Well finally summer arrived albeit it at the last moment in July and sadly if the forecasts for the coming week are to be believed it may be leaving us before it really started. The never-ending rain of June and part of July has meant lots of lush growth so the garden is somewhat overgrown – well that’s my excuse although I suspect it was due for thinning in places.
We have had the outside of the house painted over the last week which has been quite challenging due to the patio having to be cleared of all the pots, seed trays etc etc so you may see the odd random tray of seedlings in the photos in slightly unlikely places. The photo above shows the slope from the bog garden looking across to the daisy border which isn’t due to peak until September. I am pleased with the fullness of the border but need to do some editing just to give the various ‘daisies’ more room.
I have been showing you one of the patio borders each month and here it is again. The emphasis of this border is foliage rather than flower color although there are flowers throughout the year from time to time. I need to move the Actea to the right a tad to fill the gap left by an obelisk I removed last Autumn and also rescue the Japanese Painted Fern from under the Kirengeshoma palmata.
From the other end of the border. There is a winter jasmine along the wall which is going mad and swamping other plants so I need to think about how to deal with that. Maybe move it but if I do you can guarantee it will die!
The ‘Cottage Garden’ border or what I should call the top of the wall border is Ok but is at that lull before late summer. I have focussed on including lots of early summer plants but not so much on late summer and I am thinking that may have been an oversight. The salvias are looking fab and there is a lobelia tupa coming on so I think in a couple of weeks it will lift but if not I will have to make a note to myself to include maybe some annuals for late summer color next year.
The corner border, for want of another name, has been completely swamped by the achillea. I think Christina is right and the soil is too rich for them so will probably move them to the front garden as part of the redesign.
So those are some views of the garden at the end of what was essentially and soggy and cold July – who knows what the next month will bring. If you would like to join in with this meme you are very welcome and can use it however you like. Just leave a link to your post in the comments box so we can all see what is happening in your garden.
