It has been a while since I posted about my garden so I thought a quick recap and update might be nice.
2015
Seriously, where did it go?
January to August.
Garden, what garden? Cause: Wonderful new granddaughter in Aberdeen!
The weather didn’t really help but there were some successes as well as some failures.
My little plum tree was getting bigger all the time, but it didn’t flower at all in 2015. I am hoping that it was just a little tired. NB – pampering required here.
Ripening Victoria plums – 2014
Plum tree blossom – one year old in 2014
Similarly a rather mature lilac tree at the bottom of the garden didn’t flower either, but then it doesn’t always. Looking forward to this year.
Lilac in bloom – 2014.
The Japanese garden has really matured – I can’t believe how quickly it has gone from this. .
Japanese garden May 2013
to this. . . . .
Our little Japanese garden in 2015
Despite my neglect, the main border looked lovely last summer and I was happy with all the rearrangements I had done. That doesn’t mean, of course, that I am happy to leave things alone now. Why would I? We all need to strive for perfection, after all.
Main border June 2015
Here are some of my best performing plants for 2015.
September to December
After a huge family reunion in August and a wonderful holiday in the South Tyrol straight after, I finally put the garden back to the top of my priority list – don’t worry, The Traveller knows his place!!
Pots and pots of cuttings
I went a bit crazy with dividing plants and taking cuttings. After all why should I spend good money buying new plants every year, when many of them are, supposedly, easy to propagate. You can now find little pots all round the house walls, nestling in the shrubs as some protection from the frost. Time will tell how successful I have been, but I give myself 9/10 for effort.
I also tackled some of my more tricky areas such as the top dry border and, following inspiration by The Anxious Gardener, the border at the north side of the house. (More about these later). I cleared some of the Romantic border and part of the border near the patio and I have planted Stipa Gigantea as a specimen plant in both these areas. This follows many years of Stipa envy – I have long coveted a plant owned by my friend Deborah down in England. I know my little plants will take a while to grow to the size of her magnificent specimen, but they will be well cherished.
2016
So what plans do I have for this year, I hear you ask? Well those of you that have persevered to this point anyway.
The year has started cold, very cold even for us in Aberdeen. There has been a heavy frost for several days now.
Frozen earth
Sometimes even delicate looking plants cope well with frost.
You know it is cold when even the rhododendrons are looking sorry for themselves as only rhododendrons can. I am hoping that my fleece covers and straw mulches are sufficient to protect my more delicate plants.
I am planning a charity garden party in July. Nothing like a goal to focus the mind.
Seedheads of Asters still look lovely
With that in mind I have started work on a stumpery under the Copper Beech tree at the bottom of the garden. Any offers of shade loving ferns gratefully accepted as I am going to need a lot!
Muscari bulbs are always the first
I still have some tricky bits that need overhauling. The front house border used to have a wonderful display of daffodils in the spring, but then it got overrun with tree roots and now is rather a barren border usually full of decaying daffodil leaves. I think I will need a pickaxe to get the old bulbs out! I am still wondering what would grow well in this narrow West-facing border.
Other than that it is more of the same. I am not going to be as virtuous as a couple of my blogging friends who have resolved not to buy any more plants for a year. I admire their resolve, but I am not quite ready for that yet – maybe next year!!!
Winter flowering jasmine brightens up a wall
I wish you all a happy 2016 wherever in the world you may be.
My Aberdeen Garden 
Lovely review Annette, a granddaughter is a very good reason to be away from your garden. I’d like to develop a Stumpery too but am still in the the ideas phase so looking forward to seeing how you develop yours, do you already have the stump wood for this?
Thanks Julie. I have a few larger pieces of wood from a beech tree bough we had to remove and then a lot of smaller pieces of wood. I thought I would go along the beach to see if I could find anything. I don’t think I will be able to get any tree roots, though.
I’ve always been envious of how well ordered and perfectly composed your garden is.. it can only get better still!
Gosh, you don’t need to be envious of my garden. Yours is wonderful and still getting better with all your improvements. I am lucky, though, that the worst things I have to deal with are snails, easy compared to all your creatures who are determined to destroy your plants.
Best wishes for 2016 Annette, I hope you achieve your wishes. The Japanese garden looks wonderful in the low sunlight.
Thanks Brian and a very special thank you for being my most prolific commenter in 2015. I really appreciate it.
Thanks for the catch up – and congratulations on the grand daughter!
Love that iris.
Thanks Jenny. The iris is Black Beauty, a Dutch Iris. It is very reliable and comes up every year. I am trying Red Ember this year and hoping it is just as good.
I love the way you are training your fruit trees, it looks beautiful even without the fruit! A grand daughter is a wonderful excuse for not doing a lot od things – enjoy your time with her.
This is the first time I have trained a tree, so it is a learning curve at the moment. I am wondering if incorrect pruning was the reason why it didn’t flower or fruit last year. Sadly my granddaughter has now moved to Calgary, but we did have a wonderful Christmas with them for her first birthday.
A granddaughter is a wonderful reason to take time off from the garden, lucky you. You look very well organised to me. I’ m intrigued to see how you get on with your strumpery. I would love one but I have a terrible honey fungus problem.
A strumpery, Chloris, would be something altogether different! I will post some photos of my stumpery once I get it a bit further on with it. I remember reading about your honey fungus before, it must limit what you can grow.
It’ s this wretched predictive text, it’ s always catching me out. Mind you, I shall never be able to think of it as anything else now.
Me neither!! So funny. I thought it had to be that – it gets me too!
Your garden photos tell me it was a pretty good year, your photos are really gorgeous.
Thanks Charlie, yes it was a good year. I am hoping for an even better one this year.
heh heh, a ‘strumpery’. I can only imagine what that plays host to.
All the best for your 2016, great recap as well. The growth on the Japanese garden is amazing!
I don’t really know how I am going to live up to that typo from Chloris. Maybe a voluptuous statue or two would do the trick. I think the name is going to stick though.