any different to last years - although there are one or two exceptions, of course.  In fact, I felt much more excited about my allotment, even though it's more work (despite never looking much like any work has been done on it at all!).  So, because I couldn't decide between them, just like with Mr Tonking's Garden Photos Event tour, mine is also divided into two: my allotment, and some snaps from the Hexenhäusli Device garden. 

 

 First, the allotment through the seasons:

 

April

 

After a bit of a tidy up and some digging

Apple blossom from later in the month

May

On top of the compost bin is a tray of sweetcorn seedlings that will go in the patch to the right

Plum tree on the left, horrid pear tree at centre back, and raspberry canes almost blotting out the loganberry festooned shed

Victoria plums amongst the foxgloves and giant viper's bugloss, with a gladioli on the right

June

The young Bramley apple tree surrounded by foxgloves, giant viper's bugloss, and globe thistles (amongst other things)

Bramley apple tree in the foreground, with raspberry canes on the left, the big plum tree in the centre, and an apple tree on the right

Loganberry harvest on 22nd June

July

Sweetcorn and sunflowers

The fruit cage at the back was full of pointless, sour currants and gooseberries (and some quite nice raspberries), but fortunately, the netting is full of gaping holes so the birds got in and ate them all (except the raspberries - I ate those).  Yay!

September

The horrid pears (top left) weren't horrid in the end - they were big, quite juicy, and had a delicate flavour (unlike last year's inedible, scabby, dry, wizened little things).  And, as always, far too many apples!

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Now on to the gardens at Hexenhäusli Device:

 

January: Soon to be frozen flowers

February: Mostly bulbs

March: A glimpse of Beaky

April

Sweet scented daffs, snake's head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris), and wild violets brightened the rather sparse April garden (more can be seen here)

May

Ah, that's better.  Here comes the green: Persicaria runcinata 'Purple Fantasy' (AKA knotweed), peonies (which didn't flower this year), arum lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica), bear's britches (Acanthus spinosus), and ornamental rhubarb (Rheum palmatum)

Red, white, and blue!  My Little Red Bush (Azalea), The Mother's giant white tulips in the back border, and bluebells.  More from May can be found here)

June

I've included this photo and the next because they afford a glimpse of the rest of the garden, which is rather too twee and old fashioned for my liking (kept, as it is, by The Parents)

My magnolia didn't flower last year - I'd repotted it and I think it sulked for a while - but this year it put forth loads of new, big leaves (above right), and there are plenty of young flower buds now for next Spring!

Those thuggish ferns are now gone - I dug them up last week and moved one onto the bank behind the fence, and the others to the side of the house.  There are some smaller, less invasive ferns amongst the hostas and the like, so I'm hoping they will be evident next year.

My rescued Hippeastrum's first flower spike (there was a second at the end of July)

Beautiful irises, an elegant arum lily, and prickly bear's britches.  If you didn't click the "rescued Hippeastrum" link above, there's more here - including a Drag Queen looky-likey!

July

This hollyhock (seed from Delargo Seeds Inc.) languished under the trellis last year, but exploded this year!  As you can see, hollyhocks can be accessorised with pretty much anything: sieves, coffee cups & watering cans, and a G&T!

Not-quite-chocolate foxglove (Digitalis parviflora), Fuchsia 'Blacky', Fatsia japonica 'Spiderweb', and the now flowering (and even more prickly) bear's britches

Oof!  After all that, I'm exhausted and in need of refreshment!

Oh.  Hang on.  There's more...

August

Roses.  Clearly.  These are The Mother's, but I've included them because I like the way the flowers fade as they age (plus, I deadhead them and pick off all the caterpillars!)

Now, on to the bit of this year's garden that I'm most pleased with:

The Hanging Gardens of Hexenhäusli Device (AKA my Green Gate)

This is from July.  Last year, this reclaimed gate served only as a staging area for the thuggish Cobaea scandens to advance onto the garage roof.  But this year, I introduced spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum 'Variegatum') and fuchsias, mainly as I had nowhere else to put them...

August

And a September close-up

 

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 My Terrifying Tapeworm Triffid is...

 ... just the bottom (rather aptly) of a Cobaea scandens fruit.

 

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 Now on to the photos of gardens past (don't worry - we're nearly at the end).  You've already seen my back passage (which was not a patch on Jon's), the various gardens of the various Castles Device, and Margaret 2.0, but barely anything from my time with SP.  So, I've managed to dredge up some photos of our garden from 2009 - complete with the Head Gardener!

Our paysho leading out to the garden.

Under the shade of that red/purple leaved flowering cherry (possibly Prunus cerasifera 'Nigra' - a cherry-plum), is a "small" avocado tree I grew from a pit, and a weeping fig (Ficus benjamina) out for the summer.  Near the end of the garden on the right is a small hibiscus tree in a little island in the lawn.

The paysho steps & border complete with many potted plants, including heuchera, fuchsia, crocosmia,and agapanthus.  And the terrace I made at the end of the garden playing host to a Madagascan dragon tree (Dracaena reflexa var. angustifolia AKA D. marginata) with some sort of philodendron climbing up it, and an aspidistra - all houseplants spending the summer outside.

The Head Gardener was enough to drive one (well, both of us, actually) to drink!

 

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 And that's just about it.  Just like last year, there'll be one final Garden Photos Event round-up post in a couple of days time, so We'll see you there!

I found this photo of sunbeams through hose mist under our Lilac tree and really wanted to include it, but as there was nowhere else suitable, here at the end will have to do.