Katy's Garden

While my future exotic garden sits moist and warm under a thinck mulch of grass clippings (720 litres of OM so far) the rest of the garden has become a dazzling explosion of colour. Most of my annuals are rioting in the beds in a sort of crazed rainbow race. Way too colourful for my taste, but strangely, having kept the colours divided in blocks it still works. Very much on the edge, mind, but it works. There is an orange-yellow block with Calendula, Californian poppies, "peach Melba" nasturtiums and sunflowers (these are not blooming yet), there is magenta-purple block with anemones (St. Brigid, blooming late), ornamental cabbage and Matthiola, and then there is a deep blue clump of delphiniums and then all my white-pastel-deep-crimson collection.Hydrangeas begin to bloom now. Very prominent are quercifolias and arborescens, and "Preziosa", "O'Amacha", "Nigra". "Otaksa" and "Romance", all those that were not damaged by the march-april frost. Penstemon digitalis "Husker's Red" is especially beautiful this year, despite the move and the loss of some plants. And Lilium regale opened the first flower today. It is indeed lovely, and heavily scented. To think that I saved these bulbs from a heap of rubbish! All this dangerously juggled colour scheme is tipped off balance by the overwelming amount of pink roses that were already here. They were not blooming when I planted the rest and I dared hope that at least SOME of themmay be white, or yellow... naif, I know. Next year, with larger border and larger perennials andbiennials, the roses will not beso dominant, or so I hope.

Today a surprise in the mail! The roots of Heliconia angusta that I snatched on e-bay merely days ago arrived. All the way from Malaysia, to my door in a few days. Moist plump roots with healthy dark green shoots. The tropics are knocking at the doors of Macken.

Let it all begin.