Spring Gardening and Design Projects
April has started with some glorious weather and we have been busy completing tree work, gardening and designing.
In the gardens we have been busy clearing old growth, pruning and weeding the new burst of growth that arrives every spring. Lots of pruning tasks can take place in spring including: Fuchsia, Ferns, Abutilon, Ornamental grasses, Camellias, Mop Head Hydrangeas, early flowering shrubs as well as dividing overcrowded perennials. A planting job started last Autumn, needed a good day of weeding to remove grass that had appeared where the old lawn used to be. A new layer of mulch will continue to greatly improve the soil and new plants are in the process of being ordered to bulk out the beds and create a beautiful patchwork of plants during the summer and more structure over winter. We can’t wait to see how the planting looks for it’s first summer.
In our garden the Tulipa Evita’s are nearly finished and making way for the later flowering varieties. The Cherry blossom has budded up and glows delightfully at night time. The wisteria is also full of bud and promise for later in spring. A pot display I put together for the front of the house in early winter I am pleased to see is thriving, each plant has put on growth and the saxifrage looks like it will flower later this spring, fingers crossed! It is such a beautiful frothy plant which I have never had before so am looking forward to it very much.
I cut bouquet of spring and just fading winter flowers from the garden a week ago which has lit up the kitchen table and was the perfect addition to create an easter atmosphere this past weekend.
Design Projects
One of the projects I will be shortly working on is a South Westerly facing terrace in a local village. The home has recently been renovated and the terrace is currently bare with only one dwarf Acer, a fig tree and a line of lavender. I will be working on this project this coming week and am very much looking forward to choosing cottage and wildlife friendly plants that are also tough and resilient to the sun. I am leaning towards silvery foliage, a muted palette of soft tones that will harmonise with the brick and allow you to see through the planting while relaxing and looking out at the beautiful countryside view.
The week just gone I have created a planting scheme for another village garden that is currently completely bare and shaded. The garden has gabions and steps up into the garden and so I have introduced a collection of gorgeous frothy plants that will create mounds of flowers and frothy blooms to cascade over and down the gabions, creating a welcoming and enchanting space. It is so lovely to spend time mapping out the forms and colours that will make this garden a sanctuary to the family that lives there.
If you would like your garden designed, do get in touch for us to visit your garden and book in your project.
Hope you have a lovely April,
Liza and the team at Mackintosh Martin Gardening
A spring bouquet - the joys of having flowers in the garden
Tulipa Evita