The hot border has Lynchnis chalcedonica, gaillardia Goblin, eryisimum Apricot Twist, geum Mrs Bradshaw,potentilla William Rollinson and nasturtiums.
The cool blue border has aquilegia Barlow Blue, delphiniums, salvia Forskallii, centaurea montana and several geraniums.
The white border has cistus corbariensis, geranium Kashmir White, white lilies, phlox White Admiral, gillenia and dianthus Devon Dove.
The pink border has phlomis, linaria, erodium manescavii, centaurea dealbata, campanula lactiflora and medium, malva Mystic Merlin and geranium Wargrave Pink.
Sorbaria Sem and spiraeas have attractive leaves. Philadelphus coronarius aureus, physocarpus Dart's Gold and sambucus Sutherland Gold have lovely golden foliage. Cotinus coggyria and sambucus Black Lace have deep brown foliage.
Clematis Miss Bateman has gorgeous large white flowers and clematis tangutica Radar Love is covered in yellow bells. Climbing roses Paul's Scarlet and Goldfinch are blooming.
This week's star plant is the lovely fragrant philadelphus Innocence with attractive variegated foliage and pristine white blooms. Coming close behind are philadelphus Virginal and several of our smaller hebes on the wall which are giving a magnificent display of colour.
Still in flower we have potentillas delphiniums, alstroemeria, astrantias, rock roses, sisyrinchium striatum, primula beesiana, lychnis Vesuvius,sweet williams and canterbury bells and campanula poscharskyana.
New into flower we have our first kniphofia, azalea Deny's White, verbena Claret, honeysuckles and cistus varieties.
The patio has the first of lilies and dahlias opening. They are rather late this year. The aeoniums and eucomis make a good contrast.
The Crystal Garden has several projects underway which hopefully will be complete by mid-summer.
Last year's blue and yellow prairie bed full of summer perennials is being joined this year by a pink and purple summer bed of similar size and a smaller white and red border. These beds are now enclosed by new grassy paths.
Over the winter we cleared another patch of brambles and scrub along-side the long lawn and created two new borders for bedding displays; one centred by a large stone and the other encircled by large stones for contrast. Bedding plants and annuals are now being laid out.
Over the Spring we are clearing back some of the wild grassland in a project we are calling 'Scrub-land into Shrub-land' and we are adding to our collection of hardy flowering shrubs.
All the borders are being widened to allow a wider range of sizes of plants to be accommodated.
