Lots of planting...

On Sunday morning Phil took me to the nearest Wyevale Garden Centre.We had a lovely time choosing some new plants. We had cleared out a dead conifer and a dying cotoneaster in the front garden and wanted a tree to replace it. After much deliberation we bought an Acer Brilliantissimum. It's described as " a distinctive small tree with glorious shrimp-pink young spring foliage that later changes to pale yellow green and then green." We bought some dryopteris Ferns to go nearby but that corner still looks a bit bare so "watch this space"! The photo below shows Phil trying to avoid having his photo taken....

This next photo shows him putting bonemeal into the hole he's just dug for the new tree!


I bought this cordyline at Morrisons and got the pot last Sunday - I love the colour and shape of these plants, and this one stands out well against the fence just opposite the back door.

I bought some more mint. I was going to plant it in an old welly boot but changed my mind. This pot may SAY biscuits but it actually CONTAINS mint now. I'm glad I didn't throw it away when I discovered it didn't keep biscuits from going soggy very well at all....

I used to have an indoor plant in this zinc Ikea pail but when we re-arranged the study it had to go. I punched drainage holes in the bottom, planted it with one of my favourite acid-green conifers and some geraniums, then put some gravel on top and I like the way it looks :)

I found the Skimmia I wanted for Ollie's grave. It looks really pretty. I didn't see any cat statues today but no matter; I can keep looking. I'll know when I see the right thing. The skimmia is a hermaphrodite as it has both male and female characteristics.

I bought a plastic trough for my garlic chive seeds, I'm so impressed with Talj and Ruth growing so much from seed I feel lazy in comparison So I'm having a go with the garlic chives. I also planted some indoors as it will be interesting to see which do the best. I was desperately wanting to buy tomato plants but resisted as I won't be around to look after them for so much of the summer. I also planted some garlic - another first :)

This last picture is of the rockery behind the pond; Phil has just planted some heathers and a saxofraga "Red Pixie". We had some rain on Sunday afternoon and you could almost hear the thirsty garden sucking it all up!

The ENTIRE time we were outside the yappy dog next door but one was yapping. It's very distressing; this Westie is confined to a small area of the garden and he runs a sort of circuit around it; with frequent stops for loud yapping at nothing sessions. It's like watching a wind-up toy :( He doesn't get taken for walks much, if ever. It's tricky as the woman who owns him got him after she was widowed so i don't want to upset her BUT he yaps from dawn to dusk. It's so loud and goes on so long you literally can't hear yourself think or speak. She makes no efforts to tell him to be quiet. I think if it carries on I'm going to have to go to see her but she's likely on past experience to tell me to go to hell. I don't want to involve the council but I think the dog is both a noise problem AND is not being properly taken care of......his behaviour is very odd.