After a stormy June

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What a terrible month that was. One thunderstorm after another. Torrential rain storms. A bit too cool. Footie useless. Unless you are Welsh. Referendum mayhem. Resignations, then chill out on Chilcott…Who? The garden is like a jungle in places. Our little local river got a bit frisky one day and near overtopped its tasteful concrete channel. What next?
We live in really weird times, possibly will get even odder. People should do more gardening instead of tearing strips off each other so much.

One of the drawbacks of torrents of rain is rampant convolvulus. Part of this heap shot up to the top of of an apple tree. I thought it was a clematis which is also having a ball as well, growing vigorously this year, must go to specsavers.

Rampant blackberry canes formed so far this year. Last year, due to more usual low rainfall, none at all whatsover. So I made do with old canes and there is a good crop coming. I can eliminate all the old ones in the autumn. Good job it is thornless.

County rose Essex was chopped back a lot in March and look at it now. Kniphofia Caulescens has also grown to look very intimidating and spiky, its little brother next to it is cowering, in case it attacks, like a triffid.

A closer look at Essex Rose. The bee campaigners say this type of rose is good for bees. There are a lot of bumble bees visiting with furry yellow bottoms but none in picture. I bought Gentle Hermione and planted it in May and it has bloomed well, smells delicious. It seems to have rather weak shoots. Perhaps if anyone grows this David Austin rose they might say otherwise

I think this Day Lily is Corki but not entirely sure, they queue up to bloom so unless there are lots of shoots the display can be very patchy.

Another single petal rose that is less showy than essex but delicately pretty. once established it has grown quite tall.

Three beans self sown from last year have been guided up the metal wire frame, which is extended with canes and they have shinned up very smartly. A few beans will be very welcome from time to time. Truly food for free.

The Angels Fishing Rod is blooming quite well this year. I saw this at Dixter, a lot more showy than this one. Apparently it blooms on a bulb like root and you always leave a bit behind if you move it. Next to it is the Veronicastrum, which is slowly doing its own thing. Very active with all the rain this year. Not watered even once so far. The Asphodel in the middle is in need of TLC=watering and a good feed, It has its own bottle so I must give it some attention or i will lose it.

This corner is a bit of a jumble at this time of the year. I planted the pink geranium there to fill in the gap left after the alliums have gone over. the alliums have fallen in number since they were planted a while back so it looks like it needs a rethink, replant, clear up in autumn.

The two big pots are thriving still after 4 years continuous blooming under the canopy. Amazing how big perlargoniums can get if under cover, fed and watered well enough. There are two fuchsias fighting it out as well.

The pears have gone silly this year too. This one has too much fruit on this branch, which will break it later, so needs sorting out a bit. Always some task to do in a garden. I think I had better stop now. I have done enough for June/July.

• 7 Jul, 2016
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