Saturday 7 August 2010

Homemade trees and a few garden bits.

I had to make one or two extra trees to go fill both side edges of my quarry and this is what they look like, sideways on. The top is not quite finished - I think it needs a bit more greenery but may wait for advice from my group meeting on Tuesday.
The view from the other side. I'll photograph it again when it is completely finished.

The pond is restored, thank goodness, but I can't get the rocks and stones around the waterfall back into their original positions. You would think it would be straightforward enough, but somehow it isn't quite as good as it was before. I expect I shall be out there again before long shifting them about trying to improve it. I'm amazed at how much time I can waste fiddling about with it. It's nearly as time consuming as blogging!

Eighteen months ago nothing wanted to grow in this part of the garden, then our neighbours had the height of their conifer hedge drastically reduced and suddenly we had light here, and sometimes it even got sunlight too. What a difference it has made and until I did a bit of weeding and cutting back, it was a mini jungle.


This is my latest acquisition - a red plantain. It is such a handsome plant and the colour of the leaves is much richer than it appears here - the light is very poor today. I bought this plant because I hope to do a project on the nine sacred Anglo-Saxon herbs which are mugwort, plantain, watercress, nettle, betony, chamomile, crab apple, chervil and fennel, and thought it would make the project more interesting if I had them growing in the garden. I now have most of them and only need chervil, crab apple and watercress, and that is in a bag in the fridge! Is that cheating? I have a very lush looking nettle and was just about to dig it up when I realised it was a sacred herb so had better stay in place and keep the others company. Well that's my excuse anyway.
.
If you do any research on this subject you will find variations in the herbs on the list and may come across sweet cicely or vipers' bugloss in place of betony. The other eight are pretty constant no matter which source you work from but the 'mystery' herb has never been fully identified apparently. To add further confusion, the Druids had their own list of sacred herbs so there is another project waiting to be tackled after this one.
.
The sun is shining again so I might nip out and do a bit more gardening. I've been dodging the showers all day but the rain is very welcome.


10 comments:

Maggi said...

The trees look really good Heather. It is a bigger piece than I had originally thought. The pond and the garden area are looking great. The herb project sounds good, you have such interesting ideas.

Carol Q said...

love those trees Heather. I think you mkust have a lovely garden. the photos always look so good.

Heather said...

Thankyou Maggi and Carol. The garden has looked good this year but is going off a bit now. I always wondered why certain gardens only opened at specific times of the year. Now I understand. Ours looks it's best in spring and early summer but I have difficulty in keeping the interest going after that.

Lyn said...

The herbs look interesting and the trees look great, can't wait to see it all done. I guess the stones around the pond are a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle!
love
Lyn
xxx

Julie said...

I had no idea there were sacred herbs, I think I have bugloss in my garden or a relative. Good luck with your project.

I had no idea the quarry was so large, it looks really effective and I'll look forward to seeing it finished.

Your garden is looking lovely and I'm sure the pond will settle back down.

Penny said...

Those trees look great and I look forward to seeing it when it is finished.
Lovve your garden, so looking forward to Spring here, but not the summer.

Maureen said...

Love that plantain Heather, it's flowers are rather like my favourites - Huechera, I have a few in different colours.

Robin Mac said...

The trees look super heather, like the others I didn't realise the size of the piece - it will be really lovely when it is finished. I had never heard of sacred herbs before either so I have been looking them up. Cheers, Robin

Jane said...

I look forward to seeing the finished quarry Heather and a project on sacred herbs sounds fascinating.

Linda Vincent said...

You are always involved in such interesting projects Heather....I bet you're never bored!
The pond is looking great; I would love fiddling with it :-)