The back garden - an oasis of calm?

Oh lordy I think these builders are really trying to drive me mad and I'll tell you a secret, it's working! I just what to go out there, turn off all their generators and if possible find their own personal volume dials and make them all QUIETEN DOWN!! Arrrghhhhhhhh.

It is a glorious day, a t-shirt day and when you get those in April in N. Ireland it is usually time for a celebration let me tell you! But no, here I am inside trying desperately to hide from the noise and the choking dust (they are doing lots of drilling today and the sky is full of cement/concrete/plaster dust) oh and all the blasted white vans - I swear I think ALL the white vans in the country have descended on to our little road, most of them triple parked outside my front door!

So enough ranting, thank you for letting me get that off my chest.

The last bed was filled with soil on Saturday and the bestest horse manure in the land. Andrew knows a lady from school/work now too, whose family owns stables not too far from here! Oh joy upon joys, we went up and they said we could take as much horse poo as we liked = happiness! (Okay I have to point out I am NOT scatological, well not anymore scatological than any other gardener, hahaha) The heap was huge, taller than me by a good margin and not only warm but positively hot and steamy (oh lord this does sound like a porn post about poo - so wrong on so many levels).

So the bed was filled with the displaced 'soil' from in and around it, poo and lots of multi-purpose compost and lots of ericaceous compost for the planting pockets. Thank goodness for big name budget supermarkets - we got all that compost for a great price ;) We have all the main plants ready to go in AND Andrew just walked in through the door with a lovely looking azalea, the last piece of the puzzle. I have asked him to draw a wee picture for you of what is going where but I have a sneaking suspicion that he might be out there planting them instead, haha.
He is!! Couldn't hold himself back and who can blame him?

So what have we got. Well, the Paper or Canoe Bark Birch 'Betula Papyrifera' went in first. It's only fair as it's been waiting there on the patio in a pot for the longest time. This is one of our favourite variety of tree the bark, for which it is known, is stunning and I look forward to the tree settling in and growing up so we can enjoy it. Maybe one day Andrew will make a canoe from it (as the Native American Indians do) and we can sale away :)

Then the gorgeous Witch Hazel 'Hamamelis × intermedia 'Diane' (red/orange flowers), a 'Blood of China' red Camelia (in bud) and lastly our newest arrival, a rosy/red Azalea 'Nico' (also in bud). I am so excited ~ this really is looking like a real garden!!

 

The Camelia was a real find, I personally really wanted one as I love the foliage, so glossy and dark throughout the seasons but everywhere we looked they were ridiculously overpriced. That is until Andrew was browsing the internet and saw that the very same big name budget supermarket had a load coming in last Thursday - well he was at the door before they opened to get the best one - hahahaha. I love him and his thrifty ways - it really pays to look around! This specimen was actually on the short list and it's bigger and stronger than any of the ones we saw in the nurseries = SCORE!

And just to finish off this post....most of the builders have all packed up and left - one generator is still going but that's ok, for now. Ahhhhhh and now it has stopped; time for a nap Maggie? I think so too...