End of Month Review July 2015

July has been quite warm, quite windy and at times (thankfully) quite rainy.  It took a few rain showers before it started to really make the ground wet, but we have had a few soakings now and the garden is thankful for it.
I start in the front garden, it usually feels the right place to start.  The Knot Garden is looking ok and the lavender edging is at its peak.
It is full of bees the moment there is any hint of sun.
It was, however, also in need of a hair cut as the path was disappearing.  Every time I walked through I got soaked from the recent rain so the sides have had to be cut back.
The pelagoniums on the front step are still doing well,
and the green woman keeps a watchful eye.
Around to the back garden and its all a bit pot-tastic.  The fuchsias are doing very well and the Petunia exserta are just starting to flower.  It is a petunia I am very fond of.
This mix of herbs, pelagoniums, auriculas, lewisia and now a yucca are all doing well.  They are being fed regularly and are very happy for it.
The pots that lead into the garden are also doing well.  The begonias are very colourful and all made it through the winter ok.
The pelagonium stand is happy in its sunny side of the courtyard.
and the new hostas are enjoying being on the shady side.  Only a couple have been potted up so far.  I know where the others are going but they have been divided so that I have more and are recuperating in the greenhouse before I set them out.
Looking across from the Conservatory the borders are looking full of flowers.  This makes me very happy.  The Leucanthemum x superbum (super-bum) Phyllis Smith are really doing well this year.  I started with one plant and now it has been divided around so I have several largish clumps now.  It is probably my favorite daisy.  The Crocosmia lucifer is also flowering really well and again, has been divided several times from one plant.
In the pond border the verbascums are doing well this year.  I over-weeded last year and so did not have a lot.  I learned from this mistake and have a better show this year.
I love the height the verbascums give me especially in the Pond Border.  It is a big border and it needs this points of height to give it some rhythm.
This day lily, Scarlet Oak, is also flowering well now.  It is always a late starter but it is one I am very fond of.  It is a very good red.
If I look down to the Formal Lawn it is all looking quite lush, which is good, but it is hiding a multitude of sins.  I had been cutting back a lot before taking these photographs, especially the astrantias and the geraniums.  They have had their first flush and needed a hair cut in the hope they will reflower again soon.
The Prairie Borders are now full on blonde.  I love them when they look like this.
The Stipa Gigantica which is spotted around in the Pond Border, the Grassy Knoll (where this one is) and the Prairie Borders get bigger and better each year.
In the Tree-Lupin Border the Banana I bought last year is putting on some good leafage.  I will have to protect it over the winter, but I thought it would like to be in the border for a while.
The border is a bit behind at the moment, but the dahlias are just starting to flower and the gladioli have been good this year.
Sheltering under the apple tree, by the Dancing Lawn, Alice looks on.
The Woodland Border/Bog Garden is looking quite full and quite established now.  It is still work in progress but it is getting there.
The teasel patch is good this year too.  The bees are loving it.
In the Wild Garden there are jewels to be found.
The Cercis candensis 'Forest Pansy', which is a brittle tree and has lost several bits of it over the years, has been tied to a stick and told to pull itself together.  I cannot tell if it will respond to this, but I decided it was time for some tough-love.  Its been lolling around looking sorry for itself for too long now.
The Davidia has proved itself to be a tough little thing.  Despite huge chunks of Poplar Tree falling on it last year it has decided to live and put on some good growth.  I reckon another twenty years and it could be spectacular.
The clematis are doing well over the pergola.  I had to take a screwdriver to the pergola the other day as it was getting a bit wibbly.  It is now feeling more stable.
This view, the other way towards the pergola is one of my favorite views of the garden at the moment.  The Rosa Hyde Hall hedge borders the veg beds and the formal lawn goes off down to the right.
The Four Sisters are putting on good growth and look good in their sheltered spot in front of the pleached hornbeams.  The hornbeams are growing really strongly and need a hair cut, I only did it the other day but the rain is clearly encouraging it.  This is not a bad thing.
In the vegetable borders the courgettes are yellow and are coming along.  There has been a good crop of peas (Thompson and Morgan 'Bingo' - I can recommend) and the cobra beans are also just starting to produce some good beans.  I harvest the first of my potatoes the other day as well.
The greenhouse has various seedlings and some perennial plugs growing on.
and outside on the waiting table is the Tree Peony I bought a good five years ago that failed to thrive.  So earlier this year I dug it up and put it in a pot to see if that would encourage it to build some strength.  It has responded really well so I think I will keep it in a pot for probably another year, potting it on as needed, to help it get ready for a flower one day.  There are also two Amicia zygomeris cuttings that have rooted very well.  They are far too small to be planted out yet and will need a good year or so of coddling before I let them loose into the world.
On the way into the garden the Tea-Tree is suddenly looking rather large.  It was a twig when I planted it not long after moving into this house.  It is now, well, a tree.  It is smothered in flowers that the bees adore.
I have taken to shaping it to make it a bit more columular.  It is responding well to this and so at the moment I am not too worried about its size.  I am keeping an eye on it though.
I end, as traditional, on the pond.  Yes this is the pond, yes it is completely choked, yes it is my fault, yes I am going to sort out it out this Autumn - promise!
Thanks as ever to Helen for hosting this meme.