Helen over at the Patientgardener blog hosts this popular End of Month View meme where we can get glimpses of other gardens and assess the progress of our own from month to month. You can show the same part of the garden from month to month or different parts which maybe we haven’t seen before. I have never shown the damp shady bed which runs alongside my wall. Here ferns and Angelica archangelica flourish and grow tall. There is an old brick path running along here which one day I will clear.
This plant with a prickly stem is growing here and for the moment I can’t recall the name. I would go and check but it is raining. In any case the label is probably long gone. It’s not a Kalopanax is it? Can anyone help me? I’ll probably remember in the middle of the night.
Usually when I show you the garden I forget to look up as well as down, but you can’t miss the lovely foliage of Acer drummondii like a golden roof over this part of the garden. I think it looks lovely with Rosa ‘Canary Bird’ which is going over now, I took this a few days ago when the sun was shining. Somebody needs to shin up the tree and remove the branches with green leaves which have lost the variegation or they will take over. Not me though. And not the Pianist who broke a finger, tripping over whilst buying some compost for me. I daren’t risk any more gardening- related accidents.
You can just see the top of the summer house in this photo. Well now it is transformed inside and out. I was inspired by Helen to paint the dirty white a colour which is called Wild Thyme. Helen’s shed is rejuvenated and the natural wood looks wonderful. The wood on my summer house needs to be decently covered because it is showing its age. I have just noticed the die-back on my Cotinus on this photo. Does anybody else have this problem? I have noticed it happens with all of my Cotinus. The rose is Rosa hugonis which always blooms in May.
Annette asked if you could have a peep inside the other day so here it is, all freshened up with buttermilk paint and with a rag rug hiding the manky green carpet which has been shampooed.
Right next to the summer house my giant lily, Cardiocrinum giganteum is growing very tall. I am looking forward to the flowers. I have had this lily for years but the bulb breaks up after flowering and you have to wait 4 or 5 years for it to bloom again. Really I should buy one or two more so that they would flower at different times and there wouldn’t be such a long wait. Even without the flowers, I love the enormous shiny green leaves. So do slugs and lily beetle of course.
Cardiocrinum giganteum
For the end of month view there should be some nice long shots but it is raining and everything looks dull. The May garden needs a bit of sun to make everything sparkle. So I will finish with some flowers which are delighting me despite the rain.
Iris sibirica ‘Osborne’s Grey’ is rather rare, I am looking after it for Suffolk Plant Heritage. It is clumping up nicely and I love its delicate colour. It is not really grey at all; more silver. Incidentally the Red Campion was sold to me as a very special one called Silene ‘Rollies Favourite’. They must have seen me coming. It looks just like the Red Campion which is everywhere in my garden. And I paid for it. Serves me right. I should have been suspicious of a plant with such an ungrammatical name. Who is Rolly, I’d like to know and how many Rollies were there and why is there no apostrophe?
Iris sibirica ‘Osborne’s Grey’
As it is such a drippy day, here are some views of my ponds. First the steps going down to the far pond. I don’t know why there are steps there, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to take a dip here.
Round the little pond near the house, there are some pretty things in the bog garden.
I love the delicate cream colour of Trollius ‘Alabaster’. It is growing with the yellow pompoms of Ranunculus acris ‘Flore Pleno’.
Round by the Acer there is a lovely white flowered Ranunculus aconitifolius ‘Pleniflorus’. It is growing with primulas, Osmunda regalis and Geum ‘Flames of Passion’ which is such a lovely colour.
I would like to show you more but it will have to wait for another day. As the rain shows no sign of letting up I can’t take any more photos. So I will finish with a glimpse into the far greenhouse where my red Epiphyllum has finished blooming but this yellow one is looking beautiful and creating a bit of sunshine all of its own.
Thank you Helen for hosting. If you go over there you will see her end of month post and find nice sparkly photos that that she and other people had the foresight to take before the rain started.
Chloris
The Blooming Garden 
A lovely tour of your May garden with an unexpected laugh: Serves me right. I should have been suspicious of a plant with such an ungrammatical name.
Thank you Barbara, I would like to have to shown more but it is too wet and dull to take any decent pictures. I shall have to wait for another day.
I have the opposite situation here in Virginia. We are experiencing the driest May in years and the plants are starting to show their dissatisfaction. Meanwhile Texas is floating away…..
Love the new views you are showing today, especially the steps down to your far pond, your garden is glorious. We salvaged a cedar greenhouse this weekend, a lot work yet before its up and running but very much looking forward to the day when I can grow an Epiphyllum too.
Thank you Julie. A cedarwood greenhouse, how exciting! I will send you a bit of Epiphyllum when you are ready. Which would you like red or yellow?
Thank you so much, that’s very kind, the yellow would be lovely. We are moving a hideous rockery first, I shall report on progress.
My, the garden looks huge! How wonderful to have so many different habitats for plants. You’ve certainly found lovely campanions for the Geum; they rub shoulders very well.
I will show more of it soon. It is looking its best at the moment because it is going to be on display next week and I have a photographer coming tomorrow. I just hope the wind and rain will have passed over.
Everything looks so lush! And please, send any of your leftover rain this way. 🙂
I’ d gladly send you some rain. It has kept me indoors all day and there were so many things I wanted to do.
Loved the shot of the shady bed under the brick wall. And your summer house looks so cozy. Thanks for showing us your Cardiocrinum too! Hope you get some sunshine soon.
Well yours is flowering isn’ t it? I’ m lookng forward to my flowers opening. They are so beautiful. I hope we get sun soon too, I need to get outside.
Indeed a lovely tour of your garden. I enjoyed it, I think the Iris photo looks like a Monet painting, beautiful.
The Cotinus in the Deep South always had die back like yours. I used to work in the Chicago area (much colder) and the Cotinus there was always full and beautiful, maybe they are more suited to a cooler climate.
Well we don’ t exactly have a hot climate here.. I think it is verticillium wilt. I just hope I don’t lose the whole bush as it is so beautiful.
Sorry you’re having such a miserable cold wet day. It has been pleasantly warm here today but there is a cool wind now. I don’t remember seeing the steps down to the pond, it looks very inviting, just waiting to be explored.
I think the steps were overgrown when you came. I have done a lot of clearance work and tidying up since you were here. Things look very different now. I am beginning to feel I may get on top of it.
That’s a great feeling!
It’s true, blogging does make you notice things in the garden you would otherwise have missed. Here I am moaning to Rusty Duck that my I. Sibirica isn’t out, then I see your gorgeous grey one and want that too and all the time the dark blue buds of mine are there just waiting for a slice of sunshine to open. Chloris your garden is gorgeous and it is such an education reading your posts. I need to go back with a reference book and a notepad and pen as there is so much that is new to me. One day when we move to our dream cottage with an acre of country garden I will be glad I had observed yours so carefully. Thank you.
Oh Sarah, what a lovely thing to say. Your garden is beautiful. I have been admiring it today.
I could kill for that high wall in your first photo Chloris. It all looks deliciously mysterious in that area. Sorry to hear about the Pianist’s finger. Hope that he isn’t in too much pain and that it does not seriously impede his activities. Your newly painted summer house looks a treat both inside and out and perhaps the spot to be sitting in with a good book on a day like today. I hope that you find out who that rascal Rolly is/was!
The Pianist’s finger is much better thanks you, he had it strapped up for 4 weeks but now it seems to be OK. I am thrilled to have the summer house as a place to sit in, rather a dump for deck chairs and a haven for flies and alarmingly last year, hornets.
You said it was all dull and boring! it isnt. I love your wall and your shady borders and I am really coverting your summer house. And your giant lily is well ahead of mine which I am beginning to think won’t flower this year
Well my garden never bores me, it always excites me. I meant it looked dull in the gloomy weather.
If your Cardiocrinum hasn’ t sent up a flower spike by now it doesn’t look as if it will bloom this year.
Dull? I doubt any post from your garden could be consider dull 🙂
As usual you have many exquisite plants and know how to get the best out of them. Yours is the 3rd blog I’ve seen with Geum Flames of Passion that pink colour mines is a very orangy colour by comparison, obviously mislabeled. I hope you are able to identify what’s wrong with your Cotinus, I’ve noticed up here that the tips are often scorched by frost which then suffer a bit of die back but nothing like yours. Loving the summer house too. Very cosy.
I love the colour of that Geum, it is just the same colour as the Primula and it goes really well with the Acer. There are some gorgeous geums around at the moment.
I think my Continus has Verticillium wilt. I will chop it back and hope for the best, I should be sorry to lose it.
You have created exciting views at every turn. The Epiphyllum is new to me–lovely. Hope the rain lets up so you can get back outside. Depressingly dry here.
Our weather is supposed to improve on Wednesday, I can’ t wait. Epiphyllums are really easy, they need the minimum care and have really spectacular flowers.
Oh….a walled garden….I just love those old bricks….green eyed I am! You do have a truly beautiful garden with so many heavenly plants, I always go to say…that’s my favoutite, then another jewel comes along!
I was laughing about the Red Campion….a curse on Rolly I say….good luck with all the tree shinning….and the poor, poor pianist! Hope that finger is ruining his piano playing, I hate to say it but he’ll probably milk that for a year just to get out of gardening chores! Hubs broke his foot a few years ago….just by stepping off a pavement! Your summer house is so charming….how I’d like to drink wine in there!
Oh I say….a photographer coming tomorrow….should we kneel? Is one about to be a gardening star? You probably already are one!xxx
Me a star? No, that’ s you , everyone wanting to interview you and being on television all the time.
I’ m afraid there has been no piano playing for 4 weeks but luckily we were in Ireland for 2 of them. Of course the accident was my fault, it happened because of my insatiable appetite for compost. I get through so much of the stuff; it is rumoured that I eat it. The sad fact is, ( just between you and me) the Pianist is extremely clumsy. But lovely with it.
When you come to Suffolk, we will sit in the summerhouse and have a nice glass of wine.
You always make me laugh!!!! Sighs….I shall certainly take you up on that glass of wine one fine day!….I love to play piano…. well… I love to vamp….tell the pianist I have an upright Grand….now if he ever comes here he shall have to play it…sticky old keys or not! xxx
Lol….that should have read….hope that finger isn’t ruining his piano playing…..he’ll be after me with a baseball bat if I’m not careful!xxx
I love your garden, it has so many choice plants and lovely vistas that it’s hard to know which one to praise first!
But I will start with the Cardiocrinum giganteum – gosh…I’ve only ever seen it in flower once and it’s a stunner. But the foliage for the rest of the season is just as dramatic. We don’t have the red lily beetle in Australia (thank goodness) so I can’t even begin to imagine how painful it would be to protect that plant from attack each year! The foliage of the Acer really brightens the garden. I love the effect of golden shade.
Your Kalopanax looks like Kalopanax septemlobus…a very unusual plant indeed.
I can hardly wait for my Cardiocrinum to bloom, it is some years since the last time. How pleasant life must be with no lily beetles. It is a daily chore to go out and squash them. Yuck.
Thank you for naming the Kalopanax for me.
Your garden is full of wonders! I wouldn’t mind exploring it, even on a wet day. I’d love to have something like your little summer house myself but, I suppose if I did, no one would be able to get me out of it – it looks like the perfect place to hide out and read.
Thank you Kris. I am so thrilled to have the summerhouse all cleaned up and freshly painted. It is a lovely refuge, specially when the weather is as awful as it is just now.
Wow, that is a lot to take in. It all looks so interesting, especially the ponds. My Cotinus has the same problem. It is getting smaller every year!
Interesting that your Cotinus does the same thing. It is such a pity because they are such spectacular shrubs when they are full of smoke.
Stunning garden envious of your shady walks, everything is so lush… 🙂
Things should be lush with all this rain. When the sun comes out I will take some more photos. It is supposed to get warmer later this week.
Love the path along the brick wall – very jungly and paleo. I’ve been trying to figure out how Rollies Favorite could make sense without an apostrophe. Could it be that there is no Rolly but there is a Rollies, and that Rollies Favorite was the favorite among the Rollies? Like someone calling their favorite chocolate their chocolate favorite? But then what is a Rollies?
Indeed, what could a Rollies possibly be? It is a great puzzle for people like you and me who have an interest in lexical semantics. I have decided not to worry about it. It is probably just a case of crass ignorance, either on the part of the namer or the person who wrote the label.
As always a most enjoyable post and lovely photos. I have to say that sofa looks rather comfortable! xx
Thank you Flighty, yes that sofa is very enticing now that the summer house is has a new lease of life.
Oh such a superb garden Chloris – too much to comment on, but I think the picture of your beautiful acer, the first with the wall and the colour of the summer house are what I’ll take away. Oh – and that grey Iris sibirica ‘Osborne’s Grey’. It’s always nice to have something to laugh at, as well and Rolly/Rollie whoever he/they were gave us that.
Thank you Cathy, I was a bit restricted with the photos I took as the weather was so bad but I will take some more as soon as the sun shines. Acer drummondii provides its own golden sunshine though, whatever the weather.
Yes Rolly/ Rollie has had me puzzled. And all that for a Red Campion.
Your garden is so lovely Chloris, with lots of hidden corners to it that I haven’t seen before. A great place for children to play hide and seek! I can imagine sitting in your cosy summerhouse with the rain beating down on the roof. That last photo does seem to be full of sunshine despite your weather. I hope you can get outdoors soon to finish your jobs before the garden is “on display”… is that for the NGS?
No, I opened for the NGS for 10 years and that is enough; too much pressure. It is just the local press taking photos and interviewing me about the Garden Group of which I am Chair and the Village Gardens Open Day.
You have such wonderfully diverse areas in your garden Chloris. It must be fun to be able to explore so many different plant habitats. I love those steps down to that pond, it looks so very romantic, though probably more romantic for frogs than humans.
I have to ask, what is that orange and yellow flower in the last photo – the one in the background? It looks like some kind of mushroom on stilts!
Thank you Julianne. I will show some more areas of the garden when the sun shines later this week. The plant is a Calceoralia. It has nice red and yellow pouches.
So that’s what it is, Calceoralia, thanks. What a nice burst of colour, particularly since summer seems to have gone missing.
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I have now fixed my ‘about me’ page. I did have one but it was a bit hidden, so now I’ve made it a page on my blog. Thanks for the prompt!
I love your shady area Chloris. I think I am often more moved by foliage than flower and the contrasts and the wall behind are wonderfully mysterious. Your summer house is lovely too.
I agree about foliage. I had plans in my previous garden to create an area of just green plants. I thought it would be lovely to go from the tropical garden with all its gaudy colours into a cool, restful green area. Here I have mainly foliage plants round my pond. Lots of bamboos and hostas.
Ok I now have Summer house envy! I do like the combination of your red Acer and the Geum ‘Flames of passion’ very striking.
It is pretty and there is a Primula which is the exact shade as the Geum which I didn’ t manage to capture.
I am thrilled with the summer house. It looked such a mess before but now it is lovely to sit in.
Well it is all looking picture perfect!
Oh what a great post Chloris and how lovely to see more of your garden that we haven’t seen before although I hope to see it all soon and shall be emailing you shortly – and I can bring you some of my favourite red campion if you like… 😉 Now, I am a little concerned about the choice of colour for your summerhouse in case you have lots more painting projects lined up for the garden as that is MY colour of choice here and I don’t want supplies drying up! Oh – and is your little white ranunculus the one that was mentioned on the Chelsea programmes? It was one of 3 plants I made a note of future investigation and possible aquisition.
Thank you Cathy, and how nice that you are coming to Suffolk. I didn’ t see the Chelsea coverage as I was in Ireland. But the Ranunculus is a pretty little thing.
I think we have finished painting now. The Pianist got a bit carried away and painted all the benches and a couple of little tables and some chairs, but I think he has run out of things to paint now.
I don’t know how I missed this post, a sight for sore eyes! Glad to hear that the Pianist’s finger is healing, not a good thing at all. Although I would have got the blame too, without a doubt. As the mice have eaten all my bulbs I don’t need to worry about lily beetle anymore. That Iris on the other hand is beyond gorgeous. I hope you never have to give it back!
So lush! I love it. Your mystery isn’t but it reminds me of the devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus) that grows on the west coast on Canada. It is a beautiful plant and gets huge but it has -nasty- spines. Not only are they sharp but skin tears will almost inevitably become infected. It is an important plant for the Haida people. Not only does it continue to be used for spiritual purposes but I heard a little rumour once that said that the reason the Haida never signed a treaty was that the devil’s club prevented the white guys from passing through.
I really adore the brick wall and the lush green plants there and the summer house is adorable…a perfect spot to sit and look at the garden….I have lily beetle here now as it finally migrated down from Canada…we have been vigilant but not sure if my lilies will bloom or even live in years to come.