Day 127 - So much going on

One day later, according to the dates on my folders, I had made considerable progress with my landscaping. I had taken delivery of the trees, mostly bare-root, and I was under pressure to get them in the ground as it was getting late for planting. 12th March.

I had forgotten to mention that part of the plan was not only to create tall screens throughout the scheme, but I also wanted to leave a channel of lower plants in a straight axis down the middle, so there would be views down the entire length of the area as you crossed from side to side on the wandering path. I intended to use large drifts of Echinaceas to achieve this, in various colours, as almost the only floral interest in the whole scheme. In order for this to work, each end of the plan required a focal point, and to this end I chose trees with spectacular bark effects. A clump of three Snakebark Maples can be seen on the left, planted to achieve this.

By now, I had also removed the stumps of the old Leylandii hedge to the left, which had once separated the two plots of land, and I had started digging out the new beds which would give shape to the paths -

Stan is having a look, wondering if it will ever end, before going off to lie on some nice warm compost.

But let's not get carried away with landscaping. I also had the rest of the garden to keep on top of, and we find that a further three days down the line I was enjoying the product of some earlier work - the bulbs in the orchard -

Whatever angle you viewed them from, it was nice and simple, but beautiful -

and a closer view wasn't bad either -

This only got better three weeks later as more of them started to open, and by 4th April it looked more like this -

We mustn't let ourselves get too distracted by this, though, as there was still a lot of work to be done on the landscaping project, and I kept plugging away at it. Even now, I get tense wondering how I managed to combine it all with the sowing of the vegetable garden and the maintenance of all the other borders, as well as supervising building works and attending the interminable meetings I was required to be present at. Anyway, progress was made, despite all this -

Here it can be seen that even though I hadn't dug out all the proposed beds yet, because I knew where they would be after marking out the edges, I was able to plant all the trees and bamboos as they arrived, in individual planting holes for the time being, pending more time to dig out the turf in between. I had deliberately bought quite large bamboos from a wholesale supplier and they made quite an instant statement. They also cost thousands of pounds. And look at that lovely pile of fresh wood-chip mulch I had made to finish off the surface of the new beds. Top right. see it?

Looking down from the top, many of the bamboos can be seen, as can the trees, now all in place, and beautifully staked, If I may say so. I'd forgotten how good I was at this -

By 13th April, we had Fritillaries in the orchard, so I have photographic evidence that I was still keeping an eye on it all -

16th April and some more of the bamboo beds had been dug out -

The whole thing was starting to shape up, the meandering path can be seen more clearly now on the left. The three trees at the top were matched by three trees at the far end, and there would be a strand of lower planting leading down the middle between one clump and the other.

And from the far end, it was pleasing to see just how full it all looked already -

But for tomorrow, I have to drag myself away from this, and show what else I was doing at the same time, and I must say, I surprise myself by finding that it wasn't any straightforward basic maintenance, but another new innovation for the garden.