State of the Garden in June
The garden is still rather Brythenned : holes, random bones and once-floofy toys with their insides hanging out horrifically, that sort of thing - but there are a few bright spots.I was tempted by this hanging basket. The spot is probably a bit too windy for it, it has got a bit blown about and stems snapped off, but I do like the colour of these deep dark scented petunias.
My rose Cardinal Richelieu is just coming into bloom at the moment. The scent hasn't really kicked in yet.
Every year I see the white flowers come through from Cardinal Richelieu's less fancy, more vigorous rootstock, and think : "I probably should chop off those stems with the white flowers, while I can still see which ones they are. Then I don't, because I rather like the simplicity of the white flowers. Whoever it was who carefully developed the highly-scented, deeply coloured complex blooms of the Cardinal is probably head-desking in his grave about this.
Now the bluebells and the azaleas are over, the garden is starting to look mostly green and rampaging (although rampaging less than it was this morning, as I have done a lot of pruning and sorted out the back lawn). One of the spots of colour is crinodendron hookerianum, the lantern tree. I love this tree. It needs no care, it looks kind of dark and dramatic, it's evergreen - and then once a year, it does this:
Here are the irises in the pond. The elegant blue and white irises bought from a specialist pond plant shop are mostly over, but the common yellow flag irises are rampaging.
The figs still aren't ripe, but surely can't be much longer? I love the veins running through the figleaves.
It was a good thing I got the lawn mowed, for shortly after I got the lawn mower back in, this happened:
(Never tried to photograph rain before. But you can sort of see it.)
My rose Cardinal Richelieu is just coming into bloom at the moment. The scent hasn't really kicked in yet.
Every year I see the white flowers come through from Cardinal Richelieu's less fancy, more vigorous rootstock, and think : "I probably should chop off those stems with the white flowers, while I can still see which ones they are. Then I don't, because I rather like the simplicity of the white flowers. Whoever it was who carefully developed the highly-scented, deeply coloured complex blooms of the Cardinal is probably head-desking in his grave about this.
Now the bluebells and the azaleas are over, the garden is starting to look mostly green and rampaging (although rampaging less than it was this morning, as I have done a lot of pruning and sorted out the back lawn). One of the spots of colour is crinodendron hookerianum, the lantern tree. I love this tree. It needs no care, it looks kind of dark and dramatic, it's evergreen - and then once a year, it does this:
Here are the irises in the pond. The elegant blue and white irises bought from a specialist pond plant shop are mostly over, but the common yellow flag irises are rampaging.
The figs still aren't ripe, but surely can't be much longer? I love the veins running through the figleaves.
It was a good thing I got the lawn mowed, for shortly after I got the lawn mower back in, this happened:
(Never tried to photograph rain before. But you can sort of see it.)
