Bare for now

At this time of year the garden is fairly flat and dull. The large lawn was uninteresting and weed ridden, over the last year I have been creating new beds and trying to bring in a little more interest.

The pergola was finished in September, it looks naked now but there are two honeysuckles, four roses and two clematis planted which hopefully will soon cover the eight corners. The beds have Abelia, Lantana, and a couple of bushes whose name I have lost but last year were smothered in purple flowers from June to October.

Two things that never seem to prosper in our garden in Serinya are Clematis and Borganvilla. Other houses grow Bouganvilla with apparent success but mine either get eaten, frozen or just kick the bucket.

Spring comes early here so we should see growth in February. I will watch the clematis with interest, I have coddled it, fertilised the ground and shaded the roots from the quite fierce sun we had in September. Fingers crossed.

I am giving up on veggies this year, was intending to erect a mini poly tunnel, but as we are intent on moving thats been shelved. Don't want to make the iceberg starved among you jealous but veggies are so abundant and cheap here that the effort seems to outstrip the gain. Going to concentrate on herbs in planters for smell, butterfly attraction and ease.