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AN OPEN GARDENS PREVIEW

It's going to be a quick one this week.  I've been busy primping and preening ready for the village open gardens on Sunday and I've not left myself much time to write this post.  After weeks of trying to squeeze extra things into my allotted six, I'm now going to have to be brief.  Ironic, no? Numbers one to four are the Long Border.  I've written about it before, and how I based it on Gertrude Jekyll's design for her garden at Munstead Wood.  She trained as an artist before she turned to gardening and was au fait with the latest colour theories.  She designed these borders to start with white and blue.......... Snapdragon, Delphiniums, Rue and Aruncus moving from pale to deeper yellow... Coreopsis, Achillea and Monarda Then it's on to the reds and oranges... Lychnis, Nasturtiums, Lilies before returning to yellow and then blue. Agapanthus, Clematis, Anthemis My number five spot goes to these tomatoes.  I may have found the answer to our Six on Saturday comp
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AND JUST LIKE THAT THE ROSES HAVE BLOOMED

Each week I weed, and edge and feed and water in anticipation of the show to come.  I've been gardening for quite a few years and yet I remain completely stunned by how quickly the garden can change.  Almost overnight all the roses have flowered.






Left to right we have Rosa 'Iceberg', 'Munstead Wood' and 'Queen of Sweden'.


In this softer coloured border there is 'Felicite Parmentier', 'Winchester Cathedral' with 'A Shropshire Lad' climbing the pillar behind with Astrantia'Roma' below.







My second choice*  shows 'Little Bear' testing the new bench.  He's not the boss round here, oh no, I'm the one in charge.

*yes - I'm counting the above as one post and no - that definitely isn't cheating as I'm playing my wild card.


Third slot goes to the sky blue Delphiniums in the Long Border accompanied by some Aruncus dioicus with their fluffy white plumes like a giant Astilbe.


I gave the Potager a good going over last week end and planted out the courgettes and squash and some green beans.  The last of these have some very sickly looking leaves and I hope they perk up soon.





On a more triumphant note - I HAVE STRAWBERRIES!  Which is great news because
1. I like eating them
2. The squirrels have left them alone for the first time in years.  This may be connected to the little fellow resting on the bench above.


To finish, we have more floral loveliness with this favourite combination of mine.  Purple Hazel forms a moody backdrop to daylilies and Rosa 'Buff Beauty'...


and Rosa 'Roald Dahl'


One final thing, not quite related to Six on Saturday, but I was asked about the art exhibition I participated in a couple of weeks ago.  Here I am in front of some of my watercolours.  Gardens and flowers feature quite a lot.



That's all for this week.  Thanks as always to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.















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  1. Gill Heavens18 June 2022 at 07:59

    *sighs* Your garden is glorious, your cat is beautiful and you are wonderful artist. Really, some people can be very irritating! (said with love, obviously) x

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    1. Hortus Baileyana18 June 2022 at 18:00

      Thank you Gill. What a lovely thing(s) to say. I will pass on your compliments to the cat too.

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  2. Jane18 June 2022 at 08:03

    Very interesting to see your wonderful watercolours. I would love to see them more closely.
    The roses are glorious! It seems as though you have a very big garden, but it looks immaculate.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana18 June 2022 at 18:03

      Next week I'll pop some more photos on of the watercolours. The 'pressure' of opening the garden on 3rd July has meant the garden is looking tidier than normal ( and I could find you plenty of pictures of scruffy bits if required!)

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  3. Anonymous18 June 2022 at 09:40

    The roses are stunning. And what a beautiful garden. I love long views.

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  4. Rosie Amber18 June 2022 at 10:28

    The roses are spectacular and an artist too! My beans aren't looking so good this year either. However, I have some very strange ones that regrew in last year's pot and they look the best. I didn't know that beans might regrown. When I went to empty the pot the roots looked like Dahlias which I got very confused about, so I added more soil and left them alone. Now I have beans and self seed sunflowers all growing together.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana18 June 2022 at 18:04

      I've never had beans that regrow - how intriguing!

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  5. The Nostalgic Gardener18 June 2022 at 11:13

    Thanks so much for showing your watercolours, they look lovely and I agree with Jane, would love to see close-ups! Wonderful roses too of course, they add so much wow to this time of year. I would like to copy with combo of roses and astrantias, but alas here the slugs decimate astrantias, so I'll just enjoy the pics of yours. Finally: cat on bench, adorable!

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    1. Hortus Baileyana18 June 2022 at 18:06

      I find the astrantias slow to get going (although fine once a few years old) but I hadn't attributed their lack of progress to slugs. I will look out for them in future.

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  6. NotesfromtheUnderGardener18 June 2022 at 11:14

    Beautiful! Your garden is a triumph. My beans are very poorly looking this year too, so far. We’ve had a fairly chill wind and I think it’s making them miffy.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana18 June 2022 at 18:07

      The wind was getting at mine too. I've just re-sown a few as I have plenty of seed in case these ones die on me.

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  7. HeyJude18 June 2022 at 14:27

    Your roses are exquisite! I do not know how you have time to care for such a beautiful garden, grow fruit and veg AND paint watercolours! You are a very talented lady. Not to mention having a very nice cat...

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    1. Hortus Baileyana18 June 2022 at 18:12

      The garden is definitely getting all the attention at the moment and painting has taken a back seat until the open gardens is over. He is a lovely little cat and enjoys being in the garden as much as I do.

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  8. Stasher18 June 2022 at 14:33

    The apricot roses amongst which Buff Beauty work very nicely with the darker Hazel, the whole garden is quite stunning.

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  9. Jim18 June 2022 at 20:51

    When I planted a group of three Astrantia Roma in spring it felt quite ambitious, now I see I should have planted far more. It's a different plant entirely in a decent sized group. We had a first ever squirrel appear here yesterday so I hope our two cats quickly learn to go after it.
    Seeing your paintings explains why your garden is a series of designed views not a collection of plants, pretty much the opposite of mine. I'm in looking at the detail before I've taken time to appreciate the whole thing.

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    1. Hortus Baileyana18 June 2022 at 21:53

      There are actually five Astrania Roma in my border. They were slow to bulk up and knit together, but they got there eventually.

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  10. One Man and His Garden Trowel18 June 2022 at 22:20

    Gosh. I was going to comment on the wonderful roses. Then I saw the strawberry bounty... and then the water colours. Wow.

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  11. FRED19 June 2022 at 08:37

    Pretty watercolors, too bad we don't see them more close-up . The roses are gorgeous too of course and the set of delphiniums and astilbes is really successful

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  12. Anonymous21 June 2022 at 20:34

    Your garden is looking fantastic and those strawberries look so delicious!

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