You can smell the scent from almost anywhere in the garden and I am sure it has enticed the bees. Last month I mentioned that I hadn’t seen that many bees about but I am glad to say there are loads around now! I do try to have something in flower each month for our pollinators and there are usually flowers in abundance in June for them. They are all over the lavender, deutzia, elder, philadelphus, weigelia, primroses, honeysuckle, syringia, hardy geraniums, erigeron, foxgloves, astrantias, geums and some of the roses. In fact I was watching bees going in and out from one of the holes in the raised bed wall.
Clematis Montana is over but the large purple flowered warszawski Nike is still in flower.
The periwinkle, veronica and syringia have just gone over as have the aquilegia and some of the primroses so I am in the process of cutting those back.
The ‘Generous gardener’ rose over the back arch is looking great especially beside the pink flowers and dark purple leaves of the elder. ‘Zepharine drouhin ‘is still hanging on over the side arch – I keep saying I will just get rid of it as it has been pruned badly in the past and doesn’t look great. ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ is looking very healthy and covered in blooms and buds as is the little pink rambling rose growing up an old post, and rose ‘Jubilee celebration’ is looking great too in the large pot. The moss roses, ‘William Lobb’, have lots of buds on yet to open as well as ‘Munstead wood.’ They get a bit more shade than the others.
I love foxgloves in the garden and I have planted out some ‘Sutton’s apricot’ this year. I know they will be rather promiscuous with the others I have but that is ok. Just now I have a couple that have pale pink flowers at the bottom that look very pale yellow in bud.
The ferns have all got going by now and are looking as fab as ever. I have been trying to get rid of the Arisarum proboscoideum (mouse plant) in the raised bed as it is getting rather rampant and despite being sprayed half a dozen times it is still managing to grow? It has escaped the raised bed and has got into the border and now it has popped up in amongst a geranium.
I love hardy geraniums as they can cope with almost anything and I have quite a few different varieties:’ Rozanne’, cantabrigiense ‘St Ola’, ‘Birch double’ (lilac), cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’, Himalayense blue , ‘Wargrave pink’, macrorrhizum ‘Bevan’s variety’, pratense ‘Midnight Reiter’, Geranium x riversleaianum ‘Mavis Simpson’, and my newest addition is ‘Vision’ light pink (after seeing it on Gardeners world). Some of these have other names but that just confuses everything. Here are a few of them.
Years ago I planted a hydrangea petiolaris beyond the wall at the end on the garden, against the wire fence. It gets very little in the way of maintenance and it has suddenly decided it likes it there and is thriving. I am hoping to train it all the way along the fence eventually. It might keep some of the weed seeds from the golf course out.
In the conservatory I noticed a few weird looking areas on my old lady cactus. It may be about to produce pups – why now – I have had it for many years and I don’t think I have changed anything in its care routine?
A couple of ladybirds and a butterfly from today.
Right now it is sunny, muggy and windy but tomorrow is meant to be very different indeed. Rain, thunder and lightning are predicted so I have moved a few more vulnerable plants under the table just in case.
