Week 16

Blue skies. Warm sunshine. A little breeze, and the excited chatter as the Busy Beez come together to overhaul an overgrown bed. Two very large Hebe's dominate the space, but they have become leggy, and lost their shape, so they have to go. But before we rolled up our sleeves, there were cuttings of the old shrubs to take. We found suitable sideshoots, and once we'd removed the lower leaves, we popped them into small pots of compost. This time next year, these should be new hebe shrubs.

The Beez worked tirelessly today removing the old hebes. There was much digging, pulling, heaving and puffing, but not one moan or groan, and within a matter of minutes, both monsterous plants had been uprooted, like the Enormous Turnip!

Everyone worked really well as a team to remove any last roots and weeds in the cleared area in preparation to the planting of the new acquisitions.

Here we have our replacement plants. They don't look much right now, but they will encourage bees and butterflies, and their scents should waft into the offices on a warm day.

First up are the lillies. Strongly fragrant, these will give a little height in the border while the smaller plants establish.

The Hebe is nice and compact with grey/green foliage. It's flowers will attract butterflies.

A hardy fuschia with dark pink ballerina flowers, which although will lose it's leaves in the Winter, will come back each Spring bigger and better. Not fragrant, but a very pretty shrub.

Three old fashioned 'Pinks' with a scent of cloves. Over time these will spread into larger clumps, and flower over a very long period.

Two hardy Geraniums, also known as 'Cranesbills', will soon spread out and make very effective ground cover plants to help keep the weeds at bay. These are herbacious perennials, so will die back in the Winter, resprouting again bigger and better each Spring.

And finally this is of course Lavender. It might look a little different than the average Lavender, with it's 'Bunny Rabbit Ears', but it smells just as wonderful.

Come the Autumn, we have a huge amount of daffodils to plant in the spaces between these new plants, but for now there is watering, and pest-checking to be done.

The beans are begining to flower...

...as are the cherry tomatoes

And how about this for a head of lettuce!

Lets hope for more good weather, with perhaps some evening rain. Happy gardening!