As you can see from the drone photos taken on August 26, the garden was green and lush, even though it was just a few days after the hail storm.
Every week, Jamie, my helper, clipped the cotoneaster hedge to perfection, and for the most part, the boxwood parterre in the front recovered nicely from the winter damage.
Unfortunately, the drone photos do not capture the details of the newly planted perennial gardens along the pathways. Everything I planted took well to the full sun location, and this area is a magnet for pollinators. The plants bloomed earlier than expected and profusely all summer, probably because they came straight from the greenhouse. I’m sure next summer will be a more realistic showing.
The annual containers were a hit-and-miss…the front was an abysmal display, but the containers along the back of the house were actually quite beautiful! I was happy with the performance and combination of white geraniums, white annual phlox, white pansies, white columbines, and spider plants, especially considering this is the sunniest, hottest area of the garden. I also planted clematis, which are still blooming, in the two containers flanking the hose reel.
Every year, I say I will do better with the annuals; again, next year, I will strive to do better!!!!
The Rose Garden…
The roses were (and still are) beautiful…wouldn’t it be perfect if it was a continuous bloom season? And I wish all the roses bloomed at the same time. Sometimes, there is an abundance and other times, there are hardly any blooms. The good news is I didn’t lose many roses over last winter. I’m happy with the variety and the colour palette, but there is always room for a few more. I will be on the lookout for some specific varieties next spring.
It was a work, work, and more work summer, especially in the back garden; however, there were some lovely dinners in “Le Bar Glasserie” and several garden parties with friends and family. We did try out the Raspberry Sorbet Champagne Cocktail recipe from the post in June titled “Ode to Paris”. It was too sweet but refreshing.
It almost seems a shame to be cleaning out the perennial beds and containers, but I’m ready to move on to getting the garden ready to rejuvenate over winter so that we can start all over next year!
xox Judy❤️