In the Jungle....

Smokey 2017

 "A-weema-weh, A-weema-weh. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight........" -The Nylons

 This year the garden is growing back from being a jungle of sorts. Cranesbill, usually so scattered has grown in massive mounds, tucked here and there all over. 

 This was the year that I had the garden razed. It was time. Above pic was before the garden crew did their magic and cut it all down. Was getting so overgrown. It really was a jungle. And I was tripping on the mounds.Things were growing in the mess. Things I didn't want.Things that moved. Shudder.

 Above pic is what it looks like after. Little bare. But more room. Can actually see the pots . Can see the roses.Can actually get to the pots to water them! No more weird things growing or things scurrying around .......( don't worry any snakes were moved)

 And Above is how I started it all,about 8 years ago. Got the idea from a gardening magazine to plant herbs and so forth in the cracks of the patio.  Just got a little out of hand......But it was fun to do at the time. Then it morphed...

 Now the cranesbill can peek under the bench, and the roses aren't smothered by grass, weeds, Lady mantle,small trees,  that decided to grow in the mounds.

 Spencer, the neighbour's lovely cat, likes it when we play in the dirt. He supervised the entire time we were planting. I use a couple of covered card tables to lay everything out. No bending or searching.

 The hill also got a makeover. Weeds, dying rhubarb, and wandering cherry tree roots were ripped out. Still doesn't look like much, but it will. Centaurea and Campanula at the fence,Dahlias and glads with the large cages, Beans in the middle and knee hi sweet peas gracing the edge. I decided not to plant any marigolds, etc, since the slugs can be so bad and just eat the flowers alive. They don't seem to touch anything else.

 Greenhouse also got the once over. Added extra dirt and let the ferns grow at will. Evergreen clematis was cut back, the pear-apple tree in the large pot, actually came to leaf this year. Planted the toilet  and all with leftover flowers.

 Porch has been packed to the gills with pots, tightly wedged together. I alternated some pots with low flowers and some with higher ones to get  more variation in height ( I hope). My favourites are the multicoloured Coleus in the trough. Reminds me of summers when my mother would plant Coleus in the shade and they would fan out like parachutes. 

 In the sun, this year, I am trying Sun Impatiens. They look like , sort of, their small shade cousins. But they LOVE sun. A lot.

 "A garden isn't meant to be useful. It's meant for joy..." -Rumer Godden

 The only part of the patio jungle I had the crew leave, was this corner. They cut it off to grow under the bench with dragon's blood and Cranesbill in its wake. I guess part of me was missing all the overgrowth, so this was a good compromise.I still miss the jungle.But a clean slate is good.

 And on the opposite side I also had the crew cut the edge out a bit and wave it down into the pots. I like the Lady's Mantle, it just got so out of control. Now it's shaped around the pots and is contained around the large pots.

 At the top of the hill, I planted Sun Impatiens, and sweet peas, and geraniums, intermittently, something I hadn't done before. If the sweet peas die away like last year ( cause it was so hot) then there will be other things that love the heat to take over.

 Some of the flowers I planted this year ( kept it simple): Verbeena, Masses of Geraniums in multi colours of lavender, red, pink, white, orange, Scarlet,Cosmos  ( in the pots), Fuschias , shade impatiens, Sun Impatiens, Marigolds, Coleus in shade, Lobelia in shade and some in part shade. I was looking for hardy annuals. And I planted some new roses in pots on the patio.

 Grape vines were cut back to within an inch of their lives, and still they started off early.In the front, added a few more roses, Cosmos, Dahlias ( only a few this year, so they don't take over!), Geraniums, Marigolds to keep bugs off the roses. If slugs show up I will put out dishes of beer for them. Their favourite treat. They won't be able to resist.....And Spencer will sleep in the pot on the porch, or on the couch and keep tabs on the new Jungle that will grow.

 "What I've always found interesting in gardens is looking at what people choose to plant.What they put in. What they leave out.Soon there is a mood, an atmosphere, a mood...." -Helen Humphreys (The Lost Garden)