The pond and its flower border have been taking up much of my time this year so far.

uilt in January and slowly planted up throughout the spring, it is beginning to take shape.

The pond sits in a comma shaped border.  I decided on a warm colour scheme from pale lemon yellow through to scarlet and bronze.  In early April the few herbaceous plants donated from Mum, or moved from elsewhere, were dormant sticks.  In the last couple of months they have burst forth and look very healthy.

When I planted them I tried to visualise what it would look like.  Some things have worked and can stay put but I will be very busy this autumn digging things up and moving them around.  I have some very scarlet flowers – like  Geum “Mrs Bradshaw” which are too close to the more raspberry  Achillea “Fanal”.  Also the Sisyrinchium are too tall where they are and would look better with the taller Helianthus and Solidago.

The annuals are doing their job too – Californian poppies adding splashes of tangerine orange silk and the marigolds still to flower but bulking up nicely.

In the pond the aquatic plants have gone berserk, gobbling up the nutrients in the water which has left it lovely and clear.  We have been eagerly awaiting our first amphibian and a few days ago a newt appeared.  That was topped days later by the arrival of a duck although she only stayed for a few minutes.

If we have frog spawn (or newt or toad spawn!) next spring I shall be elated!