"If you have a garden..."

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero 

I have a library that overflows into every room in the house. Two bookshelves in the conservatory, one in the living room, two on the landing, piles of books in bedrooms and bathrooms, more shelves in the dh’s workroom and 50 feet of shelves in my study. Plus the stuff piled up underneath them. I did a little sifting and culling before I moved, but what I have mostly came with me from the old house.

The garden is something else. We moved last year, downsizing - there comes a time when you just don’t need an acre of grass to cut - but the garden we moved into had been neglected. The front was overgrown with weeds, the lawn a mess and since it fronted onto the road, was what everyone saw as they walked past, we sorted that out first.

Serious clearance work, a new lawn, a lavender hedge against the footpath and three standard roses went in first. The bones. This week the lavender (despite the attention of neighbourhood cats which killed off three of the plants) is in flower and looking pretty gorgeous. The roses have made an appearance, too and the scent is just stunning. And we’ve filled in with geraniums, dahlias and begonias. We should have hanging baskets but they have been delayed by the shockingly bad spring. Fingers crossed they should be here by the end of the month.

The back was also a mess. We had to hack through grass that had grown a foot high and fallen into a thick mat. Remove weeds and plants run wild and the paved part of the yard needed a makeover. After that came the fun part. Choosing the climbing roses (the first buds are just showing colour), the fruit trees – nothing this year, although the blueberries are full of fruit and a raised bed on the yard that has been a non-stop treat since early spring.

The dh created a fabulous gothic window for one shady corner and the honeysuckle and winter flowering clematis are now swarming over it. And he made a heart-shaped raised bed in the lawn which we’re still having a think about. I’m up for patio roses, all in one colour, but can’t decide what to under plant it with. Something for winter interest. Vinca, maybe, or violets.  

We planted antirrhinums this spring and they are now a mass of colour, the sweet peas are breaking out and there’s a whole lot of interesting stuff on the corner bed that will just get better as the years go by. Oh, and I bought a chocolate cosmos from a charity stall when I was in Lacock last week for an RNA chapter meeting and it already has buds.

This week we’ve been ordering climbers and shrubs for the mixed border on the other side of the garden — the last major work (and expense!) Hopefully, by the end of July we’ll be able to just sit and watch the bees, a glass of something cold in our hand, and relax.

If you want something to read in your garden, Harlequin Mills & Boon have released a three-in-one anthology – The Sheikh Who Loved Me – in the UK and Australia, where I’m cwched up with the lovely Susan Stephens and Kate Hardy.

This link will take you to Amazon where ever you are -  http://bookShow.me/B00D7DYB9S