Well, what can I say about the weather this week, especially on Tuesday. Everything seems to be against me getting out into the garden and tidying it up at the moment. Tuesday we were warned that it would be bad, I did manage to do a session of weeding first thing in the morning, but then the storm arrived, with a vengeance.
We had torrential rain and thunder all afternoon, then for about an hour it seemed to be overhead along with lightning, which wasn’t very nice, then to cap it all we had hailstones for about half an hour. It then had the nerve to be sunny in the evening! Needless to say, everywhere was flooded once more, lapping against the back door which it has only done once before in 30 odd years. Hosta and hydrangea leaves have suffered once again from the hailstones…….hey ho, such is life! I have managed to find 6 flowers that aren’t too battered!
No 1.
The Wisteria on the garage has started flowering with lots of buds to follow on.
a lovely perfume greets me whenever I got to get the car in or out.
No 2
The first of my dwarf bearded iris to flower, this one in on the scree. Love its little pale blue beard!
No 3
Clematis Guernsey Cream on the archway into the woodland. I think it would prefer more sun but apart from that it seems happy where it is.
No 4
A seedling Aquilegia which has arrived from somewhere, but looking very bedraggled in the rain!
No 5
The main rhododendron season is just starting, not counting the one that flowers just after Christmas. My rhododendrons have suffered in the heat last summer, some are fine but some are almost dead, I’m hoping I can revive them and some are definitely dead and have been dug out.
No 6
My first daylily to flower, this is a very small one on the rockery, the rest, all tall, will flower in July.
It was bought such a long time ago, so the name has got lost I’m afraid, nice one though. It might be H. Corky but don’t quote me on that!
Those are my six for this week, the weather is supposed to be wall to wall sunshine today, let’s hope it is correct and I can get more work done. Thanks once more must go to Jim at Garden Ruminations for hosting, do pop over to see what other gardeners are getting up to in their gardens, you might be surprised!
I do enjoy seeing Wisteria in flower. It is a favourite of mine.
Mine too Rosie, I look forward to this time of year.
Goodness me, you do seem to have had some miserable weather. I hope you got your promised sunshine today. I love the bearded iris and the cream flowered clematis.
We did Catharine, but the last two days have been wonderful, so a lot of work has got done, thank goodness. The little iris is very special, more buds coming.
Tuesday was horrendous weatherwise with all that rain, thunder and lightening – although I think we avoided hail here. That Clematis Guernsey Cream is rather lovely. I think I need to find space for a day lily or two – that one seems to be sunshine in floral form.
Tuesday was so awful, but yesterday and today have made up for it Graeme, I got so much weeding done, still loads more to do though. The little day lily is just the right size for the rockery, I like your description of it!
Lovely aquilegia photo! They look like a woman with a dripping rain hat..
Very true Fred, everything was soaking wet the day I took the photo!
Well what an exciting day you had weather-wise! Clematis Guernsey Cream is a lovely colour and seems to have survived the adverse weather very well indeed.
That’s one way of putting it Denise, looking back at last year we had a day like that last May too! The clematis is quite well protected where it is on the archway, that’s probably why it survived.
The weather has not been kind to you but I see from the comments things have improved. Glad the sun found you, Pauline. Your Clematis Guernsey Cream is lovely.
The last 2 days have been wonderful Susie, sunshine all day long! I made the most of it and managed to get a lot of work done.
Did you find that some of your rhododendrons were completely unaffected? That is the case here, where some are flowering as normal and others have very ugly leaves and no sign of any blooms – although 2 of the latter have solitary blooms. It must depend on position, I suppose, and some must have been more sheltered than others. That’s a very humble but nevertheless pretty little day lily, in a pleasingly soft shade of yellow
Yes, Cathy, some of my rhododendrons shrugged off the heatwave as if it wasn’t a problem at all, so at least I didn’t lose them all, thank goodness, the same with my hydrangeas. I also like the daylily, not big and showy like most of them are, but quiet and unassuming, bringing a bit of brightness to its area of the rockery.