Six On Saturday: Flattened

/ n20gardener

Somewhat ironically, both the water bill and heavy rain came this week. One was more welcome than the other. We are on a meter and all the water butts were empty. The garden has had a heavy soaking and the butts are full again. The alchemilla that was frothing last week is now flat, verbena bonariensis, veronicastrum and even shorter plants have joined the downward trend. But the rain was needed. Here’s six from the garden this week.

One

Flattened echium. I’m not too bothered about these. They came from a pack of free seeds, they are a good colour but really they are in the wildflower category and I’ve decided they are not keepers. They will go before they set seed.

Two

I’m sure the hydrangeas loved the rain but the flower heads just could not bear the weight so they are bowed down to the grass, I may take off the lower branches for some cut flowers.

Three

The miscanthus ‘Silver Feather’ doesn’t seem to have minded too much. I like this grass and it has grown to a good size in this its third year in the garden.

Four

The hebe should be sending fireworks of flowers off in all directions but they are heading downwards now. I hope they will spring back when the rain stops.

Five

The heuchera’s slightly shiny leaf looks well in the rain. I particularly liked this variety and tried for some time to buy a couple more but couldn’t. I gave in and bought something similar but it has an even shinier leaf which doesn’t appeal quite so much.

Six

Here’s one I missed earlier! Tree seedlings are a constant problem and there’s also a spare plant support waiting for a Japanese anemone which I think has given up the ghost for this year. Behind, the climbing hydrangea isn’t doing too badly at all.

I have been enjoying some garden produce this week: green beans, lettuce and potatoes. The blackcurrants have been picked. They were not too plentiful this year. I wonder if birds ate some of the flowers. The rain will have been perfect for my second sowing of carrots which had just germinated, and, if I don’t keep a close eye on them, I think the courgettes may be roaring away. My always neglected front garden will also have enjoyed the downpours. So all in all, I’m not going to moan. Well, just a little one. I noticed the lawn was speckled with slugs!

I’m off to Jim’s garden in the blogosphere to catch up with other SOSers. Have a great weekend, come rain or shine.

11 thoughts on “Six On Saturday: Flattened”

  2. We have had so much rain that the ground is soggy. very few bees, very few butterflies, lots of mosquitos. Fair number of dragonflies and fireflies. Everything that is not supported is flopping, even my new Liatris. One is mostly upright, but the other is growing like a corkscrew and is now sort of supported, at least has a stake to lean against. I am also pulling up lots of maple and crabapple trees. Hopefully your plants will dry out a bit and spring back up into position!

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  4. I often wonder why I don’t have a heuchera with dark foliage – it’s very striking. My mum often scoffs at Monty Don when he waxes lyrical about gardening being good for the soul, calming and all that. When rain flattens this and that, slugs and snails eat everything and whatnot – more often than not you find yourself far from calm and serene!

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  7. When I was a kid, years prior to the internet, I was fascinated to learn that there are other climates in the World, and that most of them experience some degree of rain during summer. That was such a foreign concept to me. I knew about deserts, such as the Mojave, but I also assumed that the little bit of rain that they got happened during winter. I was also aware of rain forests, such as the Hoh, but I also figured that they just got more rain during winter than we do. Now that it was about a hundred degrees for the past few days, I think that a summer rain would be awesome!

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