Thinking about Dahlias and Ferns

 I've been thinking and dreaming and getting excited about creating a Dahlia bed .

Dreaming about having a crazy riot of colour !

I have had the Kilmarnock Willow cut down to create a nice big space for it . Only thing I have to do is get rid of the stump and all the Ivy that has been creeping about underneath it . I had hoped that the tree surgeons would have taken it out for me .... but I guess they ran out of time . So I will have to sort it out myself , or else it will come back with a vengeance .

The young Monkey Puzzle Tree will now have space to do it's awesome thing .

This was the first one of four that I grew from seed and it is looking proper sexy !

I pulled out two wheel barrow loads of brambles and Ivy roots and tore out  a rubbish sheet of weed membrane . I have covered the willow tree stump with it for the time being as I couldn't face working on this area anymore for today .

 Two wheel barrow loads of back breaking , arm wrenching weeds and the pink wheelbarrow full of willow shoots we cut down the other day . 

Tomorrow we will have a bonfire  .

Seeing the Camellias beginning to bloom gave me another burst of energy .

...and I tidied up the other side of that bed behind the Chamaerops humilis  and removing some of it's leaves . 

Chamaerops humilis grows as a clump and I just like to keep it in a bit of order , to reveal it's lovely trunks and also so that I can see the old lawn roller .

In the pictures above , you can see the Agave americana variegata ,the Sweet pea tub and this Agave ferox are still under some protection . I have been trying to find a really big new cloche for this one . The old cloche was falling to bits and causing more harm than good .

I peered in to my Fern Garden  (the miserable dark damp space behind the garage ) .

The ferocious winter gales had finally smashed down the gate .

It is in here that I mainly grow ferns , not only because I love them , but also in memory of my grandfather who loved them and had a fine collection of them , so I am told .

In the heat of the summer it is a lovely cool place for me to sit and sew or read a book  .We used to have a bench in there .

It really is at it's most beautiful , in the Spring , as the new crosiers begin to unfurl .

So with that in mind , I begin to clear more Ivy , brambles and wretched stinging nettles . 

With the wheel barrows full all three , and me with no strength left in me to empty them , I left another three piles of weeds . 

I might get back to it tomorrow , if I,m not aching too much . AND

I'll try and take some better pictures of inside my secret fern garden . 

 I love you . See you tomorrow x