Mid May, I am watering the garden and the lawn is drying up over the old path. There was thunder and lightning on Monday but no rain. That’s the moaning done with, here are six things from the garden this week.
One
I shared this iris on Bluesky in the week. I believe it is ‘White City’. It starts out as the palest blue and then turns to white. Quite lovely.
Two
The roses seem to be covered in buds and are flowering well despite the dry conditions. This is ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ which has been a little thin in previous years. I am wondering if taking down the fig tree has improved the situation for this rose.
Three
An unknown rose from the front garden, looking very fetching earlier in the week.
Four
This is a two for one, ‘Totally Tangerine’ geum with a young viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum Mariesii. The viburnum has a some growing to do but it looks pretty even now.
Five
This persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’ is known for spreading but it has done so gently so far. It’s a great plant for just getting on with things.
Six
Finally a view of part of the border. My delphiniums were munched to ground last year and I can’t see a sign of them this year. But it’s pretty crowded out there anyway.
Stop by Garden Ruminations to see more SOS posts from the gardening gang. Jim has a wonderful selection on show as usual. I’ve got dead heading of roses to do and I’ll be looking up and performing the most effective rain dance I can find! Happy gardening.
n20gardener 
Such a pretty Iris, I can’t stop looking at it.
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Aah. It’s a great one!
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Now I am dreaming of iris! And roses, but I know the damn Japanese Beetles would eat them up starting with the buds, so roses are off the menu for me. I seem to have reduced the numbers but they like nothing more than to decimate flowers, and roses are a favorite.
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What a pest the beetles are. Good luck keeping them away
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Delightful viburnum. My web search says it will grow tall and wide with beautiful lace cap bloom heads.
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I have my fingers crossed!
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The iris is rad. I had to look up ‘White City’ to determine if it is an Iris pallida. I grow about four white bearded iris, so will not add another. (Besides, I have a rule that I can only add iris by acquisition from other gardens. Purchases are not allowed.)
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Oops, I sent that. Anyway, the only iris that I might purchase is ‘San Jose’, if I can ever find it. There are already too many iris here, but because they all came from important origins, I can not get rid of any one of them. ‘Superba’ is one of three Persicaria bistorta that I got from Tangly Cottage Gardening more than a year ago. It has not spread much, but I can see that it has potential to. I already shared a bit of it.
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That’s a tough rule!
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It is not as tough as it seems, since I acquire more bearded iris than I can manage. I do not really miss the cultivars or colors that I expect to miss because I will not purchase them.
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I love that final view of the border – even without the delphiniums (which never survive a winter in my garden).
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White City is a stunner! The view of the border is lovely.
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From all the comments I’ve received, it seems I’m lucky to have had rain this week, while it’s been quite dry for you in the UK.
Being quite busy at work this week, I haven’t had much time to check social media regularly and I’m going to go for a walk to see this very pretty white Iris. The last photo is beautiful with the bench to take a little rest and admire….
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I hope the viburnum does well for you, it is very much in my top five shrubs as I had a beautiful specimen in my last garden and have included one in my current garden even though it’s so small. I like the colour range of geums although they don’t do well for me, your ‘Totally Tangerine’ is particularly striking.
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What a beautiful Iris to start out your post. And the Roses…lovely! All the other plants are wonderful, too, and that last view is dreamy. ❤
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Thank you 🙏
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What a lovely garden view, and with a bench too! (I’m a little obsessed with benches). And such a pretty bearded iris. My Gertie is flowering too though a little lost amongst the clematis montana which is going to need a bit of a prune once it finishes flowering.
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The bench is so old I keep looking at replacements but then again it still works and has character!
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