Fingers Crossed, the Mitcheldean Garden 2021
All in an April Morning

This page is part of a series of garden blogs from 2021. Click here for the index.

And then it stopped raining... And after a while the sun came out and has been shining almost without a break for a week. We've had cool winds from the east which are a mixed blessing as they've kept down the rate of surface evaporation but they have brought some unusually sharp frosts which have held back the garden and caused some damage, we've  probably lost some normally hardy shrubs which were caught at the wrong moment. However, to look at the top garden you would think that the weather had been perfect. 

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If you don't like tulips, then you had better look away now. I may have prepared all the beds, but it was Yuehong who planted them all. This was one of the reasons we put up the wall, the pictures were taken in the early morning two weeks apart.  

We inherited the summer house, 9 years ago I repainted it and changed the roofing felt which was letting the rain in. Already much of the wood was tired and now when Yuehong had a long overdue tidy up, we even found a hole which had allowed a large rat to enter and make it home over the winter. I have blocked it and Yuehong applied some 'sticking plaster' paint but appearances can be deceptive. I also refreshed the bench woodwork which I had also replace way back, but having no doubt put them back in a different order one of them cracked the first time I sat on it and it's now in a non load bearing position. The wood on the table is too fiddly to replace, so we put a mat over it when it's in use.

I have to say that the far end of the garden is now looking quite respectable at long last. It's bluebell time and they run in a broad arc all the way from just above the summer house to the now completed deer fence which is our border with #35, where we anticipate having new neighbours in a month or two's time. Richard has certainly tamed the garden but keeping it that way, let alone making it a 'thing of beauty and a joy for ever' has become a drudge. As the estate agents say, it has great 'potential' but it's as much of a blank canvas as most of our own garden was 10 years ago. The canes in the bed indicate where I have planted two dozen or more peonies, they're just coming up, the rest are bluebells, wood anemones, forget-me-nots, primroses and sundry refugees which were surplus to requirements elsewhere lower down.

The vegetable patch tulips had less early Spring sun owing to the hawthorn hedge shadow but have now caught up, just as the hyacinths fade, they are a contrasting mix. The surprise 'winner' this year has been the white bush next to the summer house. We found out the hard way that it does not like being pruned and finally having left it alone for a couple of years it bloomed profusely, enough in fact for an image search to suggest it is some kind of amelanchier (Juneberry). This is probably bad news for the autumnal cone flower which lives behind it and will now get less light.

The lower magnolia soulangeana is maturing nicely, it was going great guns until we had a frost - about -4 C according to the local garden centre.- which turned all the open flowers brown. Two weeks later there are a very few young ones which would have been buds at the time. It's a fate suffered by our upper one too and a fair number of others in the area. Our #1 magnolia susan in comparison bides its time and is now in flower, the camera has not done it justice. We have a second magnolia susan which would rather not be next to the leylandii hedge and forsythia just above the patio. There are two smaller magnolia stellata which are (safely) established but need more time to grow a bit. Lidl has been giving magnolia away (£7.50 each) and altogether I believe we now have ten in all, I'm just glad I won't be around when they reach full size!

We have a dozen of these dwarf rhododendrons which tend to come cheaply at garden centres and online. We've had this line of them along the path above the patio for a few years. We inherited a (black) currant bush which lived in the border at the front next to #35. It produced very few flowers and even less fruit and since Yuehong wanted to join in the 'dahlia game' it had to go - she has two dozen from Lidl which were about £1 each... I don't expect too much in year one as the bed has never been given the manure treatment before.

Traditionally Yuehong has put hyacinths in these tubs on the patio but this year tried some special primroses in the hope they would come earlier as we were going to be trapped in Mitcheldean for the winter. Very pretty they look, but we have had a long wait as we have for the winter pansies in the hanging baskets.

These days, having totally failed to inspire our extended neighbours, we don't try very hard with the lower garden. However, this year we have had a fine display of tulips. The camellias have 'done the business' and there will be one or more rhododendrons in flower for most of the time from now to at least the middle of May and the special honeysuckle looks ready to go. Like the rest of the garden, they would all appreciate a spot of rain. 

Around the lower garden there are tubs of tulips of all shapes, sizes and colours, what they have in common is that they were offered at a very attractive price. Some came very late just before Christmas so they had a very comfortable winter in the garage which allowed them to catch up the others. These first two are on the patio.

As are these two.

As they are sheltered they are ahead of those in front of the house (the last one). Altogether there are 15 sets, some of them of two types. They are cheap and low maintenance, my only criticism is that the colours are far too subtle for my camera.

I can't resist ending with this picture taken with Yuehong's hand held electronic device. It is blessed with a very wide angle lens so this is not a picture I could take. It's a reminder that we have a rooftop view of the village.

What next? Lilacs, azaleas, rhododendrons certainly, maybe some border plants too depending on how long the tulips last. Old faithfuls like the lupins, roses and fuchsias are going to be late this year. One thing is certain and that is that 'water management' is going to again be a time consuming and energy sapping business.

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