August has been a very dry month for us in the SW corner of England and the plants are suffering from the lack of rain. We have thunderstorms forecast for later in the week, so hopefully that will make a difference. In spite of the heat and lack of rain, the flowers keep coming, you have to admire their tenacity.
Buddleja are now flowering which brings in the butterflies, this is a Red Admiral.
Herbacious Clematis Durandii, I’ve never known this to have so many flowers.
One of the few pink hydrangeas that I have.
Rosa Willaim Morris, such a beautiful colour.
Perovskia is flowering well this year, but I think I will move it to the gravel area when it is finished. It is far too tall for the alpine scree where it is now.
Hydrangea Ayesha with the curled back petals, it can’t decide whether it wants to be blue or pink.
Clematis on the pergola going up to the veggie beds.
A bee enjoying the Verbena bonariensis.
A lovely pale kniphofia has just started flowering in the front border.
Cardoon by the field has started flowering recently, such a lovely huge flower.
Also in the same border is a lovely dark lily, this has somehow avoided the ravishes of the red lily beetle, thank goodness.
Crocosmia solfaterre and a blue lacecap hydrangea look good together.
A small red crocosmia has appeared in the bog garden, is it a seedling of Lucifer, he is very close by?
Another lacecap hydrangea in the back border.
Tritonia, a relative of crocosmia, in the border next to the alpine scree.
Gleaming like gold in the sunshine are the flowers of my favourite grass, Stipa gigantea.
I think I managed to photograph the flowers without catching too many weeds! Hopefully the promised rain will make the garden lose it’s stressed look, some of the plants are suffering due to the lack of rain. Individual flowers look ok, but long views are not a pretty sight at the moment!
I’m joining in once again with Carol at May Dreams Gardens, do pay her a visit to see other flowers around the world.
Wow! You have every color of the rainbow there!
Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!
Yes Lea, lots of colour, but so much green in between, it’s never too much!
That Stipa looks fab. I’d like to have some in our garden too, but don’t have the right spot for it to have the back lighting it needs!
It’s definitely my favourite grass VP and with the sun behind it, it is perfect!
It may be dry but your garden looks lovely. So many plants I can’t grow but get to enjoy at GBBD!
Thank you Linda, but the coming rain will make it happier! We are on a water meter, here so have to pay for every drop of water, the plants have to survive as best they can.
I’d say your garden has valiantly sailed past this summer’s hardships – it all looks gorgeous! I read somewhere that it takes Hydrangeas about three years to reach and absorb the natural levels of aluminum sulfate available in the soil. Once it has found and adjusted to the natural levels, their color stabilizes. Maybe that’s what’s going on with the indecisive one?
Thank you Anna, plants are coping, thanks to our heavy clay, it does have it’s compensations!
I think the hydrangea has been planted long enough to make up its mind, it was about 15 yrs ago! The ones by the house are all pink, I’m assuming that this is because there could be cement in the soil.
Such a beautiful selection of images from your lovely garden, your backlit stipa looks fabulous. Hope you get some rain soon.
I thought you might like the Stipa Kate. I have planted another near the house so that we can see it backlit by the sun from inside the house, but it doesn’t seem to be doing nearly as well as the other one further up the garden.
We are hoping that the rain coming in on Wednesday night will be enough to refresh the garden, we are having to water the most stressed now, otherwise we might lose them.
Beautiful flowers and such a lovely range of colours Pauline. I am suprised by the Lucifer progeny growing in your bog garden as I didn’t think crocosmia liked wet? I do hope you get the much needed rain soon though listening to Radio 4 just now it doesn’t sound like it will be today.
I was surprised to see the crocosmia in the bog garden too Denise, I think maybe I ought to move it to somewhere a bit drier.
I think our rain is due Wednesday, so hopefully by the end of the week I will have some happy plants!
Even after a dry month you have a lot of lovely plants flowering Pauline, I find that Crocosmia likes quite a lot of water so maybe it will be happy in the bog garden.
I’m thinking that the bog garden will be too wet in the winter Christina, quite often there is standing water there. The other plants have adapted to so much water but I’ll be surprised if the crocosmia survives.
What an amazing summer we are having. It seems ungrateful to wish for rain, but so many plants in my garden are looking stressed. The hydrangeas are always the first to go limp. Do you water yours? Ayesha is a particular favourite of mine.
I have a friend who grows quite a few different crocosmias and collects seed. As they don’ t come true, the offspring are always interesting.
I hope you get your rain but in the meantime you have lovely blooms to enjoy. I love the Tritonia.
We do seem to get all or nothing don’t we Chloris. We have only just started flinging buckets of water onto the Hydrangeas, but also have to do the Rhodos, Azaleas and Camellias otherwise there won’t be any flowers next year as they abort their flower buds in a drought.
I’m assuming the small red Crocosmia is from a seed of Lucifer as he is only about 10ft away, but it could have been brought by the birds!
The flowers are looking fabulous Pauline. Like you my garden in Somerset is dry clay at present – great cracks appearing in the soil in the beds. After all that rain earlier in the year – one extreme to another. I think you chose well to focus on flowers rather than longer views, I have one bed that looks Ok but the rest are a bit tatty! Lets hope the rain comes. I love your pale kniphofia – do you know which one it is? – and I shall keep a look out for Hydrangea Ayesha – I like that too.
Thank you Sue, I think rain is on the way, or so they keep telling us!
I think the Kniphofia might be Percy’s Pride, but can’t guarantee it, it was bought a long time ago and the memory isn’t what it used to be!
I love the photo of your Stipa. My plants are only a year old and haven’t got any seeds this year. I look forward to the day that they do.
I notice that you are moving your Perovskia – do you know that there is a miniture version called ‘Little Spire’ that I have in my rockery. It seems to be staying small, unlike many dwarf plants, but the Traveler still suggested it was too large for the rockery! I hope you get your rain, though your flowers seem to be doing very well anyway.
Thanks for the info about Perovskia “Little Spire”, I’ll keep a look out for it. The Stipa that I showed is about 20 yrs old, one that I planted about 5 yrs ago is nowhere near as good yet, but I keep hoping.
Hopefully rain will arrive tomorrow night and stay for a while, we certainly need it, especially some of the shrubs.
Its raining heavy here in Huddersfield today so I hope you have some much needed rain there too. Such an array of blooms, I especially like the Hydranga Ayesha, very delicate flowers and love the colour of that rose ‘William Morris’, very pretty.
Yes, Annie, it has been pouring down today, thank goodness, we really did need it. The rose William Morris is one of my favourites, such a beautiful colour.
So many luscious blooms you have. I am very intrigued by Clematis durandii. Love the photo of the backlit Stipa.
Clematis durandii isn’t able to climb as it doesn’t have any tendrils Jason, but it can scramble through shrubs and roses. The Stipa is my favourite grass, especially when the sun is shining through it.
Could you tell me where you site your hydrangea Ayesha? It is one of my favorites but I haven’t been able to get it to bloom for the past 3 years. I live on Cape Cod and it was a bad couple years for hydrangeas here but I am not sure if it wants more sun that it is getting. Thanks so much.
Hi Judy, nice to hear from you! My Hydrangea Ayesha is in quite a bit of shade for most of the day. We have heavy clay soil which it seems to like, but I think our highest temperatures in the summer are probably lower than yours and of course we also have rather a lot of rain! I hope this helps.