Awful weather - typical Brits talk

phoebe1989seb

Still too much going on here to post properly, but as everyone else has posted some great pics I thought I ought to add a few of mine 😉

Unfortunately the camera on my phone is definitely a gonna so till I splash out on a new phone, these of our walled courtyard that opens onto the main garden are from last year 🙄

A glimpse from beneath the old apple tree into the courtyard, before we added a gate.....

phoebe1989seb

Apologies but I'm going to have to add them gradually as I'm now struggling with adding more than one or two at a time, lol!

Inside, looking out.....

phoebe1989seb

And another....the planter is a fibreglass copy of a rare Arts and Crafts movement Compton pottery jardiniere...filled with B&M lavender 😃

This whole space was a grim, partially decked area with not a plant in sight when we bought the cottage in Feb 2018. The courtyard was the first area of the gardens we tackled.

phoebe1989seb

Last one for now. The wood nymph wall sculpture came from a reclamation yard close to our old house on the Wiltshire Dorset border and reputedly used to belong to Toyah Willcox who had a home in the area at the time. The rambling rose is one of the very few flowering plants we inherited when we bought the cottage. We're gradually training it over the 2' thick wall into the courtyard 😃

pink_poppy

Stunning photos, phoebe. At first glance I thought the gate-less frame in the first pic was a mirror. I still see it actually, must be my eyes 👀 I’m very jealous of your Lutyens bench, I’m after one but the sites I’ve looked at are having supply issues. It’s not a problem anyway as we don’t have a seating area yet, that’s a work in progress.

I’m pleased you’re all having amazing weather 🙄 we are forecast to get up to the heady highs of 14 degrees today and tomorrow, with some heavy rain thrown in for good measure 😂

Farway

Lovely photos Phoebe, I have walled courtyard envy now

phoebe1989seb

Thanks both 😄

I love a Lutyens, pink_poppy...hope you can get one soon!

Farway, I have fig envy, lol, as ours (currently in a large pot) is pretty useless. At our last house we had a massive one on a south-facing wall that produced a ton of fruit. Think it'll be a while before we get to that stage here 🙄

I've been trying to find a pic that shows the entire courtyard, but every time I try loading one my browser crashes, so have just taken a rubbish one so you can get a proper idea of the space. DH built the raised veg beds from oak sleepers. They're quite small - and it's not like we don't have room for more veg in the main garden - but we wanted to keep all the veg close to the house 😉 

The flowers on the end wall are a clematis - think it's Empress Josephine, but I've lost the label! We don't have much going on in the way of veg this year - radishes in one bed, runner beans in another, there's a few potatoes in the third and the fourth has herbs....

wort

Weigela in flower now, I had a huge pyracantha next to it which I had to dig out as I couldn't keep on top of pruning it!! I dont remember it having a smell though🤔

Davesnave

Farway said:

Lovely photos Phoebe, I have walled courtyard envy now

Sorry, you're too late, I bagged that last year when I saw it!

Resigned never to have one now; not at this place anyway, but the herb garden has a kind of enclosed feel. It's going to be devoid of a bench too for a time. Never mind a Lutyens, we couldn't even buy a Bill Bloggs last week.

Must be feeling OK today, as I've made the earth move in an effort to get ready for squashes. Starting to prep for next autumn & winter on the basis that it might not just be garden furniture in short supply by then.

Edit: That's some 'Bristol Ruby' wort! Are you sure it hasn't gone up the M5 and become 'Birmingham Garnet'?

twopenny

Goldfinchs, what if you don't have tonsils 

So envious of these gardens.

I tried to post lunchtime but the whole thing got stuck in a mire of won't post/shalln't post from the site.

Too hot to garden again so took myself off to Greencombe for the afternoon. Cool sea breeze, shady trees came away so relaxed I could barely drive!

The azaleas etc have failed due to the heat but are showing signs of buds again. I saw dwarf ones too. A small Eucalyptus that was facinating and smelled delicious, some wonderful roses and all sorts of goodies. Came away with ideas that you will never see on a gardening programme or garden centre. And some wonderful colour combinations.

Exhausted just dealing with catchup from 5mts of winter lockdown but if I have the energy and wherewithall to understand my new camera I'll post photos.