A mystery tree

K has been doing more research on our potential new garden and we have a tree in the middle of it and we have absolutely no idea what it is. Here are photos - please can anyone help?

If anyone can shed any light on this, I'd be really grateful! Thank you. Don't forget to admire the newly cut-down grass in the first photo - it was 3 times the height last week! Well done for this to K.

In the meantime, we've discovered that we have an elder tree, and a clematis fighting for domination in the muddle behind the summer house, along with a few other things. The clematis is on the wire fence and we were thinking of getting rid of it, not knowing what it is, but now we know we're planning to keep it. If we replace the wire fencing (ah, plans, plans!...) with a trellis fence, then it should be able to go up there. Shouldn't it? I hope so anyway. We don't want a solid fence anyway as it cuts off the view to the wood. The only problem is trying to discourage the deer in the wood from coming into the garden too often - they're beautiful indeed, and magical to spot one in the mornings - but now we're potential garden-owners, then our view of the local wildlife is changing somewhat. They certainly did ruin the neighbour's lovely roses, and I do so love roses, so hope we can somehow reintroduce them into the garden. Ooh, and sunflowers would be nice too - I really like them. No idea if we can grow them here though. We think the soil is the well-draining loamy variety (which is good, I think) but we're not sure. It's certainly not very clay-like. And not so sandy either.

There's also a rather pretty blue flowering plant in the bed next to the fence, which we've discovered is a plumbago. Yes, that is apparently a real name. Here's one:

Ain't it beautiful? Other good news is that the heuchera are still there on Day 2 of their planting. Good old Georgie and Rose - I just knew they'd be troopers. They had that look about them in the shop. What we need, you see, are plants that are good with beginner gardeners and know how to handle our fumblings. We can't be doing with prima donna plants - way way too terrifying ... The only issue I have with G & R now is exactly how much I need to water them to encourage the roots to grow (which is what the book says - see below). I'm thinking maybe every couple of days, depending on the weather, but if anyone thinks that's wrong please do say!

By the way, the book we're relying on most to help us through the terrifying learning process is the very readable and highly useful How To Garden which we bought at Wisley, and which has a very reassuring front cover:

Perfect for beginners in that it gives great information in a non-scary/technical way. And there's lots of pictures about what is a plant and how to dig, tools you should have and what soil is etc etc. Just what we need indeed.

We are now pondering the further mysteries of compost bins and what to do with them. Apparently two small ones are better for a small garden rather than one large one that takes an age to fill. And at least it will be something to do with that mess we're creating behind the summer house, hey ho.

Anne Brooke