Garden Pictures 2015

An archive of the picture gallery from 2015. The oldest pictures are at the bottom of the page. Time flows from left to right → → on any row. Click on any picture to see a larger scale version. As you scroll down a 'return to the top' button will appear in the lower right corner of the screen.

It had rained so much in early September that the dam was soon spilling copiously;	But the sun was soon shining again and the 2015 hedge work was finished ...	... and the opportunity taken to cut down the seven conifers along the western boundary [seen here from up on the new flat roof of the 1970's utility room extension];	That vantage point also allowed inspection of a very particular garden, normally above our heads;
Towards the end of August it was time to start taming the beech hedge, pruning out the smaller material below the final height ...;	... and trying for a straight line along the front;	By the first week of September the first of the topping had started;	On September 6 we constructed a temporary dam across Winter Stream to create a wildlife pond to share with the school; the trench below it was to be the foundation for the permanent dam - if the weather had not been so wet;
On July 31 Richard, our favourite tree man, started tackling the overgrown trees on the western boundary; the one at the front was a spruce ...	... but covered in ivy which made it difficult to deal with;	In the end, though, it was short enough to bring down without endangering the wires which ran close by;	At the back were two chamaecyparis types; this one was stripped and topped by the end of the day to be felled a few days later;
The upstairs carpets were all ripped out in May, in preparation for the re-wiring; they make a useful mulch to suppress [some of] the weeds in the kitchen garden;	In July we noticed quite a large wasps' nest up in the beech hedge; in the detail a wasp can be seen entering the nest;	A few days later we found this slow worm, Anguis fragilis, when moving rubbish to load a skip;	At the very end of July we solved the mystery of the sucking noises coming from the small pond in the kitchen garden : small carp;
There is wild garlic growing in the NE of the glebe land May 12 2015; this is three cornered garlic, Allium triquetrum;	Work started on fencing the western edge of the glebe land May 12 2015; this picture from early morning;	The first sections were in place by the end of the day May 12 2015; supply and erection by Richards Fencing;	A week or so later and the fence was complete;
The SW of Home Garden May 01 2015; compare with the picture below as the clearance continues;	A garden visitor May 02 2015; this handsome fellow had just had a fight with another male [while the female ran away!]; it passed within 2 metres of Mike as he gardened, almost chuckling to itself; there is a second picture too;	The first planting, a Salix x sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', May 02 2015; bought from English Woodlands and planted [after much clearing of brambles and stinging nettles] on the banks of Winter Stream;	Close to the front door May 02 2015; a clump of asparagus has sprung up, slightly south of the cyclamen in the picture above;
The SW of Home Garden Feb 14 2015; from the left : bed of brambles, large oak heavy with ivy, holly and hazel hiding the view, overgrown prunus lusitanica and mahonia, bed of brambles;	The NE house corner Feb 20 2015; this Chamaecyparis(?) was enthusiastically blocking the garage door; [it is now gone!]	The E of Home Garden Mar 02 2015; crocus flowering below a set of rampant Rhus typhina suckers;	Close to the front door Mar 02 2015; clump of cyclamen coum flowering freely;