Month: July 2022

Six On Saturday: Tough times

/ n20gardener / 15 Comments

After a beautiful week in sunny Cornwall I returned home to face the music. Wilting, yellowing, crispy, scorched. Some things seem okay: the kniphofia and verbena bonariensis look good, the roses are flowering again and the sunflowers have reached dizzying heights. Apparently it’s not a drought. Yet. Just a prolonged dry spell. Here’s six sorry things from the garden.

One

The lawn. Over at Chatsworth the drought has revealed an intricate eighteenth century garden design. Here it’s an old garden path which strangely seems to start half way down the lawn. Lawn is a grand word for this motley sward of yarrow, clover, buttercups, daisies and dandelions. I hope it will recover.

Two

Actaea ‘Brunette’. A little crispy round the edges and very wilted when first spotted. It has revived and I’m optimistically hoping it will still flower later in the year.

Three

As predicted the hydrangeas scorched. They are in sun for half the day and rarely do I get away without some scorch over the summer.

Four

The leaves on the viburnum tree are yellowing and dropping off. It has to compete with a nearby apple tree and tough luck at the moment for anything trying to grow beneath them both.

Five

The rodgersia, planted in the ‘damp’ corner of the garden, next to hydrangeas and siberian irises. I think I might call this one dead, even though there is one small green leaf showing through. I have a sun-loving hebe that is sitting it out on a corner of the veg patch. This could be its moment.

Six

Japanese anemones, ‘September Charm’ amazingly in flower in mid July and now also rather crispy around the edges. A deluge from the watering can may have saved it.

The greenhouse temperatures hit 54.6 degrees. The tomato plants, however, didn’t look too bad and some immediate watering seems to have got them back on track. The cucumbers are also looking good and are delivering well. I don’t think the courgettes enjoyed conditions too much and the onions probably won’t get much bigger. The long range forecast is not showing any rainfall for at least the next two weeks. I am concentrating the watering on the tomatoes, cukes, those plants newly settled in this year and the plants in containers get a slosh from the washing up bowl used to catch waste water. This gardening lark is going to be a challenge over the next few months.

For similar tales of woe, please visit The Propagator who hosts the Six On Saturday clan. A crowd of kind gardening souls from around the world who post from their gardens every week.

Cornish moments

/ n20gardener / 11 Comments

I missed a Six On Saturday post as I was travelling back from a week in Cornwall. I posted a five on Saturday via Twitter (somehow missed out on a photo) and now I’ve decided to share those photos here too. I’ve added a sixth one to complete the package.

One

One day was spent walking around Rock and of course visiting the beautiful church of St Enodoc. Homage was paid to the resting place of the poet John Betjeman. The church is famous for this and for its crooked spire. There had been a recent wedding and the entrance and inside had been decorated with flowers. In the cool interior the flowers still held the shape, pink roses, blue agapanthus mixed with lime greens and whites. What a wonderful wedding it must have been.

Two

Agapanthus are every where in Cornwall. These beautiful white ones combined perfectly with the verbena bonariensis.

Three

There were more agapanthus mixed with erigeron karvinskianus and lavender in this courtyard garden.

Four

The lavender was lush with vibrant green foliage, still in full flower whereas mine at home is already going over.

Five

And in one corner this crocosmia provided a vibrant contrast.

Six

We were staying on the Camel estuary which was at it’s most glorious so here’s a view of the river out to sea.

A diversion for this week, next week back to normal but as the drought here continues all is not normal in the garden. I managed to avoid the extraordinary high temperatures in London but the garden didn’t.

Six On Saturday: Bananas!

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

Or Bananarama to be precise. Cruel Summer to be even more exact. Perhaps I should be growing ensete. Too late now. The weather is going to be very cruel next week and we must all take care. I hope I don’t lose any plants and that the veg plot can subsist on the meagre amount of water I can give it. Here are six things from the flower garden this week.

One

The hydrangea in the front garden is a mass of blue, pink and purple flowers. It spends most of the day in the shade and I tend to take it for granted. Perhaps some water and a feed would give it a lift!

Two

The evergreen agapanthus that are wrapped up over winter should be at home in this heat but as they are in pots they do need regular watering. They are already on the turn. Every four years or so I take a saw to them and divide them up. This year a couple of the pots are only managing one flower stem so they will be divided next spring.

Three

The phlox are vibrant at the moment but I fear they will be drooping by next week.

Four

This is clematis viticella ‘Etoile Violette’. A favourite of mine and I do look after it with regular feeds of seaweed extract. It does get some shade throughout the day so I’m hoping it will not suffer.

Five

The day lilies are also basking in the sun. These ones, ‘Golden Chimes’, don’t have gall midge….so far!

Six

My recent purchase of ‘Lord Bute’ is back in flower again. Absolutely wonderful.

I hear Mr P is hanging up his running shoes for this weekend but is heading off to a festival. Even so he will be hosting the Six on Saturday meme as usual. Much respect! Don’t forget to stop by.

Six On Saturday: What a mess!

/ n20gardener / 12 Comments

Back to the garden again after a busy few weeks and of course the garden has run riot. Three times recently my gardening style has been described as ‘messy’. But I’m not sensitive. Well, of course I am! What is a messy style? Plants overspilling the paths, geraniums climbing over other plants, self-seeders encouraged. Sounds just right to me. However July is a turning point in this garden and those geraniums do need to be cut back, I have a mass of rose deadheading to catch up with and worse still I have two trays of annuals not planted out yet. I’d better get on with six for the week and then get out there and garden.

One

Here is the garden path. Encapsulating self seeders and overspillers. The alchemillia mollis and geranium psilostemon and ‘Brookside’ are the main culprits. Last autumn I lifted a number of alchemillia mollis from the main border to tidy things up and promptly planted them in the thin border for the ‘time being’. They love it there. ‘Brookside’ self seeds very readily here and since it is an extensive roamer I am more ruthless and I do thin it out every year.

Two

There are one or two shasta daisies escaping from their restraining supports but on the whole I do keep these pretty tidy. These also self seed. Here they are working rather well with a dahlia that gained a reprieve from last year. They are planted in front of the blackberries, probably not acceptable to some.

Three

This week the verbena bonariensis have looked stunning. Of course these self seed here. This week I heard them called thuggish! I find them rather amazing. Here they are growing amongst the grass ‘Karl Foerster’.

Four

Surely these hydrangeas are tidy? A little blousy perhaps? Next week they will be frazzled to a messy shade of brown as the hot weather spoils them.

Five

Do meandering climbers also count as messy? If so, guilty as charged. Clematis cover walls, fences and arches. This is the first year in flower for ‘Madame Julia Correvon’. She has valiantly pushed through the undergrowth and made it the top of the wall where her beautiful flowers are much appreciated.

Six

Oh, I know what it is. I have allowed erigeron karvinskianus to self seed all over the terrace! Now that does look messy.

I was remiss at reading SOS posts last week. I hope to catch up this week, but of course there’s some tidying up to do first. The links for the SOS posts are hosted on The Propagator’s site. I’ll stop by there now. Happy gardening everyone.