At last we’ve had some warmth; good weather, mostly, in late
July and early August, with sunny and warm days and only a little rain now and
then. It has benefitted the garden, and
the gardener has been able to get out and do some work combatting the weeds!
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| New bed a couple of weeks ago, with daisies in flower |
The garden has more flowers in it this year, thanks partly
to the new bed by the patio which is doing well, although the planting will
need some editing in the medium term. In
particular the leucanthemum (white daisies) and anthemis (pale yellow daisies),
both flowering well, are too similar and too close together. But overall I’m pleased with it, and it’s
been good to see old friends such as Dianthus ‘Mrs Sinkins’, the penstemons and
the blue veronica back in the ground and thriving. The Verbena bonariensis has also done well;
it’s a beefier plant than I realised, and none the worse for that. I need to expand that bed outwards into the
lawn, and some of the plants can be moved there in the winter if I get round to
clearing space for them.
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| Self-sown poppies in the new bed |
The patio pots, mostly dahlias, are doing well; there are
two ‘Sam Hopkins’ pots, one ‘David Howard’ and one ‘Bishop of Canterbury’. The other, smaller, dahlias haven’t found
homes yet; I’ll try to make room for them somewhere so that they can build up
their tubers for the winter.
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| Dahlia 'Sam Hopkins' |
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| Dahlia 'Bishop of Canterbury' |
They’re over and gone for this year, but I was pleased with
the pots of Allium nigrum, the black allium; I’ve no idea why it’s so called as
there’s absolutely nothing black about them.
They were pretty and prolific, and I may plant out some corms in the
ground for next year.
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| Allium nigrum |
The orchids are also over, but not yet cut down so that they
can set seed. The one common spotted
orchid flowered this year, all the rest being pyramidal orchids.
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| Pyramidal orchid |
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| Common spotted orchid |
The pot containing the ‘Exotic Emperor’ tulips was seeded
with the remains of various packets of annual seeds. What has flowered is mostly cornflowers and
blue echium, with a nasturtium or two at the base; it’s a colourful display and
worth trying again another year.
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| Pot of annuals |
The oregano and buddleja are in flower, but there have been
few butterflies this year – a couple of common/holly blues earlier in the
summer, some brimstones, a couple of peacocks and a red admiral, otherwise the
usual gatekeepers and meadow browns. And
some weeks ago I found a magpie moth resting near the fig tree. Otherwise I fear it’s going to be a bad year
for butterflies.
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| Magpie moth |
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| Peacock butterfly on the buddleja |
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| Gatekeeper on the oregano |
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| And a male brimstone on the raspberries |
