End of Month – June 2013
Hard to believe it’s July already, I’m unsure where the year is going, but I am enjoying it. The weather has been exponentially better than last summer, and still a nice mix of rain and sun. Enough rain to keep things happy, enough sun to keep them happy and not too hot that the blooms are over in mere days rather than weeks.
Last year I decided not to have any of the purple Foxgloves this year, the whites don’t seem to self seed or don’t come true when they do… So I sowed some ‘Apricot’ seeds that came with an issue of Garden’s Illustrated… What a waste of time, they’re purple just like the normal ones and stumped, with few blooms. Guess it pays to stick to the robust wild ones, after all they’re such prolific seeders for a reason.
Foxglove, Field Poppy and Sanguisorba
Harlow Carr is dwarfed by Thistles, in the foreground is tuberous thistle, I moved some of it to give the rose more space but it’s still managing to crowd it. A lesson for the future.
Geum, Lupin, Rose Harlow Carr, Quaking Grass and Feverfew
Yes those are Nettles with the Iris, I grow a smallish patch so I have Commas and such laying eggs. Of course I have to try to keep them to a minimum because Nettles are very good at taking over… I just wish the Irises would fill out and produce more blooms.
Iris, Geranium and Astrantia
The Tiers are quiet at this time of year, especially now the spring plants have finished in the Cherry border… The Upper Tier will soon come to life as Gertrude Jekyll has her first blooms and Geranium Orion adds some colour, Veronicastrum Virginicum Fascination will be the next to bloom and then the Asters later in the year. The Elder in the back corner is laden with flowers this year; plus, it’s HUGE now.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Elder, Veronicastrum, Teasel, Fern, Foxglove and Geranium
Geranium, Astrantia, Lavender
Upper Tier
The right border is the star of the show at the moment…. There’s just so much going on. The lower end of the border however is past its best now the Alliums have finished. I plan to make some room and add some grasses to provide lower level interest when viewed from the deck.
Right border
Most of the colour and interest in the right border is the top end… I think you’ve all seen enough photos from this side already. But now the Salvias are in bloom and Delphiniums are opening, it’s adding yet another twist to the colour combinations. The only mistake so far really is Delphinum ‘Gentian Blue’, ‘Rose’ goes nicely with the other purples but the blue ought to be elsewhere.
Delphinium, Geum, Lupin, Salvia, Sweet Rocket and Quaking Grass
Right border
Right border
The Buddleja border is a nice surprise this year! I love the purples and white, but also add into that the lime green of Lady’s Mantle Blooms makes for a nice palette. The red Lupin and Hosta are out of place though.
Buddleja Border
The Aster border hasn’t quite got there yet, and with the Feverfew taking over, it makes for a very solid and full border. Normally I have a path going exactly where the white blooms are and round the back of the Flat-topped Aster out the other side. The Feverfew makes for nice cut blooms in vases though so slowly I’ll chop them away so I can get into the Persicaria, Iris and Helenum (also, there’s random Teasle that’s popped up right at the front of the path. No idea where it’s come from as I’ve never had Teasels before). The eagle-eyed of you may spot the Shasta Daisies to the far right of the top right photo. I’ve had to stake the mess up as the slightest bit of rain floors them and they never come back up. I’m actually at the point where I hate the plant now and will stick to the Ox-eye Daisies instead.
Aster Border
Finally, the front garden… Geranium heads need cutting off and some leaves chopped for fresh growth, but now we’re moving towards the Salvias, Asters and Crocosmia. I found a lonely little Snapdragon blooming under the rose… I have never sown Snapdragon seeds.
Front Garden
This weekend I spotted my first Cinnabar moth. Just as I’d lamented that I haven’t seen any but have loads of Ragwort this year!
I’ll be a little quiet this week unless I get some posts scheduled, I’m off to Wales for a few days, and lucky for me the weather is due to be rubbish. Go me. Even better, is it’s going to be nice and warm the day we leave.
Fun.
Copyright 2013 Liz.
All rights reserved. Content created by Liz for Gwirrel’s Garden
Gwirrel's Garden 
Hi Liz, as always delightful pics of an equally delightful garden. Yes, time’s flying so let’s make the most of it – have a great week 🙂 and enjoy your trip
Liz, I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve scrolled back up to look at that orange and purple combo – each time you post a picture of it I am in awe!
Everything else looks great, especially your roses. Enjoy your trip!
Liz i adore the purple and orange flower combos…just stunning to the eye…I hope the weather turns around for the better on your trip.
I also love the Geum with the Delphiniums and Salvia. Interesting that you are growing nettle. I have thought of growing it because it is a host for Red Admiral butterflies – not sure if you have those in the UK – as well as the commas. There is a plant called False Nettle that is also a host for Red Admirals, not sure about Commas, and it does not sting. Can’t remember the Latin name.
As the others have said, you have lots of lovely colour combinations, but it made me smile when i read about the delphinium you plan to shift, as it reminded me of why I started a blue & white border, to accommodate a salvia (long since perished) that was too blue to sit happily anywhere else! Do you know what varieties you geums and astrantias are? Do have a ‘map’ or something of your garden so I can orientate myself better?
Love the orange and purple combinations. I sowed those Sutton’s Apricot seedlings too, along with Pam’s choice and D. mertonensis, and have a rash of purple foxgloves alongside the others with no sign of apricot. They must have given away a duff batch!
Hi,
It wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t got rid of almost all other Foxglove seedlings that popped up around the garden, expecting a nice line of ‘Apricot’. Now I have this puny little sorry attempt at a Foxglove row, and they’re not even an unusual colour! The wild ones however are lovely and big, but have grown in strange places that I didn’t want them. At least it’s better than nothing I guess.
The right border is the part I prefer above all. Cold and hot colours intermingled in a very balanced mix. The new header is fantastic by the way.
It is funny how my season is going (although in a kind of weird way) better than last year too but for the opposite reason: you had a lot of rain last year and cold, I had drought and hot. Hopefully this year ‘clouds’ seems to move in a more wide path…
Wonderful, wonderful! I love that you have the tangerine geum with salvia – is it caradonna? I transplanted my TT geum so it will bloom among violet siberian irises and violet delphiniums. Maybe the purple/orange combo says Halloween but it’s so fun! And I’m currently obsessed with astrantia. Don’t you have Roma? And I see a white one in your photos – I have a white, Abbey Road and Moulin Rouge but have begged the local nursery to find me Buckland and Roma. Yummy. They make such a great companion to peonies and roses in the garden and in the vase. Have fun on your trip, despite the weather!
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Mine weren’t even nice and lush like yours… Mine were pathetic little weak plants, compared to the self-seeded normals they’re dwarfed. I’d planned not to have any purples at all this year – just Apricots and whites. As a result there’s few wild coloured ones because I got rid of them, and only two whites appeared.