Welcome to my garden in all her late Spring glory. For the garden tour I am wearing cinnamon cotton pants paired with a saffron and pink shirt from Luisa Cerrano topped with one of my all time favourites, a chartreuse linen duster from Apuntob.
When we purchased our house over 40 years ago the garden consisted of an old mulberry tree (still here and fruiting every year) , a few hydrangeas , a flowering cherry and two japonicas. In the early years most of our time and money was spent renovating the house with scant regard to the garden.
My first planting was a Guelder rose (or snowball tree) as there was a magnificent tree in our family garden and I was keen to preserve the memories . I also planted a few camellias , now fully grown trees that delight every Spring.
Roses had always been a great love of mine , particularly old roses and David Austin Roses, for their form and their wonderful scent , no point in growing roses without scent in my book. The pretty pink climbing rose on the side fence is Constance Spry and she has a luscious must scent.
This luscious blowsy one is another David Austin , The Dark Lady.
The rose walk is planted with white and yellow roses, Crepuscule is the name of the buff yellow one at the entrance. Two white heritage rose , Sombreuil and Lamareque make quite a statement with their abundance of blooms .
You can see the two white roses to the left of the cottage . Clever husband built the cottage over 20 years ago and it is his workshop. I planted a white garden at the front of the cottage but this not entirely successful, work needed this Autumn.
The white rose is a damask , Mme Hardy and only flowers once but the abundance of flowers and their fragrance make up for this. The unusual blue ixia reminds me of my late mother as they were always in her garden, the pink rose is The Childrens Rose.
Until this year I have never had any luck growing peonies but this Winter I decided to give it one last chance. I bought three root stock plants from a grower at our local market and viola I have a total of 8 flowers , I am over joyed.
Teasing Georgia , a David Austin, with lupins and more white climbers in the background.
The white trellis Summer House ( also built by my clever husband)and surrounding garden is our family tribute to our daughter India, who passed away from a brain tumour in 2001. Pink was her favourite colour , hence a selection of various pink roses, Sharifa Asma, Pierre de Ronsard , New Dawn.
More rambling white roses Adelaide d’Orleans, Felicite et Perpetue , Rambling Rector with some of the many self sown lupins that seem to be taking over , they are so pretty I don’t have the heart to remove them this year.
I enjoy growing old roses for both their scent and the history.This soft pink one is Fantin- Latour , the first old rose I acquired. The variegated one is Variegata de Bologna and dates to the turn of the century.The scent of theses roses is like stepping back in time.
I do hope you have enjoyed a wander around my garden today.
Linking with Mica for Weekday Wear, Jess for Turning Heads Tuesday , Jacqui for Chic and Stylish, Gail for Wow on Wednesday , Nancy for Fancy Friday.
Oh that is so gorgeous. I love everything about the UK and your garden looks like a English one in my head. I adore it. What a beautiful tribute to your daughter Jill, I can imagine that is a beautiful comfort place.
Author
Thank you so much Nancy . I am the same and love English gardens . It is a similar climate here and many of our gardens are very English. xxx
What a simply wonderful garden – you really are ace at gardening and how lovely to remember your daughter this way. When someone passes instead of flowers I love to give relatives a rooted rose.
I know your roses are lovely but your lupins are divine – great post
Author
Thank you so much Penny , as you can tell I do enjoy my garden. I am the same and often give a potted rose .
Oh Jill your garden is so beautiful! I love the roses and profusion of lupins. I also am a big fan of David Austin roses and planted a new bare root last week. I’ve never seen blue ixia before, it’s stunning among the other colours. I’ve never been successful with peonies but your success gives me hope. Your garden is a lovely memory of your daughter. The outfit is equally stylish and blends really well with the colours.
Author
Thank you so much Gail . You are lucky as there are so many more David Austin roses available in the UK than here. It has taken many attempts before I finally had success with peonies and am thrilled to bits. The outfit colours are a change for me but I am pleased with them and know I will wear it heaps over the Summer.
ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!
DID I TELL YOU TO DO A POST ON YOUR GARDEN?WELL,I HAVE MEANT TO FOR SOMETIME NOW!!
THE LUPINE!!!!I CANNOT GROW THEM!!!!
I have a few of the same roses!NEED CONSTANCE SPRY HOWEVER!
WHAT IS YOUR SPRING SEASON……..NOW UNTIL WHEN?
THIS CONTESSA MUST COME AND SEE ONE DAY!!
XX
Author
Thank you Elizabeth , this is the best time for the garden. I am not sure if you suggested a garden post , will check back. Most of these lupins are self sown and I do need to cull some when they finish flowering. I think we share some of the same yellow roses. I would recommend Constance Spry, it is easy and a stunner. We are now at the end of our Spring and the weather is warming up. It would be wonderful if you visited one day. xx
I already admired your outfit on Instagram. Such yummy colours, those cinnamon coloured trousers in particular. The chartreuse of your duster is its perfect companion. And oh, those Lupins! They are quite simply amazing! I have tried them several times but they simply refuse to grow in my garden. I love how they playfully interact with those splendid roses in your garden.
I agree with Nancy that your garden looks like a quintessential rambling English cottage garden. The kind of garden my heart belongs to and the reason I started gardening in the first place.
What a wonderful tribute to your daughter! xxx
Author
Thank you Ann , these spice colours are a change for me but I do rather like them. I wonder why lupins don’t grow for you , most of these are self sow and do seem to be taking over. I agree they do play nicely with the roses. I am the same and have always loved English gardens.
It is absolutely beautiful! Like a little heaven on earth, an oasis!
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
Author
Thank you so very much Mirielle .I do enjoy escaping to the garden.
Ohh your garden is stunning! I love the big blousey (love that word) magenta one! So sorry to hear about your daughter – that is heartbreaking. I’m sending you a big hug – we just don’t know what’s around the corner do we!
Thanks for linking up my friend. x Jacqui
Author
Thank you Jacqui , I agree blousey is such a great word. True none of us really know what life has in store for us. Always enjoy your link up.
This garden looks absolutely gorgeous! I hope to get a chance to visit there!
Author
Thank you so much Shauna.
I love the colours in your outfit together but the colours in your beautiful garden definitely standout more! How pretty! I don’t have a green thumb at all (have killed cacti and succulents!) but I would love a garden like this…someone else would have to do it though haha!
Thanks so much for joining the #WeekdayWearLinkup! Hope you are having a great weekend 🙂
Author
Many thanks Mica , the outfit colours are a bit of a change for me but I rather like them. The garden was at its best when I took the photos. I dare say with your little ones you would have very little time for gardening anyway. Always my pleasure to join your link up.
Your garden is absolutely sublime (Hello by the way! I popped over from Vix’s blog as I love to find new blogs to read and new bloggers to get to know!) – you have worked so hard at it over the 40 years you said you have been there- it is wonderful to see. I love roses and peonies and the lupins are wonderful too. You have so many areas in your garden.
I rented a house for 2 years before buying this house and the couple that had lived there before I moved in had lived there for well over 50 years and there were SO many wonderful Roses in that garden as well as other joyous shrubs and plants. When I started to properly prune things (they were elderly and the man was bed-bound for a few years before he died), they started to flourish and I saw SO many amazing varieties of Rose flourish- there was the Love and Peace tea rose which was Yellow and purple in one- it was right by the patio windows and it was a vision (My name means Love and Peace so I felt specially about that). There was also Rosamundi which was wonderful-smelling and again, I felt connected to it because my Mum’s name is Rosamunde. There was also a rose which was bright pink and white splattered! When we bought our house, we gained a considerably smaller garden with lovely shrubs but nothing as special as in that garden. It was a privilege to have it for 2 years!
Author
Hello Kezzie , I agree it is always good to meet others bloggers that we haven’t connected with. I am sure the garden in your rented house was all the better for the love and care you gave to it. I am so glad you enjoyed my garden when it looked its best , after a few hot days followed by rain it has suffered a bit now. thank you for visiting , all the best, Jill.
Oh I love your garden! The flowers are so beautiful!
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Author
Thank you so much Lovely, glad you enjoyed seeing my flowers.
Love your Blog…was introduced to you by the Contessa in her blog…Excited to see more from you…
Author
Thank you so much Carole I am pleased to connect with you through the wonderful Contessa.
I came from Contessa’s blog introduction. It’s great that you both have the yellow and white flower connection! I love your garden. Even if you think the lupines are taking over, they do look so wonderful-I hope you let them spread. Your pink flowers are a sweet tribute to your India.
Enjoy the spring- summer is alomost here! 🙂
Author
Thank you so much Mary I am so pleased to meet you through the Contessa. The lupins are here to stay as they add such a variety of different colours to the garden. The best of the late Spring flowers are almost done now as we head in to Summer.