Garden Dairy: July
Getting comments on my Garden Diary posts has been an inspiration and a challenge. In my June post ladysnaps said: "I would love to see a full image of your entire garden... if that's possible. it's like an attraction you should charge people to enter."
So, I’ve tried to capture the atmosphere of the garden as a whole, as a place that you would like to enter. And you will if you like wild gardens.
My partner and I have often compared ourselves to ent and entwife.
“The Entwives desired order, and plenty, and peace (by which they meant that things should remain where they had set them)”.
But “the Ents gave their love to things that they met in the world”.
Looking at our garden, it’s clear that an Ent rather than an Entwife has been in charge. Plants are mostly allowed to grow just where they want. It makes for a wild place, with a mixture of shapes and colors against a green background.
Even when it rains the garden is lovely. It seems to radiate light under a grey sky.
Many of our neighbors have their garden largely paved over, so we feel we provide an oasis for all kinds of wildlife. Besides various nesting birds, we have hedgehogs, toads and frogs, butterflies and dragonflies, a 40 cm high anthill, and a whole range of flying insects.
A bumblebe, a hoverfly embracing a flower and a honeybee.
A moth drinking nectar from a flower and a Peacock butterfly.
In the course of this month the juneberries (Amelanchier) turned from red to dark purple. At that stage, blackbirds, thrushes and doves usually start eating them but not this year. Finally, last week, a flock of starlings discovered the tree, went into a feeding frenzy and cleared it out in single afternoon.
Two of my favorite garden plants started flowering this month:
Firstly, the evening-primrose (Oenothera bienni). New flowers open every evening; they are gone by the following noon. The flowers open very fast; you can see the petals moving if you watch closely. From a distance, it looks as if luminescent patches of yellow suddenly pop up all over the darkening garden.
Secondly, monk’s-hood (Aconitum) with its weird shape and lovely lilac color. Plants should be handled with care because they are poisonous. A (very funny) Wikipedia page tells us that Aconitum features widely in literature and pop culture, ranging from Greek mythology to a recent episode of American Horror Story (LINK).
Many small shrubs and perennial plants also started to flower. Here they are:
Butterfly-bush (Buddleia), yet another Deutzia species, and a hardy variety of Fuchsia.
A privet bush (Ligustrum; it only flowers because it’s kept untrimmed to give better screening from the neighbors), a small hybrid tea rose, and the nettle-leaved bellflower (Campanula trachelium).
False-buck’s-beard (Astilbe), garden lavender (Lavendula) and wild marjoram (Origanum majorana).
Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), vervain (Verbena bonariensis) and creeping-jenny (Lysimachia nummularia).
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), garden speedwell (Veronica longifolia) and bergamot (Monarda).
And of course, we had a couple of alien invaders that were allowed to stay:
Hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium), Honeysuckle (Lonicera), enchanter’s-nightshade (Circaea lutetiana) and willowherb (Epilobium montanum).
June and July were peak months in the garden. I expect things to slow down from now on. Pity, really. I got quite addicted to rushing around with my camera, trying to capture that last gleam of sunlight, or that lingering raindrop, or those bumblebees and butterflies that would never sit still.
So, I’ve tried to capture the atmosphere of the garden as a whole, as a place that you would like to enter. And you will if you like wild gardens.
My partner and I have often compared ourselves to ent and entwife.
“The Entwives desired order, and plenty, and peace (by which they meant that things should remain where they had set them)”.
But “the Ents gave their love to things that they met in the world”.
Looking at our garden, it’s clear that an Ent rather than an Entwife has been in charge. Plants are mostly allowed to grow just where they want. It makes for a wild place, with a mixture of shapes and colors against a green background.
Even when it rains the garden is lovely. It seems to radiate light under a grey sky.
Many of our neighbors have their garden largely paved over, so we feel we provide an oasis for all kinds of wildlife. Besides various nesting birds, we have hedgehogs, toads and frogs, butterflies and dragonflies, a 40 cm high anthill, and a whole range of flying insects.
A bumblebe, a hoverfly embracing a flower and a honeybee.
A moth drinking nectar from a flower and a Peacock butterfly.
In the course of this month the juneberries (Amelanchier) turned from red to dark purple. At that stage, blackbirds, thrushes and doves usually start eating them but not this year. Finally, last week, a flock of starlings discovered the tree, went into a feeding frenzy and cleared it out in single afternoon.
Two of my favorite garden plants started flowering this month:
Firstly, the evening-primrose (Oenothera bienni). New flowers open every evening; they are gone by the following noon. The flowers open very fast; you can see the petals moving if you watch closely. From a distance, it looks as if luminescent patches of yellow suddenly pop up all over the darkening garden.
Secondly, monk’s-hood (Aconitum) with its weird shape and lovely lilac color. Plants should be handled with care because they are poisonous. A (very funny) Wikipedia page tells us that Aconitum features widely in literature and pop culture, ranging from Greek mythology to a recent episode of American Horror Story (LINK).
Many small shrubs and perennial plants also started to flower. Here they are:
Butterfly-bush (Buddleia), yet another Deutzia species, and a hardy variety of Fuchsia.
A privet bush (Ligustrum; it only flowers because it’s kept untrimmed to give better screening from the neighbors), a small hybrid tea rose, and the nettle-leaved bellflower (Campanula trachelium).
False-buck’s-beard (Astilbe), garden lavender (Lavendula) and wild marjoram (Origanum majorana).
Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), vervain (Verbena bonariensis) and creeping-jenny (Lysimachia nummularia).
Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), garden speedwell (Veronica longifolia) and bergamot (Monarda).
And of course, we had a couple of alien invaders that were allowed to stay:
Hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium), Honeysuckle (Lonicera), enchanter’s-nightshade (Circaea lutetiana) and willowherb (Epilobium montanum).
June and July were peak months in the garden. I expect things to slow down from now on. Pity, really. I got quite addicted to rushing around with my camera, trying to capture that last gleam of sunlight, or that lingering raindrop, or those bumblebees and butterflies that would never sit still.