Working on the Wildlife Ponds.

The hard work has been continuing in the garden since my last post, and I am now seriously ready to put my feet up for a while...or until the Autumn//Winter bedding plants and bulbs arrive anyway.  I tackled the wildlife ponds, some of which had become very overgrown, and ended up completely rearranging this area at the back of the garden.

I'm not sure the frogs were impressed, they were definitely giving me the evil eye at one point and this gang of three looked set to pounce!

I'm happy to say they've settled back in nicely after the changes and I counted eight in there this morning. Not bad for a pond made from a plant pot!  Anyway, onto the plants. Once I'd spent a couple of hours clearing the area, I reset the slates around the pond and added a Lythrum Salicaria to the back of the area. I'd not come across this plant before, but its purple spires are very pretty and it enjoys moist soil so should be right at home here.

I left the Campanula and Carex in place, as well as Hedgy the Hog, who is looking a little worse for wear now but has been in the garden for years and I can't bear to part with him. He looks rather good once the Campanula starts to grow over him and you just see his face peeking out.

I've been a huge Heuchera fan since I started adding them to my garden a couple of years ago, and there were a few that were not being shown off very well so I moved those to the pond area and added a new one too. This is Strawberry Swirl, and it has the prettiest dainty pink flowers and ruffled leaves.

Ginger Peach is nestled among Key Lime Pie, with some Ajuga Black Scallop at the back to break things up.

Heucherella Sweet Tea has been hidden under a mound of other plants for a while, but is starting to look better now I've moved it. Heuchera Paris next to it only has one leaf as I've ravaged it for cuttings, which are coming along nicely in the coldframe. I'm sure it will bounce back soon.

And Lime Marmalade is the last and such a gorgeous green. It really brightens up the area.

There will be splashes of colour with various bulbs and bedding plants going in soon, although I'm really happy with it just now.

The other two wildlife pond areas just needed a bit of tidying up. The Carex and Hardy Geranium had really taken over in the woodland ponds, so I dug up quite a lot of it which was no mean feat I can tell you. The roots for both might be fairly shallow, but they're thick and really take some digging, if I fell on my backside once I fell a dozen times, it's lucky I'm shielded from all the neighbours there! There's not much to see in these ponds at the moment other than frogs, as the pond plants such as Marsh Marigold and Bog Iris are really the stars of the show and have now finished flowering for the year. At least you can see the water though.

The front of border wildlife pond  (there is water in there somewhere!) has been quite spectacular with masses of  Pickerel Hyacinths during July which are just starting to die off now. I didn't have to do too much here except trim back the Lamium and dig up some Hardy Geranium that had spread too far. I also rearranged this whole border in front of the shed, hence the many bare spaces. They won't stay bare for long though!

I hope you enjoyed the little ponds update. I'm off for a lemongrass latte and a rest now :-) .

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Now you see it!

Things are changing so quickly in the garden just now, that it's hard to keep up with everything new that is blooming.

Alliums are definitely the stars of the show at the moment. From Purple Sensation, Nigrum, Cristophii, Globe Master, Chives and dainty Ostrowskianum, they are providing plenty of nectar for the bees and butterflies, and are quite the purple spectacle. I love the way you can just leave them to get on with it, and how they happily self seed and weave amongst the other plants.

Anemone Harmony Pearl seems to have been enjoying the sunny weather. This is a new addition to the garden, and I shall be nurturing it this year, ready to divide next year. It's such a beautiful colour, and I'd like little clumps of it dotted around.

Foxgloves are one of my favourite flowers, and they have self seeded everywhere this year. Just look at the delicious pale pink colour and speckles of this one. So pretty! Due to a mix up with one of my internet orders, I've  been informed that I'll be getting some free Illumination Pink Foxgloves sent to me soon. These are a perennial variety that flower for months. I'm really looking forward to comparing them with the traditional kind.

And result! One of the other Viktoria Luise poppies that I thought was also going to turn out red, has in fact bloomed the fantastic coral pink it was meant to. I can't tell you how happy that made me! The others are still waiting to bloom, but fingers crossed it was just one rogue red. Doesn't it go beautifully with the burnt orange leaves of xHeucherella Sweet Tea, an interesting cross between  Heuchera and a Tiarella.

Another Heuchera in bloom is Paris. The wispy pink flowers are so dainty, and the marbled leaves stay on the plant almost all year. My other Heucheras are only halfway to blooming at the moment.

Polemoniums have been blooming for three weeks now and are still looking good.

And the Astibles are busy brightening up the shady area. These are Breman and Europa.

Lamium Red Nancy and the gorgeous, richly vanilla scented Nemesia Sweet Lady are joining together to smother one of the wildlife pond borders. I could stand here all day sniffing in the perfume.

I have Nemesia Raspberries and Cream here too, and although the little flowers are beautiful, they have no scent. They do flower until Autumn though, so I guess that is the compromise. I'm hoping if I mulch these well after flowering, they may last over winter.

There are lots of lovely combinations in flower just now. The Verbascums are mingling nicely with the Hardy Geranium.

And in the shady area, Poppies, Foxgloves, Aquilegia and Hardy Geranium are all keeping company with the Marsh Marigold and Carex.

And the Aquilegias are still going strong. I am always sorry to see them finish blooming, so that late start to Spring has actually done me a favour this year as there are still many buds on the plants.

It looks like the sunny weather has finished for now (I really hope that week wasn't our summer!), but I am still spending nearly all my time in the garden, there is just so much to do at this time of year...and I LOVE IT!

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