First thing in the garden this morning.

Wellâ?¦ for me on a Sunday itâ??s around 10.00am.

Weâ??re really pleased with this Albertine rose. Itâ??s really romping away. Itâ??s its second year. Iâ??m hoping to train it right along under the bay window on the wire by the end of the summer. I wrapped the pot in â??bubble-wrapâ? over the winter.





The acer is producing a lot of new growth, so now appears â??dappledâ? light and dark green.



The rose at the front of the drive provides the only colour, now the azaleas and rhodos have flowered.



Weâ??ve a very busy patio; all the pots are on pot movers, so my wife who is disabled can move them around easily and change the view from her chair from the lounge as she pleases.



We bought these Orleanders late last year, weâ??ve nine in pots. They survived the winter are doing well and will flower a bit later, we can just see the different colours of the flowers appearing. As well as curtains, we've "metalic" backed Roman blinds on all the windows at the back of the house as they are south facing.



This is our little olive tree, new last year, survived the winter in a â??plant cosyâ? and bubble-wrap round the pot. Itâ??s produced a lot of new growth and what looks like tiny green â??beadsâ? which I presume will be the flowers later.



Several â??patio rosesâ?







A new mimosa this year.


This is our â??dwarf â??(technical term for slow growing). conifer, planted 25 years ago. Itâ??s on the back of the rockery and must be nearly 20ft tall now. I really like its rich colour.
Isnâ??t it nice how it retains its â??tight shape?â?
Hmm..Must be the strong wires that I put round it several years ago to keep it that way.



I donâ??t do much with the rockery, over the years Iâ??ve bought a lot of plants that havenâ??t survived the winter. So Iâ??m letting those that did, take over. But Iâ??ve snaked â??a leaky hoseâ? through it now, so I wonâ??t have the excuse of not watering it occasionally.



These are â??some new kids on the block.â?





The â??almond groveâ? will again produce a good crop in its second year, again about seventy or eighty.



Iâ??m hoping these dwarf rhodos I planted last year will eventually completely surround the trunk of the almond tree without having to layer them. The scar on the lawn is from where I laid the supply to my â??pop upâ? sprinklers a couple of weeks ago. I bought a new mower last week and I cut the grass a bit short, but Iâ??ve adjusted it to cut higher next time. So itâ??ll disappear again.



This is a â??tortoishell rhodo.â? I negotiated half price for it last year as it had frost damage. It suffered again in the winter and only produced three blooms. But itâ??s producing some new growth, so Iâ??ll cover it with a â??plant cosyâ? this winter.



Down in the â??orchard in a bucketâ? the crop of five Braburn apples is doing nicely. Not bad for its first year.



If youâ??re going in for grasses have a â??big â??un.â? The new wisteria has almost disguised the 7ft tree stump Iâ??ve trained it â??up and down.â?
I donâ??t go in that â??bamboo woodâ? along the back fence, there could be tigers in there.

 

Fab pictures thanks for sharing,I love the roses they are beautiful can smell them from here:wink:,what a good idea putting the pots on wheels makes life so much easier would never thought of that,your garden is great.....

 

Nice tour Doghouse... thanks for the walkabout

 

Your garden's looking very well Doghouse. Enjoy it - and thanks for letting us enjoy it too.

 

Everything looks lovely. I enjoyed wandering around your garden. Thank you :luv:

Is it a terraced house you live in? If so do you have one of the long rectangular gardens? How big is it? I ask as my son has recently moved into one in Kingston. The garden hasn't been touched for many years. He has just finished putting up a fence and fixing the front. He has a blank canvas at the back and is looking for ideas. You have done so much with your garden it would be inspiring for him.

 

Thanks for that.

It's actually a semi.
In the fourth photo you can see a matching pair of semis across the road.
We live in a crescent, all the houses are the same. But we are on the "inside" of the crescent with a 90ft garden, as have the people who live in the house whose garden backs on to ours.
The houses were built in the early sixties and they were "expensive" for the time as they were so well built. The size of garden would now be considered a waste by house builders.

 

So much going on in your lovely garden doghouse, thanks for sharing. Would love to have one like that!!

cheers

 

Ah as there wasn't a space either side of your neighbours in the pic i thought it was a terrace :dh: :flag: My son's house is Victorian so has a very long garden. although narrow. I think I'll send him a link for your pics if you don't mind.

 

Thanks for all your kind words.

I may have been a little unkind to our rockery as it does have a succession of different plants which flower quite well.

Presently, there's these,



These,



A lot of this stuff.



And even more of this which will have purple "Christmas tree" shaped
flowers later.



The problem is trying to keep it free of weeds and stray grass, which is difficult as I have to clamber over the rocks to get at them and I've already fallen in the pool once this month. To even get to the rockery I have to negotiate the birds' water bowl and Pyrex oven dish bath (all "mod cons" here!) which my wife insists on situating on the only part of the pool step which leads to the rockery.

But from the path the other side of the pool the weeds are difficult to see, so I don't often bother.

 

Its all looking very good Dog House:thumb:

 

It does indeed .

 

No probs.

Each house has a drive up to a garage set back from the rear wall of the house. You can get three or four cars on each drive and one in the garage. But as many householders have two and sometimes more cars, most only put one on the drive and the other in the road with two wheels up on the kerb.
Still, with that and the humps, it slows any traffic down.

 

Lovely pictures Doghouse. I can't get over how neat and well cared for it all looks. :gnthb: