Curiouser and curiouser

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers, but she could not even get her head through the doorway. . . . This is how I felt in the dark winter.  I could see a beautiful garden in my head but squeezing it through the small passage from my imagination into reality seemed almost impossible.  Looking back on these posts I realise how far we have come. The last you saw was a photo of Bjorn laying the aluminium edging in the rain. Since that we had a delivery of Buxus ants to create the hedging and some very large Buxus cubes which we fought with to get into place.  The new box hedging on dove grey limestone  The lawn went down and the raised beds went up. The play area was barked and a willow tunnel attempted.  One lawn down one to go! For quite a while the borders lay empty with just the odd plant that had travelled from London to make it feel like it wasn't just a giant mud pit. Finally a few weeks ago I finalised the plant list and ordered masses of herbaceous and grasses to fill those brown wastelands.  With the glorious sunshine warming my back I dug and dug. I now have brown shoulders  and a peaceful riot of colour and texture.  Obelisks painted in my very own mix There are still places available for  some of the seedlings I have been growing this year, Gaura, Rudbekia maxima, angelica archangelica among others.  Filling the borders with colour and texture There are many of my old favourites muscat this Flamingo; a tall beautiful grass with pinky flower heads late in the season, Verbena bonariensis; with its sprays of purple on tall stems. My Miscanthus hasn't flowered yet so here's a library photo Verbena bonariensis   I've been inspired at Chelsea and by one of my favourite designers Piet Oudolf. Lysimachia atropurpurea Beaujolais was all over Chelsea and I saw some at one of my local nurseries Wolverton Plants, I immediately asked Julian if I could have some to which he replied that he'd got them to propagate next year... but if I wanted one I could have it! So I will have my own attempt at propagating, too! The My Beaujolais  Piet Oudolf influence is Sanguisorba Red Thunder, it's small oval flower heads are are a dense deep red  that wave on long stems through its planting companions    Sanguisorba Red Thunder There is still much to do, finish painting the fence and raised beds, putting up the wires for the climbers. But even now I can sit in the garden in the evening and feel at peace listening to the birdsong and watching the plants grow.