June is usually our garden's most favoured month. This year June has so far been a washout, which is a shame because we had a 4-day national holiday at the beginning of the month to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. Of course, it being a Bank Holiday in Britain, it was wet and cold.
This stunning display has more than made up for it though. Almost completely clothed in regal velvety purple, this clematis has courted a fleet of admirers from passers-by (sorry, couldn't resist).
Alongside the clematis, the honeysuckle has finally put on a delightful show of its bright yellow fireworks. I have yet to catch if it has a scent, but for £1.99 4 years ago, you can't complain....but it would be nice if it was fragrant...
There has been some progress in the space freed up from the removal of the huge pine tree. Along the far left, where The Man That Can erected the wire fencing, we have planted the three ivies. The plan is that they will soon fill this ugly screen with their glossy variagated evergreen leaves, creating privacy and hiding the unsightly mess next door. I have seen this done in a favourite garden we visit to great effect and hope it won't take too long to recreate here.
We emptied the compost bin of perfectly made soil improver, mostly made up of old compost and bedding plants along with chicken bedding and...shall we say their fertiliser, into the new bed we've created here. The stump has been lowered to create a little stool for the Bumblebee and the Toad to take a seat on. Along the back edge of the bed which joins the existing bed at the bottom of the lawn we have planted young box hedging. This will eventually thicken up and we shall have a low boundary to replace the old rickety picket fence.
We also found some excellent bargains in a garden centre over the Bank Holiday. Due to the poor weather, garden centres have been struggling this year - is it wrong of me to take advantage of them having to sell some of their stock off cheap? This is a red hydrangea (That makes 4 varieties of one of my favourite shrubs in our garden now). Although it looks a little sorry for itself at the moment, it has a couple of flower buds on it. It'll take a year or two to find its feet, so watch this space.
We have also planted a rougue fern that popped up in an unsuitable place in the garden, along with a couple of aquilegias that had been hampering the path to the greenhouse. Other plants liberated from the sales stands of the garden centre include a Hypericum with it's warm yellow flowers and another yellow-flowered shrub, the name I cannot for the life of me recall at present. Some seeds of annuals and biennials have been sown to help fill the gaps while these shrubs establish. Oh and the open soil for the time being has some old pine twigs laid over them to help protect against the local cats...
As always, it doesn't look much yet, but give them another two years and they'll be well on their way!
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