Summer's Arrival

A couple of days ago it was more than 10 degrees c colder here in S.Yorks. The warmer weather is now coming up from the southwest. Yesterday was very humid but overcast until the evening.  It was a great day to spend in the garden pottering about.

The remaining two pots were made up using petunias in white with a deep blue centre, lilac and white nemesia and white trailing lobelia. The larger one has an unusual upward facing fuchsia to bring a dash of pink down from the planters which have each had a pink osteospermum, pink petunias and white trailing lobelia added.

Bumblebee decided to make up a planter of his own with an unusual splashed effect petunia, midnight blue trailing lobelia, blue violas and lilac and white nemesia.

His display knits together quite nicely with his 'Star Wars' plant which is flowering again after having a bit of a trim.  He has a good eye for design and despite being colour-blind, needed minimal assistance in the garden centre, happily running about with a flower from the splashed petunias to make his decisions. 

Today began mild but misty. By 10am the sun had burned through and wall to wall sunshine was enjoyed for the remainder of Sunday.

The Calibrachoa have really enjoyed the raise in temperature in both the pot and the mangers below the kitchen window.

And we've added mangers below the shed window again containing begonias, pelargoniums, lobelia and fuchsias.

A minor adjustment was made moving the watering cans back to the shed mangers.  My trial of using weed membrane as a liner worked extremely well last year so I've replicated it in both mangers.  I may in future use it on hanging baskets!

The hanging basket is filling out although not much flowering yet.

Below the basket is this tall pot from which grows what I believe to be a clematis Nelly Moser.  Now it has its permanent home, The Man That Can has installed a simple fan of wires for it to scramble up. This fence panel has a trellis top so once it's reached that, it'll have a good backbone.  It won't necessarily be at its finest this year, but watch this space!

And before we step into the front garden, a quick peak at the Pink Garden to the right and the Yen Garden to the left, looking down from the patio.

*****

Round into the front garden, I don't really know where to start! It's almost all looking fabulous

One pale flowered Aquilegia was sacrificed behind the rose 'Tall Story' as it was blocking the view somewhat. TMTC spotted this vibrant salvia which will contrast really beautifully with the young yellow roses before they fade to white.

These osteospermums are loving it here. We have butter yellow ones at the back to complement r. Maigold, and stronger orangey-yellow ones in the foreground. A clump of verbena bonariensis is beefing up, along with a small flowered lilac hardy geranium.  I believe there are also some rudbeckias in this small area.

A couple of issues on this side of the path.  Firstly the bigger birds (wood pigeons, collared doves and magpies) appear to have flattened this soft pink hardy geranium.  Come the autumn, I'll pop something a little more robust here, split the plant and replant further away from the bird feeders. I'll pop another section of the split plant in the Pink Garden. 

The other issue is this pink foxglove. It's not that I don't like it, but it's a case of right plant wrong place.  It can stay for the time being, for the bees, but I suspect it may get damaged as it's growing over the path.

This Hibiscus was a coerced buy. It didn't do very much past this stage last year. I'll see how it fares. It may end up being rehomed if it doesn't do well. I'll give it another couple of years.  I usually wouldn't consider something like this in a garden this far north, but the lady at the Botanical Gardens assured me the parent plant flowers in her garden a wee bit more north from us.

Time to sit back with a cuppa and enjoy the garden....that is of course what it's created for!  

Watching the Countryfile weather, top UK temperatures today we're 28c (in Wales).  Monday for South Yorkshire remains hot and sunny.  There's a chance the storms may not reach us...which is a bit of a shame since all 3 waterbutts are pretty much dry!

In an ideal world it would rain after sunset...