Borders bursting with colours.

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Pauline

July has been a very dry month, after a very wet June. I thought such a long time without any rain would have made the borders look dry and stressed by now, but I was wrong. Here in the SW we have only had 3% of our usual July rainfall, this is when I thank our heavy clay soil for keeping my plants going. Suddenly there was colour in all the borders from 3 families of plants, Crocosmia, Hydrangea and Hemerocallis. These aren’t the gentle pastel colours that had been in evidence in June, but the bright reds, yellows, oranges, purples, blues and white.

Crocosmias are thrusting themselves foreward and demanding attention, this is a lovely deep yellow one.

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Reaching for the sky.

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Pauline

My two huge rambling roses, Mulligani, which is climbing up the dead oak in the centre of the garden and Wedding Day which is climbing up an old ash tree in the back garden, are flowering away at the moment, with flowers reaching up into the sky. They only flower for about a month, but are so worth it as they make such a wonderful show.

This is Rosa Mulligani, up the dead oak.

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10 Blooms for June.

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Pauline

It is very hard in the month of June to limit the number of flowers to 10, but I will give it a go.

Best of all at the moment are the roses, they are flowering as never before and for the first time ever I have cut some for the house, but only because there are so many on Rosa Shropshire Lad. I felt the garden could spare them!

Shropshire Lad with Alchemilla mollis.

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June washout so far. GBBD 2019

Posted on June 15, 2019 by Pauline

Where has flaming June got to, we have had nothing but rain and cold winds so far, it can only get better. However, even though the humans are not enjoying the weather, the plants don’t seem to mind at all, buds open and the flowers are lasting longer with it being so cold, definitely a plus. The downside is that the weeds are growing as never before and with it being so wet, I can’t get onto the garden to get them out! Come with me to see what is flowering today, but wrap up warm, it is so cold out there, I’m back in my winter jumpers!

Oriental poppies are flowering profusely, they have flopped a bit but that doesn’t really matter where they are.

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Peony Heaven again!

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Pauline

I am wallowing in Peony heaven again, thanks once more to my lovely daughter. Last week was my birthday and another amazing bouquet arrived in the post from her, you may remember the post I wrote last time, here, this time though with white single peony flowers.

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June means Roses.

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Pauline

All of a sudden roses are opening everywhere in the garden. Most of them are David Austin roses which I am so fond of, but one or two were already here before us and I have added a few ramblers and climbers. The ones I have chosen from David Austin were chosen because of their perfume as well as their beautiful flowers. All the rose bushes seem to have far more flowers than they usually do, maybe due to the hot summer we had last year, I’m not sure, but whatever it is , I approve!

Charles Rennie Mackintosh has the perfect companion in Red Campion which is exactly the same shade of pink/lilac.

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Roundup for May 2019

Posted on June 3, 2019 by Pauline

May was a bit of a strange month weather wise. One minute nice and warm, the next chilly with just a bit of rain. We really haven’t had as much rain as we normally do and the garden certainly needs a good soak. For 2 weeks I wasn’t able to do much gardening as various aches and pains made themselves felt all at once, so I have been trying to catch up with all the weeding necessary.

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Another 10 for May

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Pauline

May is rushing by at an alarming rate, I don’t think I will ever catch up!

Having posted about my flowers on the 15th for Bloom Day, I have found 10 more that have opened since then, they might not be the best in the garden at the moment, but at least they didn’t appear in the previous 2 posts.

English Iris have started flowering by the front drive, in fact, some of them are growing in the gravel and really should be moved into the border!

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Welcome foliage.

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Pauline

Where would our gardens be without foliage, especially at this time of year when it is so fresh and colourful. All around us foliage is bursting into life, uncurling in fascinating colours,  shapes and textures, bringing their own special magic to the garden and setting the flowers off beautifully. My main groups of deciduous foliage belong to plants that like the shade and I wouldn’t want to be without any of them, but there are also lots of silvers, golds and purples that like the sunshine.

Starting with the Hostas, this one is H. June which seems to be happy with a bit more sunshine than my other hostas. At least at this time of year the slugs haven’t started to make their presence obvious.

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The abundance of May. GBBD 2019

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Pauline

The alternating rain and sunshine this month has all the plants rushing to flower at once. It also means the weeds are doing the same, so weeding is the priority at the moment and will be for some time. I will go for my usual wander round the garden, photographing as I go so that I can show you what is happrning here in Devon.

I know I said in a previous post that my rhododendrons were a washout as they had hardly any flowers, probably due to the drought last simmer, but the deciduous azaleas are another matter entirely, they are flowering as never before! This is Rhododendron luteum which has a wonderful perfume.

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