I recently read a delightful poem entitled Live life in warm yellows – Tiffany Munguia and whilst I am pretty sure Tiffany hoped for a more meaningful message through her poem, the M’s were infact at the point of reading, living their lives in warm summer yellows. This vivid colour was not in my original cottage garden plans yet it’s presence this year has been prevalent through swathes of Crown Daisies self-seeded from last summer’s wonderful Wildflower Garden mix. I had decided to let these petals reign this year since the newly planted Cottage Garden had rather a few holes to fill. And so it was, bunches of golden daisies grew strong and tall and frankly claimed this spot as their own. However, we have had a gardening mishap. I thought this week you might like to read and see for yourself what happens when you choose to ignore the great gardening guru Monty Don’s expert advice, offered fairly frequently throughout summer Friday evenings. And I thought too you might like to know how The M’s intend to get over their latest gardening gaff. Join me today as I tell a summer garden tale…
When this story began back in February with a request from me for a pretty fence and cottage planting in front of beautiful Belle, the space looked a little sad and neglected…
I hoped the placing of a pretty painted picket fence together with a few moveable rusty supports and several evergreen shrubs, might create more of a focal point in the long bare winter months ahead. Once the M’s set to with our latest project in early March of this year, many weeks of hard toil created this and although I was happy beyond measure with our combined efforts, the Cottage Garden still had a way to go. Or should I say grow.
Growth in a garden is a slow process when you are watching each seed and plant eagerly and with June proving to be a wet one, I wondered if the Cottage Garden would indeed be a washout this year.
Yet I was reminded not for the first time the importance of both rain and shine in the creation of any garden and in time, Mother Nature complimented our hard work and patience and we were indeed rewarded.
Our Cottage Garden grew grand and plentiful and ooo’s and ahhh’s could be regularly heard from Mr M and I as we enjoyed our summer success. And our now much loved splash of golden yellow Crown Daisies grew ever tall and together with our glorious self-seeded Borage, looked to be the strongest of couplings. I chose to ignore Monty’s wise words “Stake and support tall plants before they are fully grown” since I believed these Crown Daisies would en-masse be, the self-supporting variety.
And for a while they were. Until disaster struck as down poured torrid rain and our yellow sea parted and these once strong and bold plants collapsed. Mr M was dragged away from his beloved sport on tv as I wailed and shrieked rather dramatically, the Cottage Garden was finished and summer over. He pondered and wandered and scratched his head as he quietly hatched a plan to put the catastrophe right.
“These here won’t recover,” he declared waving his arms over several soggy yellow mounds. “They will simply have to come out.” “But that will leave gaping holes everywhere!” I screeched, “and it’s only July, what will I do for the rest of summer?” I still have some way to go before I can safely say I’ve mastered the calm word. I spent a wasted hour with countless pieces of string trying to save my yellow insect haven to no avail. The weakened mounds were duly thinned out and then eventually removed entirely to leave the gaping holes I had feared.
After a strop and a sulk during which I was reminded Mr M was not infact responsible for the adverse weather conditions and he was simply trying to find a suitable solution, I decided to see the potential in this little episode. Maybe it was time for a rethink of our Cottage Garden plans and even a rejig of plants in wrong places. Perhaps this was infact the perfect opportunity to justify the purchase of several new late summer flowering varieties the space lacked. Perhaps a homemade obelisk wouldn’t go amiss and might aid with winter visual interest. There appear to be a few wooden pallets sitting around waiting for their moment. Of course, I’ve yet to share the wooden structure nugget with Mr M, I wanted you to be the first to know.
Join me next week to see how we get on putting the collapsed Cottage Garden back together and I’ll show you too where the lavender hedge and sweet peas are thriving beautifully in preparation for crafts to come later this year. Until then…x
By the way, if you missed the original stories of Belle and the Cottage Garden plans, you can read Parts One, Two or Three by clicking on the appropriate links. And if you would like to see more photos of Belle and The Cottage Garden follow me on Instagram for regular updates.
‘Mr M and his thing-me-jig come to the rescue’ has a certain ring to it don’t you agree dear friend?! Tune in next week to see what happens!x
Aah I’m so glad you enjoyed the chuckle… tune in next week to see how Mr M and this thing-a-me-jig help to sort it out!x
I’m so glad you enjoyed the summer tale Mary Katherine… as my daughter has reminded me; to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail and I have had to learn the hard way. That said, I think you may approve of the resolution, I have a little bit of ‘permanent solution’ in mind myself. Have a lovely week, lovely lady and thanks as always for being here x
Ha ha ha., the words, they come back to bite me Little Miss!!x
I am thinking of hiring him out, any takers?!x
I have a plan… get your saw, hammer and nails ready…!x
Oh no, those poor pretty yellow daisies, they look so sad in their collapsed state. What a shame! The same thing happened in our garden with some big poppies we’ve been growing. The rain left them all droopy! Not a good look!!!
You’ve written another fabulous blog Hels which I’ve enjoyed reading this evening, and I can’t wait to see Mr M work his magic with those wooden pallets! 😄Xx
Oh hels you are wasted…..such great writing. Coffee all over the place again….
Xx
Sorry to enjoy your distress, but what a fun post! I really love the before and after progress photos. The same thing happened to me this year with my Shasta daisies after a hard rain….but I’m just enjoying them lying over on the lawn. Last year I finally built supports for my peonies, that now stay in situ all year, even though they’re ugly chicken wire. I think I’ll do something similar next year for the daisies. but maybe using wood lattice. At least these were volunteers rather than paid-for plants (that shouldn’t make a difference, but it always does to me), and it does give you the opportunity for fall planting and further garden tweaking. Keep us posted!
Oh no!! Your own words ringing in my ears “to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail, Olivia” haha!!! Can’t wait to see how you’ve salvaged this little episode next week! Love so so much how you write these stories xxxx
Mr M …you know you can make anything out of anything!! Can’t wait to see the result! Xx
What’s an Obelisk? Make one out of pallets, you’re having a laugh!!!
Morning lovely friend! I so agree, I thought it would take so much longer than it has. Once I was over that impatient stage, it seemed to just grow. There is so much there from your beautiful garden, Bears Breech, Geraniums, Solomons Seal, Hostas… they all came through and the thought of doing the same again in Autumn, thank you, my cottage garden will be a mini version of your own beautiful oasis!x
I think what is amazing about this story is how your cottage garden has transformed from February to now!……. isn’t nature just wonderful?…… of course with a lot of hard work from both Mr and Mrs M! And don’t forget to pop over in the autumn to see what you might like from our garden. 💕🌼🌻💕
It’s a mistake I shall certainly learn from Helen that’s for sure! Dahlias are on my list for next year… my teeny tiny offerings are sweet yet quite hopeless and now I’ve exposed the iris bulbs, fingers crossed for those for next year too… have a lovely week my friend and thanks for stopping by!x
Oh Helen I would have been devastated too. I made that mistake last year with my dahlias. This year I can just about get to them to cut them I’ve supported them so much. Your iris bulbs are coming on a treat, much better than mine. It was natures way of telling you to go plant shopping.😘xx