After much indecision, and picking the brains of various kind and patient people in nurseries and garden centres across the UK, I have finally ordered both my roses and my trees. Pixie will be pleased to read that I have after all managed to source a silver birch which is not too big! Betula jacquemontii 'Snow Queen' has amazingly white bark and only grows to about 7 metres, apparently, which should fit nicely in our garden. A native variety would have been nice, but just not viable in the space available, so this is definitely better than nothing. Thanks to John Ridgewell (Independent Green Space Adviser) of Wattsville for putting me wise to the properties of Betula jacquemontii! In the end I ordered my trees (a quince and a rowan as well) from Lodge Farm Plants in Warwickshire, they do lots of native species and wildflowers, and really know their stuff – and they have no minimum orders and reasonable delivery costs, which made all the difference compared to the one I thought about in Devon. Hopefully my trees should be here by the end of the week!
I have also made a decision about roses, and have ordered three from David Austin Roses – again, great help from the ever-patient Ann Hilse. They should be here some time in Feb or March, which should just about give me time to drag Matthew down to the garden centre and choose a pair of pots for them. Crocus Rose, Munstead Wood, and also climbing Generous Gardener (for the arbour, when we get round to building it) should look good. And more importantly, smell good...
The lure of the plant catalogues proved too much for me again this week and I ordered some more from J Parkers – some ‘Snow in summer’ to blanket the bank, and some Euonymous alatus (a kind of spindle which produces strange corky twists in winter, and amazing autumn colour) to plant along the back between the arbour and the corner which will eventually have the pondlet in it. There were special readers’ offers in two gardening magazines this month, as a result of which I have ordered some ‘free’ (i.e. pay for postage) snowdrops ‘in the green’, and a couple of dozen British bluebells, and also two buddleia bushes which are a dwarf variety which bloom heavily (butterflies and bees!) but can be grown in 40cm pots. Blackwood Garden Centre has lots of BOGOF offers on large pots at the moment. At this rate there won’t be room to sit on the patio for all the pot plants!
I have calculated the amount of topsoil, John Innes No 2 and manure which I shall need for the raised beds, and have entered negotiations with the garden centre – including delivery, I shall see quite a lot of change out of £150, which as set up costs isn’t too horrendous. But I think that, once I have bought a border spade, a wheelbarrow and a hand hoe, I really ought to stop buying things, as the budget is pretty much all gone! I got stacks of plastic pots, planters and seed trays through Freecycle from a local firm who recycle plastics, so that has not cost me a penny.
Meanwhile, it has stopped freezing, and although the forecast is for rain this is preferable to trying to dig holes for the trees in frozen ground!
I really hope we get a decent summer this year, so that we can enjoy the garden now that we finally have a nice one...
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