End of Month Review - June 2015

June has been a month of fairly chilly, rather hot, a bit rainy and yet rather dry.  Thankfully we were spared frost though it looked a bit close at times. Whilst the garden still feels a bit behind, it is now growing apace, things are happening at last.
In the driveway the foxgloves are flowering, I am going to move more into the driveway over the autumn and then hope that they will self-seed in future years and multiply.  I love these white foxgloves which were a gift, they add a wonderful shaft of light.
Moving into the front garden, after a recent bought of cutting back the hedges so I can get into the garden I found the remnants of a gate.  I don't think I knew of this gate, but it is useless so it was no great find.  Still, a bit of garden archeology none-the-less.
The Knot Garden has had its first trim and is looking green and lovely.  The roses are all doing well, from the Leda closest to the camera and the Graham Thomas glowing yellow by the hedge.
By the front door the Gertrude Jekyll rose has had its first flush and is now recouping to flower again.  The three pots of pelagoniums from The Vernon Nursery are doing very well.  They kindly sent me these to try and I am very pleased with them.
The gravel garden is looking quite lush.  It is mainly self-seeded and never watered so it does self-regulate what will grow there well.
On the metal coal bunker thing that sits under the kitchen window, that serves no purpose other than to host pots of fuchsias, it is doing its job well as the fuchsias are very happy there.
The Rosa Maidens Blush, once a small scraggy thing that I referred to as manky, is now a thriving tall bush of a plant.  It does not flower for long but it is worth it when it does.  It does rather block the view from the kitchen window now, but I don't mind.  I will cut it back hard this autumn I think.
The table is now full of pots.  There are all sorts on here (no liquorice sadly).  The begonias are just starting to flower, there are pelagoniums and a couple of crinodendrons have appeared after falling in love with them in Wales this year.
The pots by the way into the back garden are also doing well, as are the roses and the cardoon.  The Tea-Tree tree is also growing very well, it had to have a bit of a trim as it was spreading sideways a bit too much and I want more of a column from it.
The view up the garden looks quite bouffant.
The Long Shoot looks like I like it to look.  Lots of colour, quite good height and I am happy with the shape of the formal lawn at the moment.
The courtyard has acquired a couple of small acers to add to its collection.
and the pellie stand has proved to be a good idea.  It makes me very happy.
The view across the Conservatory Border also makes me happy.  When I look at this view I realize I have quite a lot of roses and as I breathe in and inhale their scent I know this is no bad thing.
This is the view back along the Long Shoot from the other way, I don't often take this view but I like it and I think it works.
This is the view down towards the formal lawn taken from the Bermuda Triangle.  Usually I focus on this view in the winter when the growth is less and the shapes more defined but actually I don't know why I wait as I like it at the moment.  Esme decided she wanted to feature as well.
The Prairie Borders are now coming into their own.  The Stipa tenuissima is growing well, the echinops are getting huge and the Verbena bonariensis (which you cannot see well from this view) is getting ready to flower.
The Tree Lupin border is dominated by the tree lupin which is huge this year and covered in flowers.
The Dancing Lawn is looking a little dry and has acquired a clover-patch.  I just hadn't the heart to mow all of it, it was growing so well and the bees love it.
The Bog Garden is looking very colourful.  It is now quite well established, it has taken a few years to reach this stage but it is now a good addition to the garden.
The Wild Garden is all tall grass, ox-eye daisies, thistles and nettles.  It buzzes with life and generally I like it.  The soil is quite fertile and the grass does get rather long.  I am going to try and reduce the vigour of the grass with yellow-rattle as I think it needs it.
In the top corner I have cut back the cow parsley as it had finished flowering and I am trying to reduce the amount it seeds.  It also gives more space for the other planting to develop.  These white foxgloves are doing very well.
The view back down the garden, over the Dancing Lawn towards the Tree Lupin Border is one I like a lot.
In the hedge the Kiftsgate rose is starting to flower.  It has lurked for a few years but this year it is going for it big time.  I wanted something large and spiky to be a natural barbed wire, this rose does the job well.
The Four Sisters are doing well, the Carol Klein acer has enjoyed not having a late frost.  The Philadelphus Belle Etoile is flowering well and the Edgeworthia is still alive.  The Clethra is getting ready to flower in a few weeks time.
I have strimmed around the veg beds, it needed doing, I had sudden 'oh crikey the garden is a mess guilt' after a visit from a friend who wanted to look around the garden.  She was kind enough not to make bad comments, but still I felt a bit ashamed.  The veg is coming along well.  The peas are podding and the cobra beans are thinking about flowering.  I am growing fewer spuds than in previous years which has given me more room for broccoli.
I am also growing kale and perpetual spinach this year.  Now I have to cook with it.
The greenhouse is still fairly full.  There are some seedlings to be put out and some perennial plugs from one of those 'lucky dip 48 perennial plugs' offers.  These only arrived the other day and they are tiny so I cannot imagine planting them out until next year, however for a fiver they were good value and it was worth a punt.
The pond (yes this is the pond) is getting really quite low of water and really very full of weed.  I will sort it out this autumn, promise.  More worryingly I have not seen any damsel or dragon flies yet this year. I am hoping they are just a bit delayed and not disappeared.
Thanks as ever to Helen for hosting this meme.