Meant to be?

We had quite an adventure yesterday. Remember I told you about the poorly Hebe, affected badly by the winter?



This is it after I'd cut a lot of the dead branches off - but there are some flowers on two, even so! There's no new growth at the base, though - so it has to go. I shall have to dig up all the plants underneath it and pot them up before we dig the Hebe out.

I decided on an Amelanchier as a replacement, and OH said he'd take me up to a specialist tree Nursery about an hour from here.

We got stuck in an almighty traffic jam on the M5 on the way, so it took almost 3 hours to get there.

I chose an Amelanchier lamarckii from several cultivars, and the lady said she'd wrap it - no, it wasn't a joke - she got out the cling film, and trussed it up! It just fitted into OH's estate car with the top leaves tucked under my chin.



Back on the M5, the traffic going in our direction was heavy, but flowing. Two miles from our junction - disaster! The clutch went. We were so lucky - OH had already moved into the near-side lane, so he was able to steer onto the hard shoulder. We had to wait well over an hour for the AA, standing at the far side of the barrier. It rained of course, and it was cold, too. I really understand why the advice is to get over the safety barrier - the lorries come thundering down, and the traffic and noise is incessant.

The lovely AA man took a quick look under the car, but decided to tow us to a trading estate off the motorway where there's a cafe. Hot tea worked wonders!

He couldn't do anything so he towed us to the village garage via home where I, and the tree, were dropped off.

Well - I have my tree, but what a palaver to get it!



Nice to be able to choose a well-shaped one, though - I didn't realise that some are already 'legged up', making a tall trunk with foliage at the top - that's not what I'd want for my shady area. It wasn't an expression I'd heard before, either.

Interesting to see the very large mature specimens at the Nursery - you'd need a fork-lift truck to move one, and definitely more than one person to help plant it!

No, we certainly won't - but we're safe, so that's all that matters. It could have been really nasty!

Thanks, Blossom. Now we're waiting to see what the garage says about OH's car.

You'll be laughing and talking about you tree buying expedition for years.

Crikey G, what an experience The only compensation is that you ended up with a lovely tree ;D

Not really, it was years ago and I think it was Weston-super-mare the garsge was.

A sad story - with a happy ending. ;D

I had a healhy prostrate Juniper at the top of the stream bank.



This year, small areas started to turn brown, and this got faster as time went on. It was obviously dying.



We left it in until after the open days, then started removing it. My goodness - that was a job! We used secateurs, loppers, my pruning saw, and finally, OH's chainsaw. It took two trailer loads to get it to the tip, and we also have a pile of logs from the trunk. This is the remains beforeOH got the rootball out with his pickaxe.



I got busy with my fork, and removed the smaller roots, then I brought four barrowloads of compost over and dug that in. The space was about 11' x 7'. Where the Juniper had overlapped the lawn, there's a bare patch. I took this photo from an upstairs window to give you an idea of the huge space it left!



I thought about plan 'A' which was to plant evergreens in the space. However, on reflection, I didn't know why the Juniper had died so suddenly. I had sent samples of it to the RHS to see if they could tell me, but I haven't heard anything to date. If it didn't die of 'natural causes', any evergreens I planted could be at risk. So plan 'B' was put into action.

I ordered seven roses in shades ranging from amber to tawny. The delivery was remarkably fast! Exciting boxes arrived within 2 days - the rest followed after the weekend.



The roses were of excellent quality - really healthy and some even in flower, which helped greatly in choosing companions for them.

I love them all, but my absolute favourite is 'Tawny Tiger'.



I had already decided to plant an edging of Lavender - 'Hidcote' for its height and dark purple flowers, and to tie in with the Clematis at the water's edge. I went for two Geranium 'Rozanne' plants for the bottom of the space so they'd spread out, and in between, I planted three Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'which I have already in the hot border - it has a long flowering period.



I came across some Rudbeckias which were a perfect colour to go in the scheme - they're called 'Autumn Shades' and they may or may not be hardy. I'll try to get some seeds from them to grow more for next year.



I also planted six Achillea 'Terracotta' plants.



After all this planting, during which I hurt my back as you need to have one leg longer than the other when you dig at 45 degrees, there were still large spaces, and the bed didn't look 'finished'. I was also concerned that it would look a bit dreary in the winter months, so I got three Heucheras to plant.
This one is called 'Autumn Leaves'.



So that's where I'm up to at the moment. I've thought about adding some Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' plants, as they have the darkest purple flowers, last for ages, and will add some upright shape. That's the next step.

This is what it looks like at the moment.



Today, OH seeded the bare patch on the lawn, and made a frame with wire netting to stop the birds from eating the grass seed.

So - I actually like the new 'look', but I know I'll miss the beautiful green Juniper in the cold months.