Just a catch up. Due to my lack of blogging I haven’t done an update on the garden – both here in Yorkshire and the one at the cottage in Scotland.
Starting in Scotland –
During the winter months we set about clearing some of the dead branches in the upper wood and pruning a few self seeded Elders whilst the undergrowth lay dormant. Milk crates we have found are a necessity in a big garden – they have a multitude of uses! You may see it featuring in a lot of my photos.
Below in comparison is the same view on our last visit at the beginning of June now the trees are in leaf. 
We hadn’t been to the cottage since the end of March and this is what met us – a lovely wild flower garden however, this is actually lawn or should I say grass as it is nowhere near lawn quality and sadly it had to be cut.
Remember the stream to the sea after the flood when part of the banking was washed away with the little bridge.
Below is the same banking last year – the grass has started to grow on the bare earth.
This is what it looked like at the beginning of June – such a big improvement.
The wild flowers are coming back and providing little pockets of colour. I am hoping the large yellow flag Irises will take root again.
And soon it will be back to how it was except of course a lot wider than before the flood.   If you want to read about our cottage and the flood go to the menu bar above.
Anyone who is a regular reader of my blog will know about my beloved pond and the excavation work that has been going on to uncover the buried stones. This is what I found last April.
We added a plank to the top of the old posts to form a seat and planted some Primulas here and there which are nicely self seeding around the pond.
And this is what it looked like when we visited at the beginning of June – flanked with Rogersia and Aconitum, wild yellow Iris and Primula it is looking quite lush. It is one of my favourite spots and if ever you can’t find me in the garden always look here first!
 
And now in our tiny Yorkshire garden – at the moment this is my favourite little corner – it is the shady side of the garden – Viburnum Tinus, Escallonia (I am not sure of the variety but it is deciduous) dripping in sprays of tiny pink flowers and forming a beautiful canopy over the corner. 
The large fibreglass dish beneath was my dads and he had it planted with annuals and grasses but I like it empty and will probably fill it with water when our water butt is back in action and we have some rain.
I was really excited to see the Peony I bought two years ago has at last produced a flower – I can’t even remember the name so if anyone can identify it do tell me.
The black ironwork stand above was another item I brought from my dad’s garden – it is not really my thing but it reminds me of dad and it has actually grown on me and when planted up with annuals and trailers it stands in the corner of the patio and gives the arrangement of pots some height.
The Sweet Peas or rather the would be – no flowers to be seen yet and still a way to grow unless I have got a dwarf variety.
I have had to dismantle the display on the patio to put the pots into a shadier place in the garden whilst we are away. Fingers crossed they don’t dry out in the heat.
And lastly do you remember we have been waiting all winter to have the house re-pointed – I thought the weather was never going to stop raining but at last it happened on the weekend of the royal wedding and then DH cleaned up the brick work with water and a stiff brush – it looks like a new house again now.
So that is the update – and we are now about to embark on another gardening marathon at the cottage so stay tuned. We never know quite what to expect when we go up and it has been a good three weeks since we were last there. On the Mull 3 weeks is a very long time and the mild micro climate means everything grows really quickly including the weeds.
back soon x
 
where the journey takes me 2 