I know I’ve been going on about it lately, but the August garden has had so many more flowers than it usually has, thanks to all the rain we have been having.
Lythrum salicaria is showing that it approves of all the moisture in the soil by doing better than ever. It should really be planted in the bog garden, maybe I will split half off and move it over in the autumn.
A golden leaved form of ? which is planted on the alpine scree where it gets the sharp drainage it demands, again, it has never flowered so well before. Sorry, can’t find a name for this one anywhere…help!
Perovskia always looks lovely at this time of year, a lovely shade of blue, the flowers keeping the bees happy for a long time.
Crocosmia Solfaterre is increasing nicely, it has khaki coloured leaves and soft yellow flowers.
One of the last Hemerocallis to flower. Lots of them in the garden, in different colours, they have been keeping the borders very colourful for a long time now.
Fuchsia Delta Sarah dancing merrily in the wind, this is hardy and forms a fairly large bush. The flowers are a nice change from the usual pink.
Another large hardy fuchsia, this time Whiteknight’s Blush absolutely covered in flowers.
The roses are covered in lovely big buds again, this one is Evelyn and has a fantastic perfume. The leaves of all the roses have suffered however in all this rain, have never known so much blackspot!
The bees certainly love Echinops ritro Taplow Blue when its in flower, always covered with them, as long as it isn’t raining!
A foxglove for the more sunny areas of the garden, I think this one may be Digitalis ferruginea, please let me know if it’s something else.
In deep shade at the back of the bog garden where the soil is much drier is Thalictrum aquilegifolium. Quite a tall plant but the little flowers are so pretty, dancing about on their long wiry stalks. The flowers show up so well against their dark background.
All the Hydrangeas have exceeded themselves this year with all the rain, they have certainly benefitted from it. Will be doing a post soon about them but in the meantime I am so pleased that this is the first year they haven’t needed watering, we are usually dashing out with buckets of water when the leaves are drooping straight down.
Crocosmia masoniorum is as big as Lucifer and starts flowering just as Lucifer goes over, lovely large flowers.
Verbascum chaixii arrived unanounced in the garden but is very welcome to stay, another one that the bees love.
Lysimachia effemerum has put out so many flowers this year, so much better than it usually is.
I think my favourite flower for July/August is Agapanthus. My blue ones are doing ever so well, increasing number of flowers each year, but my white ones only have one flower each, they were so much better last year, I wonder why?
The Kniphofia in the front border is doing better than usual, it contrasts with all the Agapanthus planted near it, in colour as well as the shape of the flower.
Lilies have done rather well this year, in spite of loads of lily beetle which got squashed and eggs wiped away from the leaves.
Lobelias are now flowering in the bog garden, well this purple one is doing nicely, my blue one doesn’t look very happy and the red Queen Victoria should be flowering soon.
Who planted this Rudbekia down by my greenhouse, I certainly didn’t! Lovely plant, but I will move it when it stops flowering.
My beautiful pot of lilies down near the entrance, they perfume the whole of the driveway, even the postman has commented.
I have never had Mahonia Charity flowering so early before, it is covered with masses of buds, just starting to open. I think the bush needs pruning back, it is getting rather large.
The flower buds on Eupatorium purpureum are almost open for the butterflies, we have had quite a few lately on all the buddleja, now it will be the eupatoriums turn.
Another lily scenting the border just by the back door, just step outside and sniff, if the wind is coming from the south, it is wonderful!
I’m so pleased with the bog garden and how the plants have developed since planting in the spring. The primulas have all been fantastic and I have now sown loads of their seeds so next year this border should be even better. All the rain means that I haven’t had to water my new plantings – every cloud has a silver lining. Now is the time for the Astilbes to shine, this one in the foreground is almost the same height as me!
Another area that I am pleased with is the bee and butterfly border, lots of super flowers for the visiting insects, not that we have had the weather for butterflies for a long time. Recently though it is a lot warmer and when we have a sunny day, the butterflies are everywhere. They seem quite frantic in their feeding and don’t stay still for very long, getting photographs of them is proving more difficult this year.
What would be lovely now is for the month of September to be warm, not too hot, dry and sunny so that we can catch up on all the jobs that we haven’t been able to do because of the rain, which has been so welcome in the garden. For once we have seen what the garden can look like when it has an abundance of water, flowers blooming everywhere, foliage so tall, it feels like a jungle in places, such lush growth everywhere, including all the weeds!!
Hi Pauline,
We’ve had about three weeks of nice weather; has this not been the case down there? Today is the first wet day, although saying that it isn’t as bad as forecast – not raining right now, just grey but we did have a 10 minute light shower earlier.
But as you say, with all the wet weather it means we still have plenty of blooms this late on when normally things would be looking tired and the Aster show just starting.
I read on the BBC a few days ago that this has been the longest hayfever season in a decade or more… I have to agree with that as I’m still struggling and I can’t quite decide whether I have hayfever mixed with a very mild cold or whether it’s purely just hayfever. Today I woke up with a raspy throat, wheezing and concerned I have a throat infection. Feel OK now and hope it doesn’t develop into anything.
Lucky you Liz, we had a lovely week at the end of July, but since then it has been very dull and raining most days, just the odd day with sunshine. Today it is pouring down!! I believe that hay fever is always worst during heavy rain or a thunderstorm as the pollen particles get smashed apart and are so fine that we all breathe them in. Hope you feel fighting fit soon!
Your garden is so beautiful. Mine on the other hand looks like a soggy mess. Plants have just sagged under the weight of so much rain. Everything is growing sideways along the ground. I’m sorely tempted to move back east.
Your unidentified plant looks a little like a santolina, could it be one?
Of course WW, yes, its a golden Santolina, thank you! Names just ‘ go’ these days and I waste so much time trying to look them up. Today our patio is flooded again, the lawn is absolutely sodden, best not to walk on it. Crocosmia Lucifer was cut down the other day because he was just flopping everywhere and trying to trip me up, other plants though seem to be propping each other up. It must get better soon!
So many nice plants–your borders are lovely! There have been good rains here this most of the summer, unlike the last few parched summers, and what a difference the rain makes.
So glad PBM, that you have had some rain, it makes all the difference to the garden doesn’t it. Plants are good at coping with all sorts of weather but it is lovely to see them achieve their full potential instead of struggling.
Hi Pauline, your plants look lovely, I adore the top photo with the winding grass path disappearing into the distance. We have had extraordinary amounts of rain too, and because the drainage is good, the plants are also doing well. But this extreme weather is really part of climate change, and I am bracing myself for when the rain stops and the heat and drought come back. cheers, catmint
I never think of Australia as having lots of rain, always think of it having perpetual sunshine! Today it is actually beautiful sunshine and it is warm, no I would even go so far as to say it is hot! However our heat is nothing like yours, so I hope you and your garden don’t suffer too much in the coming months. In the photo you mention, the grass is at the side of the house, then it goes round the back to where it joins the woodland strip. At one time this was all grass, I must have carved away about half of it to make flower beds.
You really do have a lot of flowers blooming—beautiful.
Thanks Carolyn, all due to the British weather! Usually the garden goes rather quiet in August, then starts flowering again when cooler weather arrives in late September, but not this year, its non stop all through the summer months!
beautiful blooms Pauline, it’s so weird to read of all the rain in the rest of the UK we went dry again after some rain at the end of July and when I came in from the garden Thursday evening I was thinking ‘I’m going to have to give a good watering tomorrow’ luckily the rain gods did it for me as we had a bit of rain yesterday and again today but it is so dry it needs a good downpour, I’m glad you have found a reason to delight in all your rain and hope you get a drier autumn, Frances
Just trying to go with the flow Frances, and cope with what we are sent. I have friends who are normally out every night with the hose pipe and their gardens do look wonderful, full of blooms all summer. First of all, our garden is far too big to do that, it would take all night, and being on a water meter it would cost a fortune, this is the first year that everything has flowered so well, plants just have to cope with the soil and any available rain, like Beth Chatto says, ‘right plant, right place’. I have followed her thinking in all my planting and so far it has worked. All this pales into insignificance when we drove through yet more floods in Ottery St. Mary last Wednesday and the sandbags were out again, people there are having a really hard time of it.
Pauline I smile at your Beth Chatto comment as when I was in her gravel garden it was flooded, a questioner on GQT friday asked the panel if he should plant for drought, flood or pave it and sit with a glass of wine, with our changing climate it’s difficult to know what the conditions of a place is any more, like you I agree with no excessive watering, Frances
I think we all need to plant for floods, that way we will have a drought next year!
Plants need water! even drought tolerant plants (the name says it – tolerant) thrive with some water. I think everyone should plant for minimum water, very few plants die through too much rain but they do die because of drought. Enjoy your abundance! Christina
I am Christina, although already a Weigela bush is looking rather worse for wear near the bog garden. Plants in the bog garden have been sitting in water sometimes but then they can cope with such wet situations like that, the weigela is in a place that doesn’t get too wet normally, not this year though, will just have to see if it copes with having too much to drink.
‘I think we all need to plant for floods, that way we will have a drought next year!’
lol
Hi Pauline, your borders are really packed with flower power! At least all the rain has been good for some things. I really must plant some Thalictrum in a shady patch in my new back garde, I love the way the dainty flowers dance around.
Thanks Janet, I feel I need more daisy type plants for now onwards to keep the butterflies happy into autumn. Maybe my border by the field could be a sort of prairie planting, plans to be made when the weather stops me gardening! Also lots more lilies that can just be dropped into the borders in their pots would brighten up places where the flowers are done for this year. Thalictrum is such a lovely plant, quite tall but the flowers are so dainty, now that I have this one, I will have to save seed and make a drift!