Flowers for July part 2

There are so many flowers in the July garden, that I felt they had to be divided into two. I was getting really disheartened with the garden and the weather, so much non stop rain meant that we couldn’t cut the grass for weeks as it was so sodden and I couldn’t get into the borders to tidy up, really, it looked a mess. All change now, non stop sunshine which has dried everything out, the grass is cut, more weeds have been tackled and dead heads seen to, it looks ok once more. The first photo is of Iris ensata which has really enjoyed all the rain.

Acanthus mollis is doing really well, making itself at home by the pond. At last it has decided to flower after quite a number of years, I hope this means that it is happy.

A Spirea bush which I grew from a cutting from a bush in a friends garden,  is looking really good at the moment, absolutely covered in flowers, the best year yet!

Daylilies or Hemerocallis are flowering away in all the borders bringing nice splashes of colour where needed.

Taking over from the primulas in the bog garden are the Astilbes in various shades of pink, red, mauve and white. They form a nice contrast with the hostas there.

Crocosmia Lucifer strutting his stuff once more and making it impossible for me to get into the pond area to do some much needed clearing, he wouldn’t look the same if I tied him up neatly so that he wouldn’t be in the way would he?!

Hypericum prolificum is now covered in tiny yellow balls of fluff, or that is what it seems like, the flowers have so many stamens.

Malva moschata alba is now appearing in all the sunny borders. From one original plant given to us by a friend, we now have it popping up where least expected, I presume from seeds in the compost. Lovely plant, never a nuisance.

Two plants that arrived from nowhere but are welcome to stay. They have seeded into most borders but are easy to remove if in the wrong place or there are too many of them. The evening primrose at the back is lovely while in flower and then its seeds are loved by our goldfinch birds in the winter. The linaria is everywhere, a lot does get pulled out, but now we have so many plants that are pink in colour, they look lovely together.

All the buddleia bushes are now flowering in various colours, but where are the butterflies. Obviously they wouldn’t like all the wet weather that we have been having, hope they haven’t passed us by and gone somewhere sunny!

Lythrum is a bog plant, so why has a seedling popped up in my bee and butterfly border which is on a slope and therefore the best drained border that we have in the garden? I think I will have to move it to the other side of the garden when it has finished flowering.

The flower heads of Calamagrostis x acutiflora Karl Foerster have been tumbled by the rain, wonder if they will straighten up again?

Lots of different foxgloves flowering at the moment, this small dainty one is Digitalis lutea, so pretty.

The hosta flowers are almost like foxgloves, they are so tall with all the rain. I have never known the hostas to have so many flowers before, they are amazing.

A lovely plant which I found on holiday last year is Anemonopsis macrophylla White Swan. It likes shade and moisture in the soil, we have plenty of that! Grows to about 2ft tall and has these beautiful flowers down the stem. There is one with the inner petals purple, must track it down!

All the various varieties of Hydrangea are flowering away and will add to the garden for months until the autumn. This one is H. macrophylla Blue Wave.

The lily family are now beginning to open their buds around the garden, this one is African Queen and shines out from its semi shaded corner.

This tiny rose was given to me years ago by a friend who was visiting, label has long since been lost so I can’t give you a name, maybe I ought to call it ” Angela” after the friend who gave it to me. It is only 6 inches tall but it enjoys life on my alpine scree!

Thank goodness the sun has come out, this is when Stipa gigantea looks its best, with the sun shining through it. Love it when it is like this.

Nearly Agapanthus time again, soon we will have lots of gorgeous flowers like the header photo from last year.

A lovely golden yellow Crocosmia, have searched for its name, but no sign of it unfortunately. It got rave reviews from Carol Klein at last years Chelsea Flower Show so I bought mine from a nursery in Cornwall to complement the agapanthus that are in front of it, the  agapanthus had better get a move on!

Herbacious Clematis durandii managing to climb through  Lonicera nitida Baggesens’ Gold and showing the contrast between the yellow foliage and the beautiful dark blue petals.

My one and only martagon lily, I planted a few bulbs but this is the only one that has decided it wants to stay in my garden. Have been very busy squashing lily beetles on this one, but it was worth it!

A friend gave me this Francoa which she grew from seed, think I must try and grow  some from seed to increase them, as they are very happy in deep shade here.

Time to stop, so many lovely flowers all at once, far too many to show them all, so I have tried to limit them to one from each family, haven’t always succeeded though! What a difference a bit of sunshine makes, we feel much better as well as the plants!