Monday 18 May 2026 to Sunday 24 May 2026

This weekend was the weekend of all the planting, well, nearly all as I’ve got a small handful of plants arriving later. I did try to make myself a plan of a nice cohesive set of plants with a colour scheme etc which pretty much failed at the first engagement with the enemy – only three of the plants I wanted was in stock at Thompson & Morgan – and to be honest my aesthetic for most decorative things is “magpie” so I decided that I might as well just lean in to that.

So on Friday I managed to finish off prepping the garden, including cutting the grass – I’d’ve done some Thursday but I had to wait in for the parcel containing my hollyhocks which spent all afternoon at 7 stops away so I didn’t dare go out in case it arrived. Saturday morning we went to Bypass Nurseries to get more plants, and I took along my list but didn’t buy anything off it. Except lobelias, which are on the list every year. And then I planted all the things. All afternoon!

I normally try & put the photos in between relevant paragraphs but this time they’re just interspersed to break the text and photos up. Up top is a general view of the garden early this morning, the two sides of the V at the back make a sort of before & after as the right hand side looked a lot like the left before I ripped the geraniums out.

Second down is the two smaller planters, in which I’ve put blue lobelias and argyranthemum pink shades (left, pink daisy like flowers) and osteospermum senorita linda (right, pink daisy like flowers). The next photo is a pot in an old chimney stack next to them, which has more blue lobelias and another of the argyranthemum pink shades (and you won’t believe how many times I’ve started typing angrythemums).

The photo above is the bigger planter, with the rest of the blue lobelias, plus two white argyranthemums and one of the pink ones. Behind are the three tomato plants Nicola has kindly given me, and a tub of chives (which originally came from Nicola as well, and I need to tidy up the dead bits from last year). Plus a black pot with something in it that’s either a survivor from last year’s planting or a weed, I’ll find out when it does something other than grow leaves!

Above is the bed I pulled out last year, some of the plants I put in are thriving but the two towards the right aren’t so much – they did get dug up by a fox and replanted (twice) later in the summer so they might be a bit sulky. I’ve planted what was leftover of the purple lobelias & the alyssum on the left, plus the leftover argyranthemums and osteospermums interspersed between the perennials.

And this is the bed I pulled out this year and I’ve planted a mix of perennials & annuals, so it looks sparse now but will hopefully grow to fill it up with flowers. There are also a couple of spaces for things I haven’t yet got. So along the back from left to right are: a space for a loosestrife that won’t arrive for a few weeks, hollyhock Alcea rosea “Crème de Cassis”, Veronica logiflora “Blue Skywalker”, hollyhock Alcea rosea “Chater’s Yellow”, Erysimum “Bowles Mauve”, another Crème de Cassis hollyhock, Echincea purpurea “White Swan”, and another Chater’s Yellow hollyhock. Along the very front are alternating white/purple alyssum and purple lobelias, which will only last for this year. And in the middle-ish (there’s conceptually two rows but I’m not sure it separates well in practice) are: one of the pink argyranthemems (annual), a rudbeckia from Nicola (not sure if annual or perennial), Sedum “Lemon Ball”, a space for an Aster x frikartii “Mönch”, another rudbeckia, Campanula “Mrs Resholt”, a white argyranthemum (annual), an osteospermum (annual), a space for another aster, Aubrieta “Kitte Blue”, Gaillardia “Sunset Flash”, space for another aster, Calceolaria “Calynopsis red” (which something, probably my own cat, appears to’ve stood on already but it seems intact just a bit flatter than it was), another white argyranthemum, and just out of the picture another rudbeckia, and another pink argyranthemum.