cottage garden

The cottage garden is a fave for THEM because it is higgeldy pigeldy and full of flowers.
Bella & I love it also because there is direct access to the paddock where the Dexters (cows) live, with  a constant supply of nice smelly manure to roll in.

Spring has sprung and apart from a profusion of flowers the buxus is all fluffy with new leaf. 

Last year John reduced the two buxus balls by the entrance to the cottage by half, they had got very big and blousey.
SHE had a nervous moment as he cut them  back to twigs but as always John was right and they are now full of leaf…..  a good tip for anyone with blousey buxus syndrome.

That's me in front

Most of the perennials have come from Frogmore Nursery and Lambley Nursery mail order. 

 Whilst a lot of self seeding goes on in this garden SHE also loves a parcel in the post especially one full of tiny little plants.

Perennials are good and tough and make their own arrangements for the spring and summer then get a thorough hair cut at the end of autumn. Sometimes here we leave everything as it is till well into the winter.

HIS espaliered apple on the side of the cottage, full of tiny tiny apples

and here is the fig on the side of HER garden shed.

The Apple Walk leading to the peony garden.

The tree peonies are very tough and easy to grow.

The old cow bales where they took out the stalls and popped in a fire place. We love going there with THEM for afternoon tea or gin and tonic's with a nice big fire going (B and I do NOT drink G and T)  but there's always a nice green spatter ware bowl full of water for us

That's me on the left

Pierre de Ronsard rose in full bud on the obelisks made by a local carpenter years ago

HIS espaliered cherries on the rock wall. HE lets the birds have these as HE has a tree in the caged orchard where they cannot get in