This was the sight that greeted me as I walked out the back door on Monday morning. What had been the perfect mingle last year is this year verging on the over crowding, depending on your taste. I don't mind it like this as it means very few weeds to deal with. The sunny bed in the gravelled area out side the back door is a real treat at this time of the year. As you will see there is a wide range of plants blooming this week.
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| left to right: Phlox paniculata Violet Flame, Hemerocallis Crimson Pirate and Erigeron Dunkelste Aller |
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| Alstroemeria Inca Glow and Hemerocallis Crimson Pirate |
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| left to right: Hemerocallis Pink Damask, Rosa Rhapsody in Blue and Alstroemeria Inca Glow |
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| Geranium psilostemon, Allium sphaerocephalon and Nepeta Dawn til Dusk |
 Clematis The vagabond |
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| Clematis viticella Mme Julia Correvon |
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| Nepeta grandiflora Blue Danube |
One the shadier side of the gravelled area, I have had to take the shears to some Astrantia. They were on the verge border domination. I left a small amount of flowers purely for the benefit of the pollinators. This is another border that is now in it's fourth year and will need a bit of a shuffle and possibly widening if I'm to continue growing the same amount of plants.
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| Astrantia major Snow Star |
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| Lupin Gallery Blue, Alchemilla mollis and Astrantia Snow Star |
Before we pop through the arch to the back garden proper, the climbers I planted here in Springtime are slowly but surely making their vertical ascent. It will be next year before I am able to appreciate the effect I'm trying to achieve. Still, lets see what's flowering.
Both The Wedgewood Rose climbers are looking healthy but only one is producing blooms. By my reckoning they both receive a similar amount of sunshine. They were cut well back in spring before being moved to their new home. I wonder if I might have caused more root damage on one than the other, this rose flowers right up to the end of the year, so plenty of time yet. This rose has a wonderful fruity scent but if you get your nose right in the centre, there is no mistaking the scent of clove.
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| DA The Wedgewood Rose |
Honeysuckle, L. periclymenum Fragrant Cloud to give it it's full name, another with a wonderful scent is on the same section as the non flowering climbing rose. My vision is to have the climbers reach the top of the trellis and cascade down over the other side.
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| Lonicera periclymenum Fragrant Cloud |
In the long border in the back garden proper, this is the border that is the focus of my end of month view, my favourite combo at the moment and one that has panned out exactly as I saw it in my mind when I planted it back in 2012.
I just love the stature of the Ligularia, it looks great with the pure white of Astilbe Deutschland and the yellow is picked up by the stamens of the Philadelphus.
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| Ligularia The Rocket and Astilbe Deutschland |
Just out of shot to the left and in front of the Kilmarnock Willow (which has just began suffering from rust) is another Astilble, Astilbe japonica Red Sentinel. Is said to prefer shade or part shade. To be honest, it struggled in those conditions in my garden but since moving it into a full sun spot, it's looking the best it ever has. Compared to the other Astilbes I grow, this one is quite short reaching a maximum height of 60cm.
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| Astilble japonica Red Sentinel, Persicaria JS Caliente and Primula florindae |
As you can see neighbouring Persicaria and Himalayan Cowslips are just coming into bloom. Further on up to the top end of this border, which is in a bit of a 'tweeny stage at present. You know, when things have gone over and others aren't quite there yet. Helenium Moerheim Beauty is just beginning to inject some late summer colour at the top end of the garden. The large drift of these planted in spring, which all came from 3 plants that I divided up when I transplanted them, are shall we say, in your face. Oddly though, they are far more verging on red than they've ever been before. They do recommend dividing them every 3 or 4 years, perhaps I've rejuvenated them.
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| Helenium Moerheim Beauty |
As we walk back down towards the house, the opposite side of the garden, is a bit more shaded. The border curves round the step of the decking. The curved end receiving far more sun that the rest of the bed, is home to Rosa Lady Emma Hamilton. My experimental planting scheme comprising of Rose along with a Sedum and Heuchera that compliments her bronzy coloured foliage hasn't quite gone as I had hoped. Whilst all the plants are happy together, I'm not so keen on the Heuchera flowers drawing the eye from the beauty of Emma's blooms. I'm tempted to snip of those flowers when the Sedum finally blossoms to see the effect it has, so watch this space come next bloom day post. Everything else in this bed is in a bit of a guddle, due to the fact things were moved around to make way for the Laburnum in spring. More Autumn work!
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| Rosa Lady Emma Hamilton, Sedum Red Globe and Heuchera Palace Purple |
Down in shady corner, which despite the hot dry weather is still looking remarkably lush. The different shapes, textures and shades of green courtesy of the Ferns, Hostas and Tiarella is only added to when blooms spring up here and there.
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| left to right: Primula capitata norverna, Primula vialii, Tiarella Spring Symphony and an unknown Hosta in flower this July Bloom Day |
Just before we leave the back garden, the first flower on one of my Fuchsia has opened. I received some Fuchsia cuttings from Helene over at Graphicality UK a while back. Now, I'm not a particular fan of Fuchsia but my mother is and each year she asks me to grow some for her and each year I make some lame excuse to save me the effort. Since I received the cuttings from Helene, which she was over the moon with by the way, she appeared home with another given to her by her friend. See what you've started Helene! Joking aside, they are all coming along nicely and have made great growth. I should have more blooms over the next couple of weeks.
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| Fuchsia Annabel |
Sitting on the back step alongside the Fuchsia is a pot of what was meant to be Trailing Begonias? They don't do much trailing in my opinion, more like semi upright with a dangly flower stem. Somehow, I don't think the breeders would appreciate giving them such a non de plume. I don't know what I've done wrong. I've tried them in full sun, I've tried them in part shade. Any ideas? Or am I just being too impatient.
The side garden, which is predominantly a spring garden, Zantedeschia aethiopica and Hosta Frances Williams have bright white blooms right now.
I've deliberately omitted what's blooming in the front garden this post. There are blooms but they are going to get a post all of their very own. I've finally got a plan for the garden out front. I'm quite excited about it and feel it deserves a stand alone post.
I'm late at posting this Bloom Day Post, for once I'm just not disorganised - The Garden Gremlins struck again! I tripped over my own feet, fell full force into the whirligig, brought it crashing to the ground in two pieces, smashed my front tooth and knocked out a crown. I've had other priorities this last couple of days! All is well, teeth are fixed and new whirligig has been installed. Thankfully, as my son and his GF are just back from their vacation in Cyprus with two suitcases full of dirty laundry. I'll be over later to see what's been going on in all your gardens this July.
