June view 2009

June view 2009
View of rose and herb garden, June 2009

Small Garden Story

Over some 15 + years, I have been photographing the evolution of my small (85 x 15 foot) garden and it seems a waste not to put these records into some sort of context. Beginning here in April 2010 this Blog is intended to both act as a diary and to share past and present successes (and some failures), pleasures and disappointments with fellow garden-lovers. In due course, I intend to fill in some of the background and early days but that will have to wait until the winter months!

Thursday 25 June 2015

Summer colour

No time for blogging just now - but here are a couple of pictures from this week!

Yes, it IS a jungle. I just can't find enough time to spend in it! Not that that's much of an excuse.

Saturday 13 June 2015

Cosmos seeds speedy germination

Thanks to The Garden magazine for saying it's not too late to plant Cosmos seeds in June for late summer flowering. I planted up a few pots last Saturday and here they are popping up only a week later, in spite of germination time on the pack marked as 15-20 days!

Monday 8 June 2015

peonysenvy

What a brilliant name for a web site with comprehensive advice on how to grow great peonies - see peonysenvy.com

This year my white peonies are both doing very well, unlike the common deep pink form which seems to be sulking about being disturbed while a nearby fence panel was replaced, or, more likely, it is too much overshadowed by the rampant Rosa Canary Bird which is STILL flowering, making it harder for me to commit to moving it to goodness knows where. If I can't find a new space for it I may have to resort to putting it out for adoption. This weekend I was thrilled that about 10 pots of lily of the valley I put outside the house with a Help Yourself notice all disappeared - so great to share plants!
Except for Kiftsgate which is budding up as well as ever, all the roses are now flowering, seemingly benefiting from increased light levels and the mid-season clematis have begun to flower - exciting to see the first delicate nodding heads of pale pink-mauve Betty Corning. Cl. Princess Diana is doing really well in a pot on top of the stump of the Judas tree, apparently unaffected by ants this year.
First buds of R. Prince Charles opening with Allium Christophii and a rubbish picture (taken in poor light) of R. William Morris with its lovely old fashioned, many-folded centre. In spite of the administrations of Greensleeves my grass is definitely suffering from being too overshadowed. I am experimenting with an increased watering regime so it's at least less stressed. One area only gets about an hour of direct sunlight a day, which is asking quite a lot of it.
I also need to learn the lesson of keeping my fruit area clearer. The superb crop of foxgloves is taking over the strawberry patch (and will doubtless self-seed even further) and I need to hard-prune my remaining gooseberry bush as it is covered in a great mass of very small fruit - no fun for picking or topping and tailing.
Geraniums, alliums and dahlia plants are all doing well and I was pleasantly surprised to find some Nicotiana Lime Green st Wyevale garden centre on Saturday. Just need a few more hours each day....