Monty Don on Gardener’s World suggested cutting back oriental poppies, so I gave it a try.

The thalictrum in B1 and B2 grew to about 8′ last year, which was too tall for B2. In about three weeks time I’ll give them a Chelsea Chop and see what happens.

See also May 17

This path is really rather too wide. The pots help, and I’ll try to plant some more overlapping edging this summer. If that fails I’ll enlarge the beds by making a new border, probably with rows of bricks. The metal edging would be hard to move, even though I’ve got some spare pieces, but it shouldn’t be difficult to get out.

Perhaps a nandina would be a good replacement for the hibiscus next to the front door which is showing no sign of recovery.

See also here and here

Yes, it is dull, and not at all evergreen. I may scrap it, even though it does look good for much of the year.

See also June 17

Coldest spring day on record. Not that nuch snow, but very fine, and the wind has blown it into deep drifts. Rather poor photos illustrate the weakness of the phone’s camera in these conditions. I hope the frogspawn survives.

A pair of frogs spotted in F1 in the front garden. It was difficult to see how they could get to the pond by themselves in that configuration, so I moved them to the pond’s edge. They soon swam off into slightly deeper water.

Looks familiar?!