We had been warned that our weather is going to be more extremes of everything and they certainly seem to be right. After 6 weeks drought with very high temperatures, we now have had almost non stop rain, some days it is torrential, but thank goodness it is also a lot cooler. The plants are looking a lot happier and hydrangea heads that were only half size last time I posted about them, are now normal size again.
Agapanthus are flowering all along the driveway border.
Thank goodness, we have now had some rain and the garden is looking a lot better for it. After such a long hot, dry spell with temperatures much higher than they should have been, the plants and I are much happier. The ground was rock hard so no weeding could be done, I have no excuse now! Wandering around yesterday, taking photos for today, I was impressed at how well the plants had coped without any rain, it must be my heavy clay soil! I’ll start again with my Yucca which is the star of the garden at the moment, but this one is on the other side of the steps onto the lawn at the side. This yucca has stayed as one plant, unlike the other which has split into 3.
My yucca glows with the sun behind it, you certainly can’t miss it when you come out of the back door.
After a month of very dry weather with temperatures that are far too high for me, the plants in the garden are, by and large, doing very well by themselves without any extra attention from me. This is just as well as lugging watering cans round to water my pots and recent plantings is enough, thank you very much. We had a little rain last night, along with lots of lightning and just a little thunder, but nowhere near enough and today we will be back to soaring temperatures again.
Yucca filamentosa is the surprise of the month. I planted it about 25yrs ago and this is the first flower that I have had inthe last 23 yrs! This plant has also split into 3 and another one has started flowering now.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Deb's Garden Blog – Journal
Diary of a Suburban Gardener