The Great British Summer

We Brits are renown around the world as the nation who are obsessed with the weather.  I think maybe we use it as an ice-breaker to begin a conversation, or a passing comment to your neighbour...."oooh isn't it cold today?....Phew it's a hot one!....Feel's like snow today...etc etc.  We're never content.  Gardeners are no exception not enough rain, not enough sun blah blah.

With 72 flood warnings in place, homes and businesses across the UK flooded with a month's worth of rain falling in 24h in some places and more rain on the way...it must be the British Summer.  What joy.

Fawkes and Hedwig are sporadic in their laying so we've had to buy some in!! Fortunately there is a farmer nearby who sells them.  He has an 'honesty box' whereby you help yourself to the eggs and leave your money.  We have been so spoilt with our own eggs that even the top-of-the-range free-range organic eggs bought in the supermarket are bland in comparison, with yolks that are pale and tasteless.  Mind you, the shop-bought ones are at least 2 weeks old before they even hit the shelves!

These were just £2.50 for a dozen - a bargain

I know I showed this previously, but it will soon be just a pile of blue-purple petals blowing around the garden.  The creamy coloured boss in each will be transformed into fluffy spider-like seedheads.

A rain-drenched  rose.

 One of my newest acquisitions

A rare shot of the Toad.  I had a day off this week and as we had a dry day I got busy on a pretty wet lawn in desperate need of a trim.  The Toad followed me round as I tidied up the edges picking up the clippings and pulling the odd weed out of the border.  This unusual creature is usually found in a darkened room attaching itself to various electrical gaming and entertainment systems.  It very seldom ventures out into the daylight and rarer still if the sun is out!

Another of my new plants. The photo doesn't really do the colour justice.  The dark pinky-red flowers will be watched carefully over the next year or two to ensure they stay a dark red; the soil's acidity levels altered if necessary.

Right Royal Summer

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!