Summer seems to be finally here, and the garden has had a heady scent from my Philadelphus Belle Etoile for the last few weeks.
My children call it the bubblegum plant as funnily enough that is what it smells of, and as the sun warms up the flowers the scent is enough to fill the garden. A true delight and I recommend it for anyone who is looking for a scented shrub for their garden.
Gardening for me this time of year is full of dead heading flowers to stop plants going to seed and keep them flowering for as long as possible. The roses are starting to go over now, but hopefully once I’ve dead headed them they will be ready for another flush of flowers in a few weeks’ time.
I’ve also started to trim the box balls and tidying up shrubs that have finished flowering. The Philadelphus will need trimming in the next couple of weeks so that it can flower next year on this year’s growth. An excuse for me to use my new loppers.
I’ve spent the last month trying to plant all the plants on my patio. By late spring it is full of seedlings and plants I’ve over wintered. For the first time in years nearly all of them are now in the ground. 4 years ago I started growing agapanthus seedlings, some were from a seed head I got sent up from a village in Cornwall, (species unknown), agapanthus Africanus was also sown at the same time, followed by Agapanthus Navy Blue the following year.
It takes at least 2-3 years to get them big enough to get them in the ground so it is rather nice having the patio back now. Even after giving away some to friends I’ve probably planted 45 agapanthus plants in the garden over the last couple of years and buds are forming. I’m looking forward to seeing them mature and grow stronger each year.
My garden is moving onto the next stage now where my echinacea, agastache and hydrangeas are starting to flower. These are great for late summer nectar and will continue to flower now until the frosts and will be joined by Aster × frikartii ‘Mönch.
Last year in the middle of the heatwave I took a root cutting of Hydrangea Annabelle from a friend’s garden and I’m really pleased it has survived and has started to flower.
My newly planted dahlia area has grown like mad over the last month.
The dahlia’s are starting to come into flower along with the Nicotiana alata ‘Lime Green’. I was disappointed that the tubers that were sent from an online company have turned out to be red instead of the cerise pink I was hoping for, so they will be donated to a friend in the autumn and I’ll be off to Longacres to purchase 3 more dahlia’s that are in flower now to make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen again. Not quite the look I was planning but all part of that learning curve. At least this area hasn’t been ripped apart by the fox cubs that seem to have made my garden their playground.
Every year plants get damaged in this way. This year I’m enjoying my gaura which has been recovered after being trampled last year.
RHS Flower show season is in full swing and I was lucky enough to visit RHS Hampton Court Flower festival last week. It is a great way to get inspiration for new plant combinations whilst looking at all the different show gardens.
My favourite garden was the Viking Cruises Lagom Garden with all the nepetas, salvias, foxgloves, agapanthus and different grasses.
I’d love to re-create this in my garden so at trip to Longacres to find Salvia Cardonna and maybe a few other plants is on the cards.
Here are a few of my other favourite planting combinations.
Thank goodness I picked up all those plant lists so I can highlight a few favourites for my next shopping trip.