• About the garden

Corner House Herbs

~ news from a south midland garden

Corner House Herbs

Category Archives: Uncategorized

2014 improvements

13 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by marytheherb in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

IMG_3183

It is so long since I last wrote a blog post. Things have been changing all the time.

Last year we merged two beds into one for herbs, roses and wildflowers. We have two home-made obelisks as the focal points, both with roses and clematis plantings. This has provided some, much needed, height into the central part of the garden.

The new wildflower and herb bed

The new wildflower and herb bed

The East border improves every year. This spring it was delightful. It will need a good tidy up before next spring though.

East border Spring 2013

East border Spring 2013

The major change this year was to our back garden walkway and the patio. The retaining wall was coming apart in some places and I had never liked the straight line across behind the house. This was it about 5 years ago.

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

This year our excellent landscaper took away the brick patio and made a semi-circular feature behind the house using the old bricks. He then created a new patio area.

The redesigned patio and walkway

The redesigned patio and walkway

It wasn’t designed for a table tennis table, but it fits jolly well. We are very pleased with the whole thing, it makes the old back garden look larger and more inviting.

 

Roses, roses, roses

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by marytheherb in Flower garden, Gardening, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Roses

Unknown rose with wonderful scent possibly from the County Series

When I was young I really disliked showy flowers like roses, tulips, and peonies. But now I love them, especially roses. Unfortunately the list in this garden is not as extensive as I would like because I can’t think of new locations for them. Most of our roses are climbers or ramblers.  We have Cecile Brunner (climbing), Madame Gregoire Staechelin (known as Spanish Beauty), the strong rambler Frances E Lester which I have located in entirely the wrong place, Adelaide D’Orleans charming us over the rose arch, New Dawn which I pruned in spring and has masses of buds, and Wedding Day growing up the fence and into a cherry tree.
 

Frances E Lester

A real favourite English Rose is Harlow Carr. It performs so well all summer and the smell is divine. There is little Hampshire from the County Series, another star performer. I couldn’t resist the rose from my native county. Little White Pet was not happy in a slightly shady spot and I have moved it into full sun so hopefully it will do well this year. A kind friend who was clearing out her very fine garden gave us four roses last autumn. Two are called Cottage Rose and I have no idea what the others are, it will be interesting to see.

Harlow Carr

Perhaps not quite so beautiful, but excellent value as they flower most of the summer, are three little patio roses I grew from seed about 10 years ago. They are getting quite bushy now and will suffer severe cutting back from time to time.

Just by the front door is a wonderful yellow rose with a fantastic scent and glossy foliage of a disease free nature. Next to it is an Iceberg and it is such a pity they are so vulnerable to black spot. The final rose, a hybrid tea, also given to us, is High Sheriff. The flowers open out a beautiful burnished orangey/gold and age to a salmony pink.

February musings – 12 February 2012

12 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by marytheherb in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Maybe it is because I am retired and not leaping out of bed at an early hour that I am for the first time aware of February as a turning point. The increasing hours of daylight are making us wake earlier and the dawn chorus has started. Everything is beginning to feel hopeful again and, of course, I can smell the start of a new growing season. How exciting!

This is in spite of the recent snow and arctic conditions that I prefer to believe will not last much longer.  Certainly garden plants look rather stunned by the end of the incredibly mild winter weather. The Iris Reticulata is looking somewhat surprised and so even are the snowdrops. The frost has made the vegetable garden floppy. The field beans have keeled over, the leeks look sad and the parsley is just a sodden mass, but I know that once the weather warms up a little they will all bounce back again. A  lovely pink hellebore is flowering in the back garden. I ought to remove the old leaves and give it some air but I never do and it invariably performs wonderfully, flowering until well into June.

I always feed the birds but I have given them extra rations during this cold spell. From the lounge windows I can watch chaffinches, robins, blackbirds, various tits but mainly great tits, house sparrows, wood pigeons and wrens. One or two goldfinches, so pretty, have stopped for a quick snack on the potentilla. I saw a small thrush this morning but haven’t seen any before and I noticed a small flock of fieldfares in the trees. They are rather handsome birds.

Anyway, the new spirit of hopefulness has prompted me to compose my first garden centre shopping list this year. It looks rather expensive!

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

  • October 2014
  • January 2013
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • February 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011

Blogroll

  • Gardeners Tips
  • Louisa's Potting Shed
  • My Tiny Plot blog
  • Out of my shed
  • Redneckrosarian
  • The Galloping Gardener
  • Weeding the web

Herbs

  • Iden Croft Herbs
  • Jekka's Herb Farm blog
  • Jekka's Herbs
  • Judith Hann's herb garden
  • Juliette de Bairacli Levy
  • National Herb Centre
  • Norfolk Herbs
  • Sonning Common Herb Farm
  • The Herb Society

Categories

Autumn plants Churches and churchyards Flower arrangements Flower garden Fruit Fungi Gardening Garden soil Garden visits Greenhouse Herb gardening Herbs Pond Uncategorized Vegetable gardening Wildlife Winter garden

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Corner House Herbs
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Corner House Herbs
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...