Front garden

Winter is a good time to sort out hard landscaping as the plants have died back and don't get in the way as much. Jim from Acme came last Saturday and put some rope-topped edging and gravel in to replace the concrete slabs. I think it looks a bit less like a car park and more Victorian now.

The net result is that there is more earth uncovered, so it is now time to plant some more hellebores in the gaps. I am a little concerned about this because I have just realised that hellebores like alkaline soils and the camellias and magnolia stellata prefer acid. Not perhaps the best planting scheme then, even though it seems to have worked so far.... Another concern is the rose in the background (Mme Alfred Carrère) which has spent another season with mildew and without flowering. I will see how it fares with more water and feeding next year.