Backyard haven

I have been away on some adventures for the last few weeks and it's high time I posted a bit about these experiences. I was lucky enough to spend two weeks in Brighton getting some very valuable work experience in the studio of designer Andy Sturgeon His work is high-end and of exceptional quality, right to the very last detail of landscaping and planting. I worked on planting plans, researched design elements and styles, and rapidly improved my computer drawing skills on Vectorworks. Last week I spent 5 wonderful days working in the gardens at Great Dixter in Sussex. But more about that in my next blog post. In between these two placements I spent a fabulous week camping with Jon in the Saas valley of Switzerland. A plant-free week? Err, no - we became alpine plant and meadow geeks and have thousands of photos to show for it. A few of those will make it into a blog post by the end of the week as the combinations and habitats really were inspirational.


And so this week I am just having a couple of days to gather my thoughts (and thousands of photos) at home before heading off to get more hands-on plant experience at Pioneer Plants, a nursery near Letchworth run by plantsman and writer John Hoyland along with Nick Downing. 





I thought I might start my run of posts by putting up my latest photos of our garden in N4. Despite being a neglected in our jaunt to Switzerland, some things are thriving and I thought you might like to see some fruits of our ladder allotment - cherry toms - and some flowers looking beautiful. I'm finding it's best to concentrate on our little backyard haven when there are riots happening just a couple of miles away!
 

Japanese anenomes - excellent for late summer colour particularly pinks, blues and white

Our climbing Rosa 'Penny Lane' has had a new lease of life since we removed the Ceonothus from its bed - the shrub was just too big for the space and the rose and perennials are all now breathing a sigh of relief! The Ceonothus has a new home in Jon's parents' garden and it seems to be doing well so far.

Nictotiana alata 'Lime Green' with a backdrop of magenta Cosmos. The trumpet flowers of this form of tobacco plant make a great company for many brightly coloured perennials