the plants go mad! I turn my back for less than a week and the garden leaps into action.
I read somewhere recently that when you have been away from your garden for a while the first thing you should do on your return is to have a good walk around as your absence will have distanced you and you will see your garden in a more detached way. This way you not only see clearly the things that are really working well but also the things that don’t.
So on my return from a family holiday today I took this advice and I think it is sort of true. The Camassia which were in very tight bud when I left are now in full flower and in some cases almost beginning to go over. It appears that I was miss sold some Camassia bulbs last autumn. I wanted white Camassia for the bank but they are most definitely blue. Having said that I think this is actually better than white as the pick up on the bluey/purple Aquilegia which are just coming into flower as well as linking with the Rosemary and working well with the burgundy tulips. So they can stay and I’ll forget the white ones since I have too many white flowers coming into the garden as it is.
I also noticed a loan orange tulip amongst the Jan Reus tulips. I think this is Cairo as I bought some for pots and had a bulb or two left over so stuck them in the border. Another happy accident as I think the orange works very well with the burgundy so I will be making a note in my notebook to add more Cairo to this area.
The rhododendron is just about the burst into flower – I think it is called Happy. In front of it are Candelabra Primulas that I grew from seed a couple of years ago. The color of the flowers almost matches the rhododendron and I think in this instance works really well. However they are obviously struggling from lack of water as the stems are contorting and the flower heads are not as high as normal.
Another plant that I think might be affected by the heat is the Cirsium rivulare Atropurpureum. As you can see from the photo there are several flower heads on my plant already showing colour but last year the flowers were on tall stems. I am hoping that the stems will shoot up before the flowers open or the effect I wanted will be lost all together.
conversely the leaves on my Arisema speciousum are huge compared with last year. I have carefully nursed the six plants I grew from seed two years ago and kept them in pots overwintering in the greenhouse but last year the leaves looked dry and unhappy and there were no flowers. I was desperate for some space in the cold frame a couple of weeks ago and decided that I had nothing to lose from planting them out in the garden. So I did and it seems to have paid off – the leaves are huge and I am now keeping my fingers crossed for flowers.
The Irises have started to open but only just so I haven’t missed them and the Peonies are still a way from opening – again good news. I have spotted a number of plants that need moving as they are crowding others so will deal with these over the long weekend as well as giving those that need it a really good water. Plus work is starting on a new border that I have been busy buying plants for – but more of that another time!
