We just had another heatwave albeit a short one but it did rain too so all is well in the garden and the pond had a good top up.
I see a couple of shrubs in my neighbours garden have gone totally brown now and look quite dead which is a shame. There are a few poor elm trees in the golf course which are in the process of being felled because they have Dutch Elm Disease. Some of the ash trees have Ash Die Back and have to be felled too at some point. Now the elm is away you can see another dead tree through the gap.
Felling diseased elm tree.Diseased elm gone.
The persicarias and Japanese anemones are flowering away as are the verbena, oregano, agastache and erigeron. The roses have more buds for their next lot of flowers with the exception of the moss roses. The heucheras are almost over, astrantias too. There are a few flowers on some hardy geraniums, campion coronaria, nepeta and the odd flower on the weigelia and hebe. The purple loosestrife is going over but still attracting butterflies. This large white (possibly male) stayed still enough for a quick snap.
Large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae)Anemone hupehensis Japonica ‘Montrose’ pinkAnemone hupehensis Japonica ‘Whirlwind’ white
The honeysuckle is looking good: the flowers have turned to bright red, jewel-like berries. Other plants with berries are the rowan and berberis. The elder didn’t have many flowers this year therefore not many berries.
Honeysuckle flowers at the top of the arch.Honeysuckle berries at the top of the arch.Garden mid August 2026.
There are the first tinges of dark red on the miscanthus ‘red chief ‘ grass which looks good against the acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’ . There is only one grass flower head so far but soon there will be masses.
Red chief miscanthus grass against acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’.
There are lots of cracks in the retaining wall of the raised bed which the ferns take advantage of.
Cracked wall with fern.
It is sunny but cooler today so I will just enjoy the garden instead of working in it I think – well, apart from taking more pond weed out and being on the lookout for the Spanish slugs.
Yep we finally got the heatwave and yes it was very hot, but thankfully not nearly as hot as it got down South. I tried to do any watering in the morning and most of the work before lunch time as I don’t do well in the hot weather. Just now in the garden it is mostly dead-heading and weeding and I have made the decision to get rid of the viola as they are an absolute headache. They are popping up everywhere and spreading like wildfire. It is going to take quite a while before the garden is rid of them. I will need to find some clump forming perennials to replace them rather than ground cover plants. There is/was a pink astrantia in a pot on the patio which I thought would do ok in the stumpery where we pulled out the viola but it had been totally eaten by snails! I will give it ago anyway and see what happens. I have given some hardy geraniums a chop back and left a few others still for the bees. I will chop those back shortly. The heavy, thundery, showers that came along with the heatwave have brought down most of the petals from the philadelphus, some roses and some poppies. Luckily I had asked Amy to put up some canes to tie in the thalictrum just in time so they stayed more or less upright.
Sadly when we moved the potted astrantia Harry found a New Zealand flatworm sitting near it. Now I have to pull all the patio pots out and check underneath them! Huge job.
The bees are loving the yellow thalictrum and the campanula and the foxgloves (when they can get into them). The foxglove below is actually a nice apricot coloured foxglove but the colour didn’t photograph well.
Snoozing snail in a foxglove.
The astilbe are in full flower now, as are the roses and the campanula (which I really aught to trim back). The foxgloves are always a joy but after the heavy rain and wind they are now all at a jaunty angle – this photo was taken just before the wind. There is a mixture of pinks, purples, white and apricot.
Foxgloves in the stumpery.
A couple of foxgloves however which are growing nearer the back wall are being shredded by the snails! The flowers are ok but the leaves are now only midribs.
The other plant which has succumbed to slugs and/or snails is the Scot’s lovage It did still manage to flower but I am not sure if I will keep it as it never does very well. However some wildlife likes it. The ladybird and some kind of longhorn beetle shown here.
Longhorn beetle and ladybird on Scot’s lovage.
We used to be able to have our dinner on a nice sunny patio, but with the increasing height of the golf course trees it gets very shady by 19:30 which in a heatwave is rather nice but I think I would rather be able to enjoy the sunshine a bit more on the patio in the evening.
Shady afternoon in the garden.
In the conservatory the Echinopsis eyriesii (only just found out what it is called) has had 2 flowers this year and the scent is amazing. It is always a shame the flowers only last a day.
Echinopsis eyriesii flowers.
And I treated myself to a couple more succulent plants – lets hope I can keep them alive.
Titanopsis calcarea and Haworthia cooperi v pilifera.
At the moment It is a case of keeping an eye on beasties, keeping things watered, and getting rid of unwanted plants that have become unruly.
They say we are heading for another heat wave – well not so far. Still waiting for some sunshine and warmth without that chilly wind. We have had yet more rain which at least means I don’t have to water the garden but we didn’t get enough to fill up the pond. It is baby frog time so they will enjoy the damp weather I am sure. I am so happy to see damselflies again at the pond. There were a few red damsels and the odd blue one too. I saw a couple who had mated and the male was holding onto the female with his grippers while she laid her eggs in the pond by some vegetation. A third one (probably a male) kept trying to butt in. There was also a lone blue one hanging about.
Single red damselfly.Red damselfly couple – female laying eggs.Male red damselfly clasping female.
I am still trying to get a good photo of a small copper butterfly but this one will have to do in the mean time.
Small copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas)on a variegated holy bush.
The red keys on my acer are tiny but very pretty against the bright green of the leaves. My next door neighbour has a large red acer which has bright red keys and they glow when the sun catches them.
Acer shirasawanum Aureum leaf with red keys.Neighbours red acer with red keys.
Lots of things are in flower just now and the place is absolutely buzzing with bees. However just gone over are the honey lilies, weigela, syringia, stonecrop, rhododendron, azalea, weigelia, aquilegia, hebe, saxifrages, forget-me-nots, and irises.
The stonecrop had amazing colours: bright yellow flowers, some green leaves, some purple leaves and some almost silvery with a coating of farina.
Colourful stonecrop.
I do love Pattie’s Plum poppy and there were a few planted next to the cirsiums but I only have 2 left. I don’t think they live very long so I need a few more.
In flower right now are: most of the roses, philadelphus, erigeron, purple clematis, nepeta, some hardy geraniums, briza grass, astrantia, some primroses, cowslips, lavender, foxgloves, deutzia, cirsium, thalictrum, orange geum and honeysuckle. The wonderful fragrance in the garden comes from the honeysuckle, philadelphus and deutzia. You do have to be closer to the roses to catch their fragrance.
Honeysuckle.
Overall the garden is looking good just now with a few areas that are dissapointing.
View from the patio mid June 2026
The damp area that runs along the side of the ramp just annoys me now. It looks great when the persicaria are up and flowering in august but until then it is just an eyesore and now the harling is split again and some persicaria is coming up behind it.
Persicaria coming up behind the harling.
Snails (I think) have demolished the 3 agastache I had planted behind the garage and have had a good go at the eupatorium and marigold on the patio. One marigold was totally stripped but I saved a couple by putting them on the patio table. I had used crushed oyster shells on the surface of the eupatorium pot but that did nothing.
In the conservatory 2 of the lithops have now split but the smaller one has not done anything this year so far. ( I have now found out that they should had have a pot of their own as they are not all the same species so I have given them a little pot each now.) I treated myself to 3 tiny new succulents when we went to the cactus and succulent show Saughton Park and how anyone can remember the names of these things is beyond me – I am still learning how to pronounce them. I have another couple in the post – who knew I would get interested in succulents?
Lithops splitting.3 new small succulents.
So the weather forecast for today was 90 – 95 percent chance of rain all morning and we didn’t get any!
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.
Bee flying into the hole in the wall.
Clematis Montana is over but the large purple flowered warszawski Nike is still in flower.
Clematis warszawski NikeGeums next to chimney pot.
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.
Gertrude Jekyll rose.Zephrine drouhin still hanging on.Honeysuckle on the arch.Primula and philadelphus.
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.
Foxgloves with pale pink flowers and pale yellow buds.
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.
Athyrium otophorum okanum fern.Rosy Buckler fern.Polystichum setiferum plumosa and deutzia.
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.
Hydrangea petiolaris beyond the back wall.
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?
Strange whorls on old lady cactus – possibly pupping?Close-up of whorls.
A couple of ladybirds and a butterfly from today.
Ladybird on achillea.Ladybird on ligusticum scoticum.Red admiral on philadelphus.
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.
View of the garden from the patio.Right side of patio.Left corner of patio.
Goodness – where did April go? I was so busy getting the seedlings and plants ready for the Duddingston Kirk Garden Sale and keeping everything watered that I forgot to blog! It has been a mixed bag of weather but we had a little bit of rain – enough to get the vine weevil nematodes over the whole garden, patio and conservatory (and out the front too). However Scotland has seen the driest start to the year since 1964! I have been watering things like mad and soon there may be a hosepipe ban so that will not be great. The front garden just has to fend for itself but I have planted a few small plug plants and seedlings out the back so they need to be kept moist. The poor rhododendron doesn’t like this dry weather. Some plants have been early yet others have been a bit late but on the whole most things have come up that should have with the exception again the Gaura and a few of the Erigeron. I took cuttings of one potted Gaura that was on the patio so I can dot them about the garden in the summer. I sowed a few trays of seeds in the conservatory and on a windowsill but with mixed results. Some came through brilliantly, some just two seeds germinated from a whole packet, some didn’t germinate at all. The compost wasn’t great as it had lumps and sticks in it that I picked through to get most of it out but I really should have had seeding mix but everywhere was sold out.
I have noticed that all the plants that are usually covered in bees at this time of year just aren’t. There are a few bee out there but not nearly as many as there should be. I also noticed that there are more scarlet lily beetles about and they are now going for the fritillaries.
This year the Narcissi Segovia came up fine and was not eaten by slugs and snails as soon as they emerged from the soil. I had potted them up on the patio instead of in the stumpery. On the whole the very dry start to the year has meant far fewer slugs about – woohoo!
Narcissi segovia
Some of the flowers that have gone over are: the pink corydalis, most of the narscissi, Erica ‘Westwood yellow’, tulips, fritillaries, berberis, erythronium and cherry blossom, pasque flower.
There is loads of colour in the garden with the new foliage of the astilbes, acers, veronica, , aquilegia, tree heath, honeysuckle leaves, ferns emerging, the blues and pinks of the pulmonaria and forget-me-nots, bright purple viola with green/purple leaves. Bright yellow alpine cinquefoil in one of the troughs along with a stonecrop. Bright yellow and green of a couple of the grasses. The periwinkles are still flowering (white, purple and mauve varieties). The epimedium sulfurum is just going over in the front garden as is the pink epimedium grandiflorum ‘Rose Queen’ in the raised bed in the back garden. I only have one wood anemone left (I think one of them was dug up along with a chunk of fern that we were cutting back). ( I did try growing more from corns but they drowned.) There is white saxifrage on one side of the stumpery and red saxifrage on the other. We are trying to make carpets of saxifrage but something keeps digging it up! Also flowering in the stumpery is the clematis montana growing up the garage wall. The aquilegia pop up all over the garden and they are looking great just now. The rowan has plenty flowers again this year. We took out most of the honesty as it was taking over the stumpery.
Red saxifrage with purple sempervivum and acer.
We have had to put a cage around the choisya as something keeps eating it and I think it might be pigeons. We have put a bit of a cage over the brunnera too for the same reason. If they still get nibbled then we will know that it either slugs/snails or some other beastie that can get through the holes.
Caged ChoisyaScarlet lily beetles on fritillaries.
I also found some type of oak gall on my little oak seedlings. They are actually very pretty and although they don’t usually cause much harm to the plants I took them off as the plant was so small.
Oak galls on oak seedlingOak galls
The clay soil area just under the patio wall is looking ok and the astilbes will be in flower soon as will the rest of theses plants.
Perennials in the clay soil under the patio wallView of garden from patioStumpery one sideStumpery other side
The weather is going to get cooler soon and we might even get some rain so I will have a bit more time on my hands instead of the constant watering.
We have had a mixed bag of weather over July – some rain, some sun and some overcast days but over all not too bad. I have found more plants decimated by Spanish slugs; two artemesias in separate troughs with not a bit of greenery left, one nepeta and they are still having a go at a mint plant in a pot (they are not supposed to like these plants according to the internet). I have put a clear plastic cloche over one artemesia to see if I can keep it alive at least. Slugs have never gone for these in the past! And talking about slugs (as I often do) I have been watching them by the pond and found them wandering around the water lily pads. One Spanish slug stretched itself from a pad over the moss covered stone half submerging itself in the process. A leopard slug spent the afternoon just lying around in a little puddle on a pad like it was at a spa. On the patio I have found the Spanish slugs like to drink from the birdbath. I haven’t found any other slug do that.
Slug going from lily pad to moss covered stoneLeopard slug on water lily padSpanish slug having a drink from bird’s water dish.
We were so pleased when we got a large jar and did a spot of pond dipping and found a tiny eft (baby newt). Great news so we know that we at least have a male and female about and that eggs were produced and hatched.
Eft (baby newt)
On the wall of the raised bed I found a very pretty pinkish-brown snail. Probably a Cepaea nemoralis and they are plymorphic so you can see different colours of these.
Pinkish-brown grove snail Cepaea nemoralis)
In the conservatory I came across a pretty little daisy miner fly, and a frog-hopper on the basil. The fly had gorgeous green eyes. My photos don’t do any of the creatures justice.
Daisy miner fly (Tripeta Zoe).Common frog-hopper
I have noticed this summer that there are not as many butterflies around. I have spotted a few holy blues, meadow browns and orange tips but not many others. Lots of small bumble bees around but fewer big bumble bees. There are also fewer wasps and flies around. Some of the plants are taking ages to get going and some are just not reaching their full potential. Even the stephanotis in the conservatory hasn’t flowered yet – not even a bud so far. The purple loose-strife by the pond edge is not looking quite as dense as it used to and the rogersia hasn’t flowered this year. However there is still plenty floral colour about. In flower now: hardy geraniums – especially Rozanne, some roses, Japanese anemones just coming into flower now, heuchera, various persicarias, geums, golden spirea, fuchsia, some meadowsweet, oregano, erigeron, cyclamen, honey-suckle, purple loose-strife, pickerelweed, water lilies, astrantia, achilea, potentilla, lavender, woolly rock jasmine and gaura.
Hardy geranium RozzaneView from the patio
In the conservatory the only things in flower right now are the basil and a couple of sempervivums. The sempervivums usually have clusters of flowers but this one has had them in a V shape.
Hooray – the sun is finally shining and it is warm! The plants (and weeds) are romping away. There are lots of colourful flowers open now, the aquilegias with all their different pinks, purples and whites, and the foliage colours are just as amazing. I do love the bronze foliage of some of the younger leaves especially some of the ferns and the rodgersia.
Osmunda regalis ‘Purpurascens’Rodgersia podophylla
There are different green and purples in some other ferns and browns in the ones with ‘hairy’ fronds. I think the hairs are actually called scales although they don’t look like scales.
The tree heath Erica arborea is flowering it’s heart out and the bees love the tiny flowers the centre of which a purple. It has come back very well after it got big chop in 2021. The rowan was covered in blossom last year but this year is very disappointing. You can just about see a few clusters at the top of it in the left side of the next pic.
Erica arborea and Hebe ‘Pink paradise’.Erica arborea close up
The amazing purple (garnet) foliage of the Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’ is looking gorgeous just now contrasting well with the bright greens around it. Although it looks very purple, the closer you get to it you can see a green tinge to it.
Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’.
The stumpery has plenty of colour with the white primula Snowflake which has a pink tinge to it, blue ajugas mixed in with white galium odoratus, purple honesty, pale blue forget-me-nots, a few pulmonarias and the pale blue Veronica Gentionoides Blue streak and more dark purple foliage of the huecheras. We have borrowed the dark foliage of next doors tree. The lime green of the Acer shirasawanum aureum really shines.
The stumpery in mid May 2024.Ajuga reptans mixed with Galium odoratum.
A few beasties that I found this month were a Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana) which looks absolutely beautiful. The RHS says just to live with them unless they become a problem.
Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana).
A rather lovely white-legged snake millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger).
We are always told that slugs and snails don’t like moving over sharp objects but I have found slugs and snails going up the very sharp prickles of my moss roses. This slug doesn’t look bothered at all. I have found the tell-tale slime trails all over a very prickly cactus in the conservatory before too.
Slug on the very prickly moss rose stem.
And lastly for now the heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis). Apparently it wasn’t just my garden they were swarming into but even on beaches elsewhere. It isn’t a great photo. They have been quite a problem in the moorlands so I am hoping they are not going to be a problem here too.
Heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis).
I have seen plenty orange tip butterflies and holly blues and a few speckled wood butterflies so far. And the usual bees, wasps and flies are around, but so far, no more wasp nests in the raised bed. Our next-door neighbour had a lovely garden visitor the other day. Our gardens back onto a golf course where the is a small herd of deer, and one of them got through her broken gate. On the one hand, I would love to have them visit our garden, but on the other hand, they may cause a lot of damage. I have no idea what plants they would eat. It is back to chilly weather and overcast skies now. It was nice to see the sun while it lasted.
I know that I am forever going on about the weather but we have been having quite a bit of rain just now and all my small plants in small pots are waterlogged. I have been trying to keep them under the table during the worst of the rain but then we had the strong winds so I had to turn the plastic table upside down so it wouldn’t blow away. Then I put them under the bench with a sheet of black plastic over the bench, with large stones holding it in place, and that helped a bit. They are still waterlogged so I really want some nice sunshine and gentle breeze to help dry them out.
I do like how the garden looks after a rain shower though and there is still plenty of colour around. We did get a few nuts from the tortured hazel tree (corylus avellena contorta), the squirrels missed a few, and there were plenty berries on the elder (sambucus nigra ‘Black lace’). The newly planted crab apple (malus sylvestris ‘Evereste’) has a few tiny, orange crab apples on it, the rowan (sorbus hupehensis ‘Pink pagoda’) has loads of deep pink berries and the variegated holly ( ilex aquifolium ‘ variegata’) has a few berries too. We trim the holly to keep it in shape so we can get past it without being jagged, but that can mean we don’t get many berries. We tend to leave them all for the wildlife. You can tell it is autumn by the huge number of spider’s webs about that catch the mist and look fabulous.
Deep pink rowan berries with spider’s webhazelnuts from corylus contorta (contorted hazel)
The astrantias are still looking good in pots on the patio although the dark red one is turning purple as it is going over. The pink one is a seedling from a white variety ‘shaggy’ and it is quite a lovely pink shade.
Dainty pink astrantia flowers.
After the rain the view from the patio is quite nice. I don’t like the very white garage so I cropped it out, maybe one day we will get it painted a nicer colour (except the house is also bright white so maybe not).
View of the left of the garden from the patio.View of the right side of garden from the patio.View of the garden from the patio.
In the conservatory I have planted a few purple crocus and some tiny narcissi for some colour in late winter. My cyclamen have had their summer rest and are staring to flower now. one in particular is in full bloom while the others have yet to catch-up. The oxalis palmifrons is looking lovely just now. The little bulbs were planted just a few weeks ago and they are flowering now. I love how the flowers untwist.
Single white oxalis palmifrons flower.Oxalis palmifrons
The small unnamed cactus has had a few fluffy buds on it for the last few months and despite food and water they have failed to open. It did have a few that opened into fabulous large white flowers that smell divine earlier in the year but not these ones. I will leave them on and see if they do something next year.
Fluffy buds on the small cactus.
I found some damage on a couple of plants during my checking and watering of the plants. It is good to catch things early so any diseases don’t get passed onto other plants. One poor little lithops has damage at the base of a leaf but I don’t know if it is slug damage or perhaps there was a bit of water sitting there. I probably don’t need to worry about that as these leaves will wither and it will produce new leaves after that.
Lithops slug damage?
There is something on one of my Christmas cactus cuttings that I think might be botryosphaera dothidea that causes a kind of canker. Just in case it is that I binned the plant, washed my hands, then checked all the other seedlings and plants in the conservatory. The good news it that it was only one plant that had it.
botryosphaera dothidea ? on Christmas cactus
The conservatory attracts many pollinators into it but sadly some of them can’t find their way back out again. I have seen loads of different hover flies, bees, wasps and other insects happily buzzing around the flowers but this male (I think) twin-spot centurion fly (Sargus bipunctatus) caught my eye with its metallic colours. It has gorgeous metallic green, copper and blue on its body and iridescent wings. In the first photo I was trying to capture the colours in its wings. The second photo it had sadly died and the wings were apart revealing the beautiful colours on its body.
iridescent wings on Sargus bipunctatus.Metallic colours on the Sargus bipunctatus.
It is now getting colder so we are getting fewer insects in the conservatory, although it wasn’t plagued by the usual greenfly this year. I have to remember to water more sparingly now and I still need to check the plants daily for any signs of disease. Slugs are still coming in so I also need to check underneath the plants.
If a plant is struggling to cope with the conditions in its allotted area it is better move it to somewhere it will thrive rather than just survive. So I have moved a clematis over the to the far side of the garage wall where the roots will be in more shade but the plant itself will be in the sun for a good part of the day. In its place is a more vigorous clematis which should cope with the conditions better but I will put something over the root area to protect the roots from getting too hot. The periwinkle which was way too overgrown was removed as I have loads of periwinkle around the garden. The blue centauria has now gone as I was sick of it being covered in mildew. It is a shame as the bees loved it, but, I will find something else for them to enjoy, although in the mean time I have put a colourful fern in its place. The fern was originally over by the wall and although it did like it there it was hidden from view by the foxgloves. I have dotted some erigeron seedlings (left over from the plant sale) in various places that looked a bit bare. Now then, the dark leaved hardy geranium is a conundrum – I have two planted about a foot apart and only one is mildewy and the other is just fine. I think I will dig up the sick one and give it some TLC on the patio. Both the red astrantia and the pink one are looking great just now as I dug them up from the garden and put them in pots on the patio where they are less likely to get damaged but the huge slugs.
Red astrantia Gill Richardson groupRed astrantia flower
There is still a lot of colour in the garden – the Japanese anemones are out in their full glory, as are the persicaria, purple cyclamen, fuchsia, and the phlox. Still going are the heuchera, erigeron, gaura, oregano, sellinum and there are sporadic flowers still on the roses, hebe, viburnum, and low growing campanula. The grass flowers of the miscanthus ‘Red chief’ are just coming out and they look great next to the deep purple of the acer palmatum dissectum. In the pond the purple loosestrife is just going over and there are still some pink water-lily flowers, blue pickerel weed and some yellow monkey flowers. The deep pink berries of the rowan are looking splendid and the deep purple – almost black berries of the elder will soon be picked off by the birds and squirrels. The dark purple foliage of the cotinus, heuchera, elder and acer really stand out amongst the greens and golds of the other plants and for bright highlights there are the silvery leaves of the snow in summer and the wormwood.
Guara lindheimeri The brideFrom the patio
Indoors there are still flowers on the stephanotis and a few of the sempervivums. There is one indoor cyclamen which is in full flower while the others have yet to get going. I have one little flower on one of the lithops which is exciting as I didn’t think I would get a flower so quickly. I also found a couple of bright pink cactus berries this year on the Old lady cactus (Mamillaria hahniana). Apparently the slugs like the berries – I took one berry off to photograph it and the next day it was almost all eaten. The colour scheme indoors reflects the garden colours with the deep purple shades coming from the foliage of the sempervivum chocolate kiss and the aeonium voodoo. The variegated leaves of the cheese plant, spider plants and mother-in-laws-tongue bring some brightness and the echivera have a lovely pale silvery aqua colour with a soft pink tinge. Kalanchoe tomentosa ‘Dorothy Brown’ may look boring to some but I love the hairy green leaves tinged with brown. Of course you can add more colour with your containers too. Upstairs during the summer I need to keep the blind closed to prevent the room overheating so only plants that do well in shade can cope so they are all the dark green foliage plants like Dracaena fragrans and Dypsis lutescens, the peace lily copes well too. My air plants do get a day light as they wouldn’t cope at all in the deep shade.
Flower bud in a lithopLithop 1st flowerLithop flower side viewMamillaria hahniana (old lady cactus) with berry.Pink berry (seed pod) from Old lady cactusKalanchoe tomentosa ‘Dorothy Brown’Crassula ovata cutting in a bright colourful pot
Just now the tiny baby frogs are all around the garden so before doing any work in an area ii is best to just ruffle the vegetation before cutting or digging anything up. They are so well camouflaged and so very tiny!
Tiny baby frog on a rock.Two tiny baby frogs by the pond.
This July has been rather dreich: not very hot, not very sunny, but pretty wet and grey and a few unpredictable ninja showers. The weather forecasters often told us we would be getting thunder and that was rarely correct, and even the showers never quite happened when they said they would happen. I wouldn’t want to try and predict the weather – it is a thankless and difficult task. We did get quite a bit of rain, but not as much as was forecast, and I would say it has been rather chilly for July, it has felt much more like autumnal weather. Mind you, I would rather be here than in any of those countries that are experiencing floods or wildfires as they are horrendous for all concerned. Lives, homes, wildlife, and habitat can all be lost in the devastation.
I am trying to rescue some cuttings I had prepared for the Duddingston Kirk’s Garden Club’s Bring and Buy plants sale that is coming up in August. They have been out on the patio table and got thoroughly drenched in the ninja showers over the last couple of days so I have put them on trays on the conservatory sofa to try and dry them out a bit. The other cuttings that I didn’t haven space for on the sofa have been put under the patio table for the time being.
I have gone round the garden having a good look at what is thriving, and what is not, to see if I should make some changes. Well, there are a few plants that consistently get covered in mildew and never look attractive because of it so I may dig them out and just dispose of them. Things like the variegated honeysuckle that loses most of its leaves due to mildew in the spring, despite me keeping it watered in the dry weather, then it picks up a little by the end of July but it still looks pretty straggly. Then it loses its leaves during autumn and winter and it hasn’t flowered at all. Instead I may put Clematis Montana Freda there as it should be able to scramble up the trellis and cover the whole wall eventually and not require much, if any, pruning. I have put some cuttings of Nepeta junior walker along that border so hopefully in summer it should look attractive, and during the autumn months there are cyclamen all along that border with beautiful leaves as well as colourful flowers once the nepeta has gone over. In the raised bed I am going to hoick out the rose Zephirine Drouhin by the arch as it has never really liked being there. It is looking awful this year. I have fed, watered and sprayed and pruned it over the last few years and it has only sometimes looked ok. There is a honeysuckle growing up the other side of the arch so that can stay as it is only a year old. The Centaurea Montana in the stumpery always gets mildew in the spring and although the bees love it I might get rid of it this year. I often chop it back after the first flowers go over and I get new foliage and flowers that look ok if that area stays moist. I will have to move the Athyrium niponicum ‘Silver falls’ fern again as it I still haven’t found the ideal place for it. I put it in the stumpery at first but it got a little too much sun and the fronds turned brown, then I put it in the shady border next to the ramp but it is too damp there and yet again the fronds turned brown, so now it is in a pot on the patio on the shady side to see if I can get it to look a little happier.
The only gardening I have done really this July is chopping back the astrantias and astilbes and some of the hardy geraniums, and pulled out some weeds.
The good news is that we had the tree surgeons to cut down a large diseased sycamore in the golf course that overhung the back of the garden, and they raised the canopy of the ash trees either side of the sycamore. This should allow more light and more rain to some of our plants at the back of the garden and prevent the larger branches of the ash breaking off. You can’t really tell by my photo though. I do wonder however, if my little rowan has ash die back as it has a couple of branches at the top that have died back. We were advised to cut them back and keep an eye on it. I hope it is ok and that it is just some natural die back as I don’t want to have to dig it out.
Golf course trees
I did get a couple of quick photos (using my phone again as Harry has borrowed my camera) of a few little critters. The frog hopper (Philaemus spumarius) adults remind me of when I was a kid as I loved just touching them on the backside and seeing how far they jumped. Their nymphs are what make all that spittle (cuckoo-spit) on plants hence the name of spittle-bugs too. I also used to find the caterpillars of the Grey dagger moth (Acronicta Psi) on a tree in my childhood garden and I used to put them on my face (don’t know why but I did). I found a few on my rose bush on the patio under the cherry tree. And I managed to take another picture of a holly blue butterfly (Celastrina argiolus), this time a male I think, on the golden oregano.
Philaemus spumarius (common frog hopper)Acronicta Psi caterpillar (grey dagger moth)Celastrina argiolus (holly blue butterfly – male
Well hopefully we shall see some nicer weather in August.
