Hello again and welcome back to my blog 🙂 It is getting closer to Spring every day and I have been spending time out in my garden to get ready for Spring. I hope you enjoy today’s post to see what I have been getting up to!
The Window Boxes: digging out the second bed
The first job I completed over the last week included digging out the final border in The Window Boxes.
You may recall if you read one of my recent posts here that I had dug out the first window box border. These sit underneath the windows that overlook our garden from the back of the house:
I plan on growing verbena and cosmos in front of the windows, so that they float in front of the windows and can be viewed from the inside of the house. I will be sowing the cosmos from seed very soon 🙂
On either side of the window box borders, evergreen pink climbing jasmine will be planted and then trained to completely cover the back wall around each window.
Lavender ‘Hidcote’ will line each window box as year-round evergreen dwarf hedging.
Before, during and after
Lifting the paving slabs, removing the rubble, digging over the bed and planting the verbena really transformed this little area already. Here is a run through of the before, during and after of the second window box bed:
I really love the view of The Window Boxes from different points in the garden and I think they have massively improved that area of the garden:
On another note, we have two spare trees from an error with the Cherry trees that I planted in The Cherry Tree Avenue. In essence, when I ordered two extra ‘Amanogawa’ trees, I was sent the wrong variety. The correct trees were quickly sent to us at no additional cost and these spare trees were generously given to us for free, but they are far too big for our garden, so they will be gifted to others. One of the trees is destined to be planted soon in loving memory of GD, who I posted about here.
When I had finished digging out both window boxes, I placed a tree on either side of our back door:
I really love how this looks (using some imagination to envision these trees with leaves) and I will be on the look out for two suitable topiary trees to plant in The Window Boxes, so that they keep their neat lollypop shape. I think a pair of evergreen topiary trees like bay trees would work well here…
I want to repeat the same lollypop shape from The Window Boxes and again in other areas of the garden like The Wild Borders to make a fun and playful design feature throughout the gardens. This should also create some structure and movement as you move from garden to garden. This is important for The Window Boxes, because they are a type of transitional garden space, mostly just looked at in passing, or from other view points in the garden, so there needs to be a link between the spaces.
I also have some summer bulbs I will be planting soon, that will further mimic the same lollypop shape around the gardens. I’ll be posting about that soon.
The Wild Borders: pruning the roses and planting hedging
The next job on my to-do list was to prune the roses in The Wild Borders. I had been waiting until the cold spell of frost had passed, to prevent the roses potentially being impacted by frost damage if freshly pruned. The risk of frost has not yet completely passed, but none is forecast for the next week or so.
I pruned the standard roses by taking off a third of their growth and keeping a rounded lollypop shape. I then staked these temporarily. I will be staking them with wooden stakes in due course, like I did recently for the trees in The Cherry Tree Avenue.
Here is how the standard roses were looking before and after pruning:
You can see that I moved the final standard rose to create a symmetrical entrance to the steps leading up into The Wild Borders:
You’ll notice that I also planted the final two eleagnus hedging at the stepped entrance to The Wild Borders:
For the remaining roses, I realised that I must have already pruned the climbing roses at some point this Winter, so I just lightly pruned any stragglers/crossing branches etc. I then finished off by pruning the bush rose ‘Sweet Honey’.
I am thinking of moving this rose elsewhere so that it has more space (and to remove the risk of being spiked when walking by…) I haven’t yet decided on where I want to replant this rose. I do also have two spare ‘Sweet Honey’ roses, that I propagated from cuttings in 2023, so I have the option of making a grouping of roses or a hedge. I’m still undecided!
That’s all for today, there is much more to come as Spring is on the way. This year should see planting start to grow and mature nicely, and (thankfully) less DIY needed in the garden.
Until next time, happy gardening 🙂
The Charming Nook 
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