It is with great sorrow I am writing to say that Joanne passed away on  Wednesday 28th December 2022. With Mike by her side she left us after a two year valiant fight against  Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Joanne was always busy creating. Be it dressmaking, knitting, jewellery making, upholstery, spinning, weaving or tending to her beautiful garden. She was an inspiration. Her battle with Lyme disease for nearly 20 years brought her many challenges but with it many great friends.  Despite her own health struggles she never stopped being an advocate for others on their di ..read more

Lots going on in the garden despite the rampant ground elder and bindweed. I put weed suppressant and bark chip in this little border it helps but as you can see doesn't stop either ground elder of bindweed. These three hebes were cuttings taken from Marjory Fish hebe.  The poppies were a welcome sight but when they dry a bit more I will take them out to make room for the dahlias which are very slow growing this year. This is a little corner near the back door which I tried to make a little more private now we have new neighbours who enjoy their garden The b ..read more

Just a few snaps of the garden during May. I am belated at posting a blog post but lots of gardening is being done mostly by Mike. I am slightly side tracked with my spinning and weaving projects. See my other blog https://orangecottagescrafts.blogspot.com/ So many weeds ground elder and bindweed predominantly, but the plant height detracts from the weeds and gives pleasure. The box is surviving the Box caterpillar using regular spraying of Topbuxus. I grew all the box plants from cuttings many years ago so I was devastated to see the damage from box caterpillar a couple of years ago ..read more

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND ALL THE VERY BEST FOR 2022 2021 didn't start very well for me. I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast cancer early in January, had a mastectomy early February and started Chemo therapy in April ending in June - Urgh! the chemo totally wiped me out. Mike did a wonderful job in the garden which I was unable to tend to for many months and he's done a wonderful job this Autumn tidying up for the Winter. So here are some photos to give winter cheer. Thankfully I was well enough to plant the Dahlias out and although we lost some of the large flowering ones in the l ..read more

A view up the garden from the bottom steps next to the greenhouse. Cottage rose on the left. White Francine Austin. Catmint is Six Hills Giant lots of cuttings taken from the first two plants I bought. This is just the start of flowering. Cottage rose with Cornelia in the next bed then Cecile Brunner. The bamboo canes are for the runner and climbing beans. Now a view down the garden and sorry about the hose pipe and weeds I wasn't up to setting the scene. A better view of Cornelia. One of my favourite roses Rosa Mundi. William Shakespeare has the most heavenly scent ..read more

Gertrude Jekyll Rose started flowering before most of my other roses and came out a very cerise pink. A lovely cistus which tends to be lower growing and was in the garden when we moved here 40 years ago, this is one of many cuttings. White rose Francine Austin with Jayne Austin peach just starting to flower and bright pink cerise cystus in the foreground. The red rose is a cutting from Nanny's rose. Francine Austin is magnificent this year. A later photo of Gertrude Jekyll now the flowers are much paler but then we had days of strong sun.  The perennial red poppy with ..read more

Lovely white Iris Immortality The Blue Iris I have grown for some years but have spread around the front garden and last year ordered three white Iris only Immortality flowered but hopefully the other two Ice Dancer will flower next year. The beauty of Iris is their early flowering and not being destroyed by slugs and snails.   ..read more

The front garden is such a delight with the Dahlias joining in with various white phlox, fuschia, Crocosmia and a few Agapanthus in pots to add to the kaleidoscope. Once again blogger has changed and I can no longer adjust sizes as I have in the past not to mention being able to make spaces as easily to add comments having spent ages so far today I have had enough maybe next time I will plan it better.  The hanging baskets are flourishing thanks to Mike's care. Much admired and even had someone cadging cuttings from the fuschia t ..read more

The front garden is being very much admired by the numerous walkers out on their daily walks during lockdown. The Cornus Kousa Chinensis by the gate has caused many questions so Mike  added a name card to the tree. I can't count the number of people I see bending over the wall to smell the roses. In the centre is Gertrude Jekyll which is such a lovely rose replacing one I lost during a drought Charles Rennie Mackintosh. On the right is Jayne Austin This was Charles Rennie Mackintosh a few years ago so Gertrude Jekyll has a lot to live up to. A close up of Jayne Austin ..read more

Glorious June in the vegetable rose garden. Delphiniums flowering nicely. All grown from seed and doing well over many years. Up close and personal. Joined by a clematis Vying for space with a rose the story of my garden. My love for Delphiniums started when I had an allotment in Merrow over 30 years ago. Next to my plot was Mr Hancock who grew prize Delphiniums on half a plot and Pinks on the other half. Delphinium spires of delight made me think of reaching to heaven as I toiled my heavy clay plot of vegetables. One year when a late frost wiped out many delphinium plants at ..read more