House, Lawn and Drive
There is plenty of interest around the house for much of the year. The house itself hosts a number of climbers, the most spectacular of which is Rosa 'Ethel' which is festooned with masses of clusters of single pink flowers early to mid July and is well worth putting up with its triffid like growth (up to 3 metres - 10 feet - a year). Other climbing plants include the white-flowered Hydrangea petiolaris, the pink-flowered and pink and white variegated Actinidia pilosula and a not very floriferous wisteria. More by serendipity than design, the permant plantings around the house including the lawn and terrace are pink and white. Bucking that trend though is a reliable blue-flowered Californian lilac (Ceanothus burkwoodii). Next to it is an increasingly large Chusan palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) which I didn't expect to survive but is currently blocking most of the light from the kitchen window.
The Terrace is gravelled and over the years I've planted a number of things that have found the conditions to their liking. This is especially true of Dierama species and cultivars. From five original plants the place is now covered with dozens of flowering seedlings giving a tremendous display in late June and July which the image on the right really doesn't do justice to. Other herbaceous plants include the late flowering Agapanthus 'Purple Cloud', the golden Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola') and free seeding dwarf purple-leaved black cranesbill (Geranium sessiliflorum ssp. novae-zeelandiae 'Nigrescens') as well as self-seeded blue and white forms of our native early dog's violet (Viola riviniana). Shrubby plants in the Terrace are a bush flax (Astelia nervosa 'Westland') and a dwarf mildly spreading Alpine totara (Podocarpus nivalis).
Seven stone troughs are placed along the east edge of the Terrace planted up with a range of alpines, currently including the pink dandelion (Crepis incana), dwarf columbine (Aquilegia canadensis 'Nana') and blue-flowered globe daisy (Globularia nudicaulis). The photo on the left shows yellow mountain euryops (Euryops acraeus), Geranium 'Lawrence Flatman' and a New Zealand daisy (Celmisia gracilenta). Completing the display on the Terrace are pots planted mostly with bedding plants in summer to provide colour until the first frosts.
I have never liked lawns, considering them labour intensive waste of good planting spaces. So I've gradually been planting the lawn (which is to the southwest of the house) with trees and shrubs underplanted with spring flowering bulbs. The latter include crocus varieties and various dwarf and larger and daffodils. I've recently started adding some snakeshead fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) and species tulips such as Tulipa batalinii. If they survive and continue flowering, I'll increase and diversify these to get something like an alpine meadow.
Notable amongst the shrubs include a box-leaf azara (Azara microphylla) with its insignificant but very fragrant yellow flowers smelling of vanilla - a reminder of summer possibilities in what can be a very dreich March. Near it are Magnolia stellata and Camellia 'Donation' whose white and pink combination looks lovely in April and early May. Further along, continuing the pink and white theme are pink flowered Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum and Deutzia hybrida 'Strawberry Fields', while a later flowering Hydrangea paniculata 'Vanille Fraise' which, as the names suggests, starts out with beautiful white flowerheads in July into August that gradually fade to a soft rose pink.
Opposite the lawn are a number of trees that follow the driveway underplanted with daffodils which run down the length of the drive in spring. A rowan, Sorbus vilmorinii sports dark mauve berries from August onwards which slowly change to pink. Unlike many rowan berries, these are avoided by the birds and so stay on the tree well into winter. Next to it is a young Tibetan cherry (Prunus serrula) which is starting to develop its lovely glowing and peeling coppery brown bark - despite being bullied by the old flowering cherry Prunus 'Kanzan' next to it. Further down the drive, we have a sessile oak (Quercus petraea) and a common beech (Fagus sylvatica) which together shade a small border just above the lower drive gate. I really like this quiet bed planted with epimedium, brunnera, Bowles golden sedge (Carex elata 'Aurea') and various hostas. For summer colour there is a blue flowering monk's hood (Aconitum carmichaelii 'Barker's Variety') and the purple flowered false goat's beard (Astilbe var. taquetti 'Purpurlanze').
© Ronnie Cann 2021