CLIMBERS

Clematis 'Avalanche'

The latest additions to the garden have been a couple of climbers. Well, at least they are not swingers!

If you have a largely empty garden, barren of plant stock, then climbers are a good way of creating the illusion of tall plants while your shrubs grow to full height.

Clematis 'avalanche' is an evergreen climber with cascades of creamy white flowers.  It seems to have settled into its location nicely and is finding the 'invisible' wire supports.

Flower detail

Akebia Quinata

Akebia Quinata is a semi-evergreen climber with conical maroon-chocolate flowers which are said to smell of vanilla and appear in spring.  I may have to wait until my plant grows bigger before I get a glimpse of these.  Bizarrely, this unusual climber also has large sausage-shaped fruits.

Akebia Quinata - Flower Detail

Apple blossom

The apple tree has burst into blossom, so I'm hoping for a bigger harvest than the paltry seven apples that appeared last year!



 

LIFE ON THE EDGE

Concreting the Left Patio Edge

Right Patio Edge

Lonicera henryi - an evergreen honeysuckle finds a corner.

The recent good weather meant an exhaustive flurry of activity in the garden. The edge trenches around the patio have now been filled with 8 inches of concrete and the little box trees (buxus sempervirens) are now in place along the sides.  Terracotta coloured decorative wood chippings provide a bit of vibrant colour to the empty soil as well as a good indicator of the areas that have been planted:  particularly useful when planting bulbs.

Three of the four trellis panels have now had one of their faces framed which gives them a more finished look as well as eventually securing the trellis permanently.  Nailing the inner frames to the outer ones was quite tricky as the nail needs to go in at a sharp 30 degree angle.  Eventually I realised that it is a lot easier to use a slim drill bit to make deep pilot hole at the desired degree and then drive the nail in afterwards.  Useful to remember for tricky nailing jobs.

I'm also in the process of securing wires to the fence panels to provide support for sprawling climbers (see honeysuckle picture).  A quick lick of paint and voila!  They are almost invisible.