June is the most wonderful month, with flowers definitely in abundance and self seeders frothing everywhere. This is the time of year when we used to open our garden under the National Garden Scheme, when we felt it was the best month of the year flower wise, possible when there were two of us working hard making everything tidy. Now with just me and a gardener for 2 hrs a week, it is still very colourful with all the flowers but a bit shaggy round the edges!
To start with, we had lots of wonderful sunsets while we were having all the hot sunny weather last month.
Crocosmia Lucifer started flowering.
Hemerocallis Pink Damask joined in with all the other daylilies.
Butterflies are very welcome, the nectar bar is open as the buddlejas are flowering!
Honeysuckle arrived all by itself and perfumes that corner of the garden.
Inula helenium was given to us one holiday by the farmers wife where we were staying in Kent. It grows to about 8ft tall, I can’t usually photograph it as it is too tall, but this stem had flopped thank goodness, so made it possible!
Phormium Yellow Wave up by the pergola has decided to flower for the first time in about 20 yrs! I have another in the gravel area at the back which is now huge and flowers every few years, I don’t know why they are both so different.
The gardener has clipped all the box balls, they are now looking nice and smart once more.
Malva moschata alba is popping up in various places in the garden, such a pretty flower, I leave it alone as it is never in the wrong place.
Seedlings of Geranium Spinners and Erigeron karvinskianus are colonising the paving outside the back door, I have to admit that I do edit these volunteers otherwise I would be tripping up. Most get moved elsewhere where they won’t cause a hazard!
Seeding gently round the garden are the lovely evening primrose. They are never a nuisance and easily removed if by any chance they come up in the wrong spot. They also bring the goldfinches into the garden in the autumn to feed on the seedheads.
I planted this rose nearly 20 yrs ago when the undergardener first built the pergola. I wasn’t very good at pruning this climber and it shot up the Bramley apple tree next to it, each year I could see a red rose waving at me about 20ft in the air! I bit the bullet last yeat and cut it down to about 4 ft, I now have 3 beautiful roses tied into the pergola upright. The perfume is wonderful and takes me right back to my childhood in the 40’s and 50’s, to me it smells exactly like Ponds cold cream that my mother used to use, and when I smell the rose, she could be standing next to me. No, I can’t remember what the rose is called!
Another little day lily opened just before the end of June, this is a tiny one, I must move it to a better place so it can be seen more easily, this really is tiny compared to most of the others.
Just starting to flower is Clematis Belle Etoille on the pergola. By Saturday there should be lots more flowers open.
Providing a lot of the froth in the garden, Alchemilla mollis tries to take over, but I have to be very strict with her. She pops up in far too many places even though I cut back the flowers as soon as they go over.
Those are the rest of the flowers that didn’t make Six on Saturday in June, lots of colour all round the garden. Despite the weather, they just get on with flowering without any extra attention from me, it’s just the weeds that get my attention! At the moment we are having some serious rain, it started just after coffee this morning and hasn’t stopped all day. To start with it was very light rain, but since lunch it has been quite heavy which should be doing the garden a lot of good and refilling the water buts. Our local weather forecaster says it is the first serious rain we have had down here since the middle of May and I would agree with that. The trouble is, it will make all the weeds grow again!
June’s exuberance can’t help but be a little shaggy round the edges I think ☺️! There’s so much energy bursting out. You’ve certainly got a beautiful selection of flowers to enjoy. We had a good helping of rain yesterday too, for which I am very grateful. I think the courgettes doubled in size over night 🤣.
The rain was lovely yesterday Allison, but things look a bit battered today at the moment, hopefully they will right themselves. I always think June is a wonderful month, so much colour everywhere and so much for the bees and butterflies to enjoy. Enjoy your courgettes!
What a wonderful selection and no wonder you chose the month of June to open your garden. Malva moschata alba is lovely and it really is quite amazing how some flowers have the knack of just appearing in the right places.
I love the self seeders Denise, sometimes I leave too many and regret it later when they do become weeds, but mainly I just enjoy them all. Malva moschata alba is a lovely plant, it seeds about very gently, I was so glad that a friend passed it along to me.
Pauline, you have such beautiful and interesting flowers. I am interested in your Malva moschata alba. Lovely thing. It’s a nice memory the rose brings. Plants carry such special stories.
Thank you Susie, most have been bought for the bees and butterflies, a few just for me! It’s amazing how perfumes can trigger memories isn’t it, even going back 70 or 80 years!
Thank you for sharing your June froth, Pauline – I had to smile at what you said about the NGS as our garden is always shaggy round the edges when we open, but that’s the sort of garden it is! Those box balls are very striking after their trim, aren’t they? I especially like the effect of the self-seeding geranium and erigeron though, but I can see how there would be a limit to your tolerance though!
A pleasure Cathy. When we were opening the garden our NGS committee insisted that everything was perfect, not a weed or wild flower to be seen otherwise the public would phone them and complain. I’m glad they are more relaxed these days. I have to be careful of plants growing where I walk, don’t want to be falling at my age!
Good grief – is that what they insisted on at the time? I am wholly relieved they are more relaxed about it these days!!
Yes, Cathy, they did! When I started having muscle problems in my legs, I knew I couldn’t keep up the standard they wanted, so that was when I gave up. The garden is far more relaxed now and I think looks better for it.
Glad you finally got some decent rain. We’re due some tomorrow. That is a lovely sunset. The box looks very smart now and the blooms are all just lovely, I do like the pretty malva. Good to hear your rose is blooming at a decent height now.xxx
Hopefully we too will get more rain tomorrow, we still need it Dina! My rose is now blooming at just the right height, at nose level so I can easily small it!