Perennials and Roses Garden
Oops. The new perennials and roses garden (by the rose pergola) took over ground which was supposed to be a potager. In it I planted many budget roses with no labels, and others either rescued or given to me by friends.
roses and penstemons
There was room for my ever expanding collection of perennials. Roses and perennials are good garden companions. It was fun to see what colour combinations eventuated. I did feel a little guilty, though, in the vegetable growing season...
Surplus Perennials
I initially filled the garden with surplus perennials like Penstemons, Aquilegias, summer flowering Phlox and Daylilies, creating a summer fruit salad effect, colour-wise. Over the next few years roses came and went. I built a little brick path - so tiny that even the surest-footed gardener could get the wobbles, and edged it with clumps of Stachys and Irises. Cornflowers and other flowering annuals were introduced and encouraged to self-seed.
Summer Phloxes
Then the original Daylily and Hosta clumps had to be divided into smaller pieces and replanted. I also got a bit tough on the self-sown Aquilegias and red-brown tussock grasses, pulling many out, while trying to clump others together in one spot. Funny, though - there are just as many Aquilegias now as then...
Cool Pink Aquilegias
At the moment the so-called 'Perennials Garden' is only home to a few roses (Roydon, Pat Austin, and Sam McGredy's striped Michelangelo). The most gorgeous cerise dahlias flop and fall over everything from mid-summer on. And in winter a permanent little path (no more wobbly lines of bricks) is very clearly visible. This is supposed to allow me four-seasons access for weeding. Hmm...
Cerise Dahlias
Other perennials which have found their forever homes in this garden are variegated Scrophularia, Delphiniums, Salvia uliginosa, Eucomis, Nepeta (the tall variety), and Centaurea Montana. Shush - I daren't mention the beautiful giant purple Alliums I lovingly planted in the middle, just in case they decide not to behave for me next summer.