In my new garden - GBBD May

Anyone following my blog will have noticed I have been preparing to move the last couple of months. I can now report I have moved and spent 4 days at my new house! I wasn’t sure what I would be able to show you for this month’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day but I went out yesterday to take some photos – in pouring rain. For once I don’t mind the odd days with rain as most of my previous garden has come with me and is now in pots and containers needing a lot of water. The free stuff from above is most welcome :-)

But first a last few photos from my old garden. These are taken last Sunday when the removal company moved all my plants, almost 700 pots and containers in total. Yes, I know, madness, but how could I leave any behind??

It was so good to have all the crates to fill the pots into as I lifted plants from the garden, many of the plants have been in pots for a long time as I have planned this move for nearly 2 years, other plants were lifted just a few weeks ago.

Some of the crates could be stacked as the plants were short enough, but most of the plants had to be transported unstacked. The removal van that came was huge, but they had to do two trips with the plants last Sunday. The following day they did only one trip with the house content in the same van even though I have a LOT of stuff. Downsizing is not easy.

And here is the garden a few hours later, after all the plants have gone. Not exactly an empty garden, I have left the new tenant a few shrubs. It is hard to believe I have taken out almost 700 plants from this garden!

The Grand Dame of the garden is flowering beautifully, I will miss this camellia. I have tried taking cuttings a few times but they have not taken.

The big Acer in the foreground is one of two plants I will be coming back for in late autumn, when I hopefully have my new garden sorted and a space ready for it.

And the other one is the Rhododendron at the far left here. The rest of the plants will stay. There are lots of hellebore babies and probably lots of spring bulbs I have missed when digging them up. They will spread and multiply over the years.

The huge rose ‘Crimson Cascade’ is staying too, it is almost 6m long and would have been impossible to dig up unless it was cut right down. The lovely peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt' is just about to flower, also staying. I hope the new tenant will appreciate the flowers.

Everything is gone from the patio area, except 2 plants I left as a welcome present for the new tenant. Oh, and my cat is having a last lazy snooze out here, he came with me too of course :-)

All there is left to do is to say ‘Goodbye garden, you have been a great place for almost 14 years.’

And now to my new garden, already looking more like a place of mine – there are plants everywhere!

And there are weeds everywhere too, my first job will be to clear out all the rubbish everywhere and get rid of the weeds and the plants I definitely don’t want, that will give me more space.

Look at that amazing ceanothus in full flower! I really appreciate some of the more mature shrubs and trees in this garden, not so happy about the acanthus that is spread everywhere – that’s going to be a big job getting rid of.

The removal men just dropped the plants in the garden wherever there was a spot and I have tried to move them about a bit so plants for shade and plants for sun are placed in the appropriate place. Not so easy to do on crutches but the crates have proved useful again as I have ended up dragging the crates on the ground. I think I will leave many of the plants in the crates for a while as moving them individually is more difficult.

The plants look a bit sorry in the pouring rain but most of them have tolerated the transport very well, I have no casualties and I have only discovered a few plants so far with minor damage. Amazing really, when you think of all these plants carried through my old house, into a van, out of the van and into the garden – so much could have happened, but they all seem fine.

Now I just need to find out what to do with this garden....I haven’t really started to make any plans yet. I need to clear out everything that needs to go first and get a feeling for what’s for keep. Then I need to decide whether to have a greenhouse or not. I REALLY want one, but not sure where to put one, and also  if I can afford one as I have had so many expenses already. But it would be silly not to put a greenhouse in before I start planting, or at least put off some space for one for later.

I better show you some flowers now, since this is GBBD – here is my dwarf lilac, filling my new garden with its heavenly scent.

There is a lilac in the garden too, right in the middle, not sure I would have put it there, but I won’t remove it so will have to work around it.

This space next to the shed is the most likely spot for a greenhouse, it is very narrow so won’t be a big greenhouse....but I am still thinking about it.

This lovely clematis came with the garden, I am not sure which one it is but it could be either C. 'Royal Velours' or C. Etoile Violette. Any suggestions? It is definitely for keep!

And this rose in the front garden is also for keep, none of my roses or clematises are in flower yet but the plants in my new garden have not been pruned or cut down so that’s why they flower already. I am not sure what rose this is, it looks lovely but it has sadly no scent.

Finding a bungalow here in London has not been easy but when I finally found one it turned out to be a perfect one for me, with a bigger garden than you usually get in inner London – even though it can hardly be called a big garden. But I have always said my garden is the most important room in my house, and so it will be in my new house.

I hope to make a movie from my new garden at the end of the month, hopefully you will get a better sense of the garden and the current layout, although my pot collection will probably stay the same for many, many months! Until next time, take care.

I am linking my post to Carol at May Dreams Gardens, please visit our host for many more May gardens.