A review of the dream garden in 2015.

So 2015 is nearly over, and it has been a truly lovely first full year in the Dream Garden. We’ve done so much have so much left to do, which is just what you want from a garden. Here’s how the plot has changed over the weeks:

So the garden looks its best, funnily enough, in June/July. In the early spring, it is too bare, which I have tried to rectify by planting a line of red-stemmed willow along the back of the middle border (more on this soon) and by planting more bulbs, particularly daffodils. And I plant to plant many violas and primulas there too.

There is also a lull in August when the early summer plants run out of steam. We have gone some way to rectifying this with lilies, but I’ve also bought a load of red-flowered dahlias for the central border.

Plant highlights this year, in no particular order:

Witch Hazel ‘Jelena‘. I’ve always wanted a Hamamelis, and being able to grow one in my dream garden has been a real treat. It is just coming back into flower now, with its beautiful firework petals. I love the way it looks and the way it smells.

fritillaria blooms

Snake’s-Head Fritillaries in the wild flower meadow. Another plant that I just cannot resist growing. I love it so much that even my non-horticultural family members know what it is.

loropetalum chinense var rubrum

Loropetalum chinense, a hot pink relative of the Witch Hazel and the impulse purchase that I’m most pleased with from this year. And believe me, there have been many impulse purchases.

ice cream tulips

‘Ice Cream’ tulips. Because they’re utterly ridiculous and make you smile.

The herbaceous border in spring.

allium border

And in late spring.

red standard roses

The standard roses, which, when they get going, really get going.

massive redcurrant harvest

Our redcurrant bushes, which have survived three moves and are more prolific than ever.

vienetta clematis flower

Clematis ‘Vienetta’, which I bought only half-knowing what it was but which has stunned me with the way it changes as it matures as a flower. One of the best clematis I’ve ever unwittingly grown.

asiatic lily red

Deep-red lilies. I bought these to perk up the late summer border, and I’m ever so glad I did. They are utterly stunning.

extravaganza lily

But they weren’t quite as good as these lilies, ‘Extravaganza’, which look gorgeous and are so strongly-scented that I could still catch their perfume at the first floor windows.

What have been your highlights this year? And have a think about your new year’s resolutions, too: we’ll suggest a few tomorrow.

 

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