The garden is slowly moving out of the quiet June phase and the late summer color is beginning to appear. I am really pleased with the Calmagrostis x acutiflora ‘Overdam’ and Sanguisorba combination. I would love to claim that it was planned but I struggled last year with how the plants would work together in the Big Border so this year is a case of waiting and see what works together and what needs tweaking. There is a Cornus ‘Grace’ adjacent to this pairing and the sanguisorba really picks up on the color of the foliage; so I think this planting will be staying.
The Anthemis ‘Sauce Hollandaise’ has started to flower. I love this plant when the flowers are open but it has an irritating habit of letting its flower petals go limp in the heat so this last week, with the high temperatures we have had, it has looked as though it was dying but as you can see each morning it perks up and looks great. Hopefully with the rain we have had today it will be a little happier.
The high temperatures and distinctly low rain levels this year has had a negative impact on some of my plants which need a little moisture. The Regal Fern (Osmunda regalis) above is a case in point. It is planted in the former pond, which was meant to be a bog garden but I suspect I was a little over enthusiastic when I was piercing holes in the pond liner as it’s not as boggy as I would hope. However the fern has been planted here for a few years now and has had its best year to date with long fronds and lots of growth but now it is looking really singed. The Prunus kojo-no-mai also has dry and crispy brown leaves on some of the branches but the shrub has been planted for years so I am hoping that it will be OK.
This Hemerocallis is growing next to the Anthemis and I am pleased that it is picking up on the yellow centres of the daisies. I’m not a fan of day lilies but this one was looking sad in a nursery sale and I like the smaller delicate flowers than you normally get with day lilies. There are also white phloxes about to flower and this weekend I have added some zinnia seedlings and a couple of Amaranthus ‘Autumn Palette’ grown from seed from Special Plants. I’m not sure about them as the flower tassels are very orange but we shall see how they bulk up and what they look like with the zinnias.
Amongst my many plant weaknesses are Alliums. I do like the large ones like Globemaster but I really like little alliums and have a growing collection. The one above is Allium caeruleum which I had bought for showing but they now live on the edge of the Big Border where they can benefit from baking in the sun.
Another favourite, Allium cernuum, which I think has a lovely graceful appearance and I think I might add some more of these, particularly as they don’t suffer with the large leaves like some other alliums.
Finally, this must be one of the gaudiest roses around. I inherited it with the house and have developed a peculiar fondness for it. I would never buy a rose with such flowers but it makes me smile. It lives next to a Choiysa ‘Sundance’ which has quite luminous chartreuse leaves and seems to compliment the roses – somehow! I like the combination so much that I have planted the Lathyrus rotundifolius that I bought a few weeks ago to grow over the Choiysa. Who knows it might look amazing next year, we shall have to wait and see.