Day 118 - Me and the boy, improving the world

A week later and I had more photographs of the orchard, the new regime being something I was really pleased with -

But there was plenty of other progress being made too. Small improvements, like a little bed which had once held a few dull car-park shrubs in a carpet of lesser bindweed, which had now been simplified by the planting of a single tree, Cornus controversa 'Variegata', the Wedding Cake Tree, with its attractive tiered structure. I was racking my brains to think up an underplanting for it at home one night, when my partner came up with the suggestion which I eventually adopted. A simple carpet of the purple-leaved and -flowered Viola riviniana 'Purpurea', which under the near-white variegation of the tree would look spectacular -

As indeed it would when the plants had grown and seeded themselves to fill the space.

New plants were flowering all over the place, such as Dodecatheons -

Weigela middendorffiana -

And the cardoons were looking good doing their foliage thing on the quieter peripheries of the ground -

Also planted now was the secluded area behind the library, where I was training some nice pieces against the wall, like the Callicarpa at the far end of the next photograph. Also there, right next to the step up to the back door I had a patch of Chatham Island Forget-me-nots, Myosotidium hortensia, which were thriving in the shelter against my expectations in this sandy soil. Sadly you can't see them here -

And I hope you also remember the overgrown Wisteria that I had my eye on earlier. I had intentions for that, and by this time, the 6th May, the work done was displaying its benefits -

In fact, all the climbers in the courtyard were looking much improved -

Once again, little Stan found himself in the picture. He used to sit in this old farmyard by the door to the library, patiently waiting for me while I was in the office doing paperwork or drinking tea or attending meetings, as he wasn't allowed in the building. He greeted many a visitor with a wagging tail, an enthusiastic bark, and occasionally muddy paws up their legs, a habit I was never able to train him out of. He was my constant companion at work. He was like a talisman against all the stresses of working with other people. We could escape into the garden together and communicate on an equal level. They were good days. Just me and the boy, improving the world, against its better judgement.