Hardy cyclamen

My hardy cyclamen are coming into flower beneath the Japanese acer; they have no leaves at this time, so look a bit naked and forlorn!

Hydrangeas

Most of my hydrangea flowers are fading, now, but even at this stage of the year new flowers emerge.  This is one of them; it appeared a week or so ago and is now in its prime.

Six on Saturday

Japanese anemone

My Japanese anemones are starting to come into flower.  They are a feature of the garden from now until the autumn, providing interest at the far end, around the magnolia stellata, although they do tend to take over!  For some reason, the pink ones don’t do well in my garden; I’ve tried them more than once, and in different places, but they don’t survive.

Shasta Daisy x superbum ‘Broadway Lights’ 

Wanting something to replace the banished mint, I found these in my local B&Q store.  I haven’t come across them before, but apparently they are hardy and excellent for pollinators as well as being good cut flowers.  (I’ve now discovered they are a variety of Chrysanthemum Maximum.)  I bought three plants but they weren’t really enough so will go back for more.  They will be taller than the fuchsias and should be a good contrast – see below.

 

Fuchsia

These are now starting to flower properly, being no longer choked by mint, though they still need a bit of tlc!  They are overgrown and overcrowded due to my neglect.  They are also sheltering a cat, which is hoping to surprise a bird visiting the nearby bird feeder, so I keep having to chase it off the premises.  This area may need a rethink.

Astilbe

The astilbes are now properly in flower, enjoying the dappled shade after the rain we had last week.  Those which are very shaded are much paler than those nearer the sunlight – some of them are actually white.  Sadly, however, none of the flowers last for long, though the foliage remains attractive.

Japanese acer

One branch of my acer suddenly decided it was autumn, a week or so ago; the leaves turned red and gold, in stark contrast to the green leaves surrounding them.  Now they have died and turned brown.  The rest of the tree seems to be fine so I’m hoping this isn’t a symptom of anything serious.  The tree gave a wonderful display last autumn, with the leaves turning dazzling shades of gold before falling and creating a golden carpet on the ground.

Hydrangea

I can’t get over how well my hydrangeas have done this year, considering I did nothing to them other than pull off the dead heads at Easter.  This is a different view of the one in my back garden – it’s what I see when I open my back door.  It means I can hang my washing under the back porch without being seen by the neighbours!

Thanks to The Propagator (see https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/) for suggesting the idea of Six on Saturday!

 

 

 

Old roses

There are a number of old roses in the garden which have been there since I was a child. I pruned some of them recently and this one has now started flowering.  I think it’s probably ‘Peace’, which my mother was very fond of.

Fuchsias

Unfortunately, the removal of the rampant mint also resulted in the removal of most of the smaller fuchsias, which were too tangled up in the mint to be saved.  This means that I now have two large, well established fuchsias and this little one, which is hiding beneath an azalea.  Weather permitting, I’ll move it out into the space where the mint was at the weekend.

Wild roses

Wild roses have started seeding themselves in my garden – this is the third I’ve found.  I’m not sure whether to leave them or take them out; I’ve taken one out because it was very thorny and in an awkward place and I’ll probably take this out for the same reasons.  The first one is on top of a wall so not really in the way, but it doesn’t produce any flowers, as far as I can see, so I’ll probably get rid of that one, as well.   I thought all roses produced flowers, but these don’t seem to!

Ferns

I love ferns, but never deliberately planted them until last year.  I had a few which had appeared in shady places of their own accord, but after my new occasional gardener had blitzed the garden of weeds she planted ferns in the dark places beneath the hollies and other tall shrubs.  They are now coming into their own – see above.

Mop-head hydrangeas

This is the largest of my three mop-head hydrangeas.  It’s outside the back door, the other two being on either side of the front door and almost as large.  As you can see, and as I’ve illustrated in previous posts, the flowers are a mixture of colours, ranging from pure pink to pure blue and everything in between!

Six on Saturday

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I know I’m a day late, but here are my ‘Six on Saturday’.  Clockwise from the top left, they are my miniature rose, which is now in full flower; the only fuchsia with flowers on at present; one of the astilbes, which are suffering a bit from the current heat and lack of rain; a rose, which I don’t know the name of; my pink hardy geranium, which keeps flowering for weeks; and my new, dainty white hardy geranium phaeum ‘Album’.  Everything in flower at the moment is in shades of pink, red or lavender, except the hydrangeas (some of which are blue).

Space to fill

This is the bed where the roses are, which, as you can see, has a large space in the middle which needs filling now the weeds have been removed.  The edges are taken up with lavender, nepeta, egeron and hardy geraniums, but they haven’t filled the space as much as we thought they would.  Watch this space!