The zones

Last week we organized plants on the terrace into zones: coastal, meadow, wetland and woodland. Stephen reckoned that a woodland needs more than two trees (!), so the field maple and rowan trees are now joined by Piney, a Scots pine.

In the process, my list of plant species expanded to 137. That’s almost one tenth of the 1,400 distinct species that are native to Britain, although admittedly 20-ish of ours are actually non-native.

We also did a massive repotting. Many plants were in the wrong kind of soil or were being out competed by red campion. Several - like our heathers - look truly miserable after the tough summer. I’m hoping that some fresh ericaceous soil will revitalize them. We pruned back more of the dead flowers and stalks than we should have and I feel bad for the insects that might have wanted the shelter. We’ll be more careful. next year.

Here’s a photo of the coastal zone, with our Charles Bound pot and platter.

Here’s part of the meadow, with Norwich cathedral in the background. the video footage is of our solar-powered bird bath that the blue tits enjoyed earlier this year:

This is the pond and wetland, with the fabulous devil's-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) that the carpenter bees have been loving. The pond has a solar-powered bubbler to prevent mosquitos from breeding:

And here’s the woodland and log garden, with a second bird bath. The woodland is loved by our lazy cat. You can see Piney in the second photo. Behind it is the plate of drinking water on the balcony ledge that’s popular with the crows and wood pigeons:

The photo below shows the length of the terrace, taken from the woodland. At the far end is our young hedge of privet and hawthorn. There’s a bee hotel with several of the bamboo rooms taken. The exterior wood of the hotel is disintegrating, we’ll need to find a new one next year. Our fabulous composter is tucked away in the corner by the hedge. We haven’t emptied it this year, and it continues to gobble up our vegetable waste!:

I have a few more plants to repot. Most of all, I’m looking forward to learning about them and the creatures that visit them.