On to the fun part. Plants! (and a bit of weeding with the hoe)
We began our planting in January as we got back after Christmas. They were mostly hardy, winter flowering shrubs including Mahonia, Daphne, holly and some ground coverers to help keep the weeds down.
We've planted in classic odd numbers, trying to place the scented plants near the paths.
We've had to put rabbit guards up around each plant to protect them whilst they get established. For this we used chicken wire and canes.
We spent one day clearing the smaller borders around the main beds using mainly lawn rakes and forks, as well as trimming back with secateurs. This was mainly clearing dead grasses and making space for the bulbs and hellebore's that were flowering. We dug up as much as we could of the clumps of stinking irises that were invading. There was a beautiful magnolia tree that needed pruning of its lower branches to create a more even shape.
Last week we planted another large number of plants. These included the bright green stems of Kerria, bright flame-like branches of Cornus (dogwood), scented flowers of Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn' as well as many others. We fenced everything we planted once again to protect from hungry rabbits.
I will update this post further once I get back to college and take some more photos and pick up some more names of plants that I've missed out. With any luck it will be good weather.
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