The Charming Nook

Hello and welcome back to my blog 🙂

Before I show you today’s post, I wanted to share how pretty the daffodils look that are currently sitting in pots near our front door in The Welcome Patch:

Considering that I potted these daffodils up very late (in early January 2025!) I am delighted to see that they have actually bloomed this year 🙂 It goes to show you that sometimes just taking a chance on planting even if you’ve missed the official planting or sowing ‘deadline’ can be worth it. What has probably helped me though, is some of the milder weather we have been having recently!

Today’s post looks at some of the planting I have added to The Fruit Garden over the last week. Enjoy!

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Table of contents

1. Table of contents
2. Oriental lilies
3. Crocosmia
4. Final photos after planting

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Oriental lilies

I recently put up a post where I showed you that I had potted up oriental lilies:

You can read my post about the oriental lilies here: Potting up oriental lilies, agapanthus and star jasmine

I decided to move these up to The Fruit Garden and to plant them in the bed where I had the plum tree planted. I dug up the plum tree and put this temporarily in a pot for now.

You may recall that I bought the fruit trees as bare roots in Winter 2023/24 and planted them out in The Fruit Garden in September 2024. It was only after I planted the plum tree that I realised that all of the growth seen was actually coming from the root stock. I chopped off that growth, but unfortunately, the scion grafted onto the plum tree root stock died some time ago and the root stock remained living.

I don’t yet know if I will keep the plum tree root stock and graft a new scion on to it, but I decided that the bed where it was planted would be better used for growing some bright flowers to attract and benefit bees and other insects.

You can read my post that provides an overview of the fruit trees in The Fruit Garden here: Looking back at garden inspiration and the start of planting in The Fruit Garden

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After digging up the plum tree and weeding the bed, I planted each pot of oriental lilies out in the bed. The added bonus of planting the lilies next to this South-facing wall is that the wall will provide additional warmth and protection for the lilies. The warmth from the wall in the evenings will also help to release the fragrance of the lilies in the evening when they bloom.

The back wall pictured in the photo is also our neighbour’s garage wall and I also want to ensure that access for any maintenance for them is easy in the future. On reflection, this deciduous planting as opposed to the tree will mean that access in the Winter months will be easy.

I also added the oriental lily ‘Stargazer’ that I have had for a few years living in a large pot. Last year, that lily seemed to struggle in the pot and although it bloomed, it was attacked by lily beetle.

Due to the above, I was therefore very keen to get this lily in the ground, so that it should be healthier and should need less watering.

As mentioned in a previous post, one other reason why I am growing the oriental lilies in The Fruit Garden, (which comprises of a walk-in fruit cage), is to protect any cats visiting the garden. Lilies are highly toxic to cats and I don’t want to take any risks.

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Crocosmia

You may recall that I dug up all of the crocosmia from The Wild Borders in the last few months. This grew in a huge drift in the right-side bed and it was loved by the bees:

I have so much of it, that I put some of the bulbs onto the compost heap, have given a good chunk of it away, put some more aside to give away and then I decided I still wanted to keep some in the garden, because the bees loved the flowers last year.

I divided up the crocosmia by separating the clumps and I then planted it intermingled with the oriental lilies.

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You may notice that up in The Fruit Garden, I am experimenting with a vibrant colour scheme and exotic planting. This is a real contrast to the other areas of my garden and I’m looking forward to trying out new planting combinations and ideas!

I have been inspired from my visits to RHS Rosemoor, which I have visited a number of times over the years. They have a ‘Hot Garden’ there and I love all the bright, intense colours, which make such a fantastic impact and a sight for the eyes and senses. Here are some photographs back from a visit in August 2023:

In the RHS garden, they are obviously planting in large drifts and blocks of each planting, and the garden is huge in comparison to The Fruit Garden. I won’t be able to replicate what they have created pictured here, on such a large scale in my own The Fruit Garden, but I am going to take inspiration from those same design principles and apply them in a smaller space.

For those that might be wondering why I am bothering with planting ornamental flowers with the fruits that I will be growing: well it will provide some beauty and interest, but it will also be beneficial for bees and pollinating insects. I suspect that the netting I have will be too small to allow butterflies through, but bees and other pollinating insects will be able to get through. I have a wide range of other beneficial planting in other areas of the garden, so butterflies will still have a wide access to other beneficial flowers and plants.

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Final photos after planting

After planting out both the oriental lilies and the crocosmia, the new bed was looking like this:

Although it doesn’t look like much yet, I think this little bed is really going to pack a punch and be a welcome addition to The Fruit Garden 🙂 I’m so looking forward to seeing the oriental lilies planted in a large grouping there, too.

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I hope you enjoyed reading the post today. I will be adding to the planting in The Fruit Garden in the coming weeks and making some structural changes; stay tuned for those updates 🙂

I will be back on Wednesday next week as usual with another post!

Until then, happy gardening and happy Spring 2025! 🙂