Flowers for July, part 1.

Another month where the sun has been in very short supply, non stop rain most days, all thanks apparently to the jet stream in the upper atmosphere sitting over the south of England. Floods in the nearest town are very depressing for the people living there, we continually have to go the long way round, our usual route seems to be perpetually flooded. In spite of all this plants carry on flowering, some better than usual, so here is my months supply of flowers in the garden. Had to make the most of every moment when the rain stopped for a few minutes, to dash out with the camera and photograph what I could.  This first photo is of a purple leaved Heuchera at the entrance of the woodland, by the bridge over the ditch.

Heuchera

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Welcome to Powderham Castle.

Exeter Southernhay’s Rotary Club held their President’s Day this year at Powderham Castle, which is on the banks of the River Exe in Devon. Thank goodness the rain stayed away but it was still very cloudy with a bitterly cold wind, more like March than July. Before we had our lunch in the grounds we went for a Deerpark Safari, this way we were able to get really close to the fallow deer that live in the park.

Fallow deer

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Roses, roses everywhere.

All the roses that are flowering at the moment are really enjoying all the rain that we are having.  The climbing and rambling roses especially are much better than they usually are, maybe they need more rain than we normally have. Usually I don’t water them at all, I feel that they have to get their roots down deep and use the water that my heavy clay hangs on to, but the difference is something I might have to think about. I will start with the huge R. Mulligani which has climbed up the dead oak.

R. Mulligani

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Maybe one day…..

Maybe one day my bog garden will look as good, although on a much smaller scale, as the one we visited the other day at Marwood Hill Garden. The garden covers 20 acres altogether and contains 3 lakes with streamside planting set in a north Devon valley along with herbacious borders and a large rock garden.

Candleabra primulas

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Review of June’s rainbow

Looking back to the post reviewing March, where I was describing the work being done making a rainbow in the bog garden, click here, I thought I had better tell you how the planting was getting on in this review of June.  This is how the border looked in March.

Bog garden

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Fresh June Foliage. G.B.F.D.

Once again it is time to look at the foliage in the garden for Garden Bloggers Foliage Day and see how it is adding to the overall picture in the month of June when the borders are overflowing with flowers. The foliage in June is still looking very fresh, especially where we are, with all the torrential rain that we have been having, also , all the rain has made the leaves extra large and therefore they are more prominent than maybe they usually are.

Solomons seal and others

One of my favourite groupings,  Polygonatum with Asplenium scolopendrium, Pulmonaria, Epimedium and Crocosmia.

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Poppies, Iris and Peonies.

Poppies, Iris and Peonies are the star attractions filling the gap between the spring bulbs and the summer perennials. Some of them are so OTT, others, more shy and retiring. The Iris come in all colours, some frilly and flouncy, some quietly unassuming. The peonies are usually white or various shades of red and pink, singles or doubles, some so double with so many flounces and frills, they can hardly hold their heads upright! Poppies that are flowering at the moment are the oriental poppies which demand to be the centre of attention, even though they are so fleeting. Colours vary from almost purple, through pink, red and orange to white.

Patty's Plum

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June abundance.

In spite of the awful weather we have been having for a while now, the flowers are bursting open all over the place. Thank goodness, the night we had dreadful gales, there wasn’t much damage done. Lots of branches and leaves ripped off trees, but once the mess was cleared away, the garden didn’t look too bad. All the rain has meant that all the new planting in the bog garden has been well watered from above, meaning less work for me to do!  June abundance means one thing to me, roses, so we will start with Abraham Derby.

Abraham Derby

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Walking on the Wildside with Hostas.

Yesterday we went to Dartmoor to visit a hosta nursery, Bowden Hostas, in Sticklepath, Devon, then after lunch we went to visit the garden Wildside, the garden of Keith and Ros Wiley.  Bowden Hostas have won 24 gold medals from the RHS and they hold a Royal Warrant to Prince Charles, what better place to buy your hostas!

Hostas

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Celebration time !

Our Queen had said that she wanted Sunday, 3rd June, to be the day when we all had “the big lunch” to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. For some reason our village is holding its Jubilee party on June 5th (nice of them to have a party for my birthday!) so that means that we decided to have our own private celebration on Sunday as the Queen requested.

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