Hello! I hope you’re well. I was away in Cornwall last weekend at the turn of the month and straight into the fray on my return but here I am, on Friday afternoon, with a little window of opportunity for writing. Here goes…
The major excitement in the garden in June was having tree work carried out: removing a monstrous sycamore and reducing the crown of a yew (both were blocking the view of the sea from the house) and taking out a massive branch from our neighbour’s enormous copper beech which is too close to our house in the back garden. Removing this branch has made a huge difference to the light levels in the garden and my son’s bedroom. The tree surgeons will return in winter when the leaves are off the beech to thin it out and reduce the canopy.
Elsewhere, it’s been a case of dead-heading and weeding when we have the time and watering, watering, watering. I was scrolling through my photos thinking they look rather bleached but that’s because everything is bleached. The grass is bleached, especially, and even the rose petals. It’s been so incredibly hot and sunny with the occasional overcast but still hot day. We have had a couple of frets, when mist rolls off the sea and the view disappears into an eerie fog for an hour or so and that has brought a little moisture but we have had no rain. At all. We’re giving everything that needs it – pots, newly planted stuff, young trees – a thorough watering every few days and this takes a couple of hours to do properly. It’s a great time to inspect the garden and notice what’s going on and the evenings have been so incredibly balmy that it’s been a pleasure to stand there, watering cans in hand, just taking it all in. Anyway, without further ado, here’s how the garden looks now (in early July; I haven’t tidied up any builders sacks, trugs, etc, for photographing purposes – you’ll have to take us as you find us!):
Right, that’s it – window closed. Must get on. Sorry to dash.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
acoastalplot 
Wow what a gorgeous spot you live in! Fancy being able to see the sea from your house. Such a lovely garden (but sooooo much work! I don’t envy you that….).
All in good time – the nice thing about a garden is you can focus on one small thing at a time, and gradually it all comes together.
Hope life calms down a bit for you soon. All the best in the meantime.
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Thank you, Deborah. Hope all’s good with you.
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The lavender looks beautiful in full bloom. Do you harvest it for sachets, etc?
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Hi Eliza, we occasionally cut and dry some but mostly we just admire it where it is and leave it for the bees!
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Some of your photos reminded me of the Beth Chatto gardens (but on a smaller scale, lol). I love the use of grasses with the verbascums and verbena. I have watched my garden shrivel up as I have had a knee replacement in the last few weeks. It looked beautiful in May and early June but now waiting for a drop of rain to help the late summer perennials.
What a difference removing that tree made. Looks fabulous.
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Thank you, Catherine! I’m a big fan of grasses (inspired by Piet Oudolf). We do need rain, don’t we?!
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Our grass is the same, but I quite like how it feels underfoot – even if it is a bit slippy! Your lavender does look lovely against the wall. Your whole garden looks lovely. The hollyhocks are beautiful. And your new view!
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Thanks, Ali. I generally walk on the grass in bare feet when it’s this hot! The hollyhocks self seeded from next door 🙂
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Oh what a difference the tree work makes, Sam – you might need to change the title of your blog to ‘A Better View From a Coastal Plot’! The photos really show how elevated your house is too. At our garden openings the only way people could tell our little patch of grass was artificial was because it was unusually green, unlike the real stuff 😉 Good to see what’s blooming in your garden too
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Haha, Cathy 🙂 It does make an incredible difference, doesn’t it?! Hope all’s well with you.
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Thanks Sam. Yes, mostly OK (apart from the heat!)
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I know what you mean about it all being bleached. For a moment the other day there was heavy cloud cover and I went out, just marvelling at how deep and green everything suddenly looked. The sunlight has been so harsh. Trees are a wonderful thing, but it’s difficult when they block a beautiful view. My neighbour has a lovely tree that is encroaching slightly on my view of the hills. Your view is gorgeous now it’s been opened up. And all so blue. Happy sigh. The pond here is rather low as well, after being topped right up just a few months ago. I am waiting for the dog to fall in when he leans over to drink from it. Have a lovely weekend. CJ xx
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We topped up the pond at the weekend – luckily we have a well behind the house so ran a hose from it and emptied it into the pond and onto the fruit trees. Hopefully, that’ll do until it rains again, whenever that’ll be!
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It’s still looking lovely hope all is well Joy x
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I love your rambling garden Sam! That view to the sea is just stunning. Jane x
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Your view is much improved. We too have gotten very dry this summer. That’s something I never thought would happen as for a time it seemed the rain would never end. I do very little watering but I need to get out the watering cans for some of our new plants – if I’m not too late.
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