The month of July was unusual in that it was so hot and humid. Having to watch the garden suffer through the lack of rain and only being able to water the essentials that were obviously struggling did not make a happy month in the garden. Rain came just as the water butts were empty, thank goodness, and now plants that looked very stressed are now back to normal. Most of the colour in the garden has been from the day lilies and crocosmia, roses have come and gone so fast and generally just looked a mess as I wasn’t able to keep up with the dead heading, I’m catching up now.
Hemerocallis Stafford has been flowering its socks off since the beginning of July and will carry on for some time as there are so many buds still to come.
All the other day lilies are adding colour everywhere, they don’t seem to mind what the weather is doing, they just flower regardless.
One of my first dahlias in the side border by the field, has soon been followed by others.
Iris ensata Gold Band was bought last year at Marwood Hill Gardens and has produced 3 flowers in its first year with us.
Primula florindae and Primula florindae Coppertones are still producing more flowers and keeping the colour going in the bog garden rainbow, such a lovely delicate perfume from these flowers.
A plant that has revelled in all the heat is Crepis incana, a Greek or Turkish dandelion!!
Crocosmia are all starting to flower, this is a strong yellow which has been planted amongst the agapanthus, hoping they would flower at the same time, the crocosmia is always first.
All the viticella clematis are flowering away, no matter what the weather, this is Blue Angel trying to hide our huge 400 gallon water butt.
Lots of lilies were planted in pots this year to be dropped into the borders wherever there was a space and most are flowering at the moment, this is Lillium Pink Perfection.
Soft fruit has all been picked, 2 containers of green gooseberries, one of red gooseberries, 4 containers of black currants, and one of red currants. All now safely in the freezer waiting to be made into something delicious. Last year the fruit was much larger due to all the rain we had then, but we still have plenty to keep the two of us happy this year.
Acanthus mollis is certainly making a statement at the moment, near the pond at the top of the garden, the flowers have enjoyed the heat, but the large leaves have flopped. After all our recent rain, the foliage is looking a lot better now
But the plant that is grabbing everyone’s attention at the moment is Crocosmia Lucifer with its bright red flowers, you can’t help looking at it, it is so bright.
All the rain has made is difficult to get into the pond area without getting soaked, the leaves and flowers of Lucifer are bowing down so much. They definitely are the star of the garden at the moment.
In contrast, the leaves of some of the trees are looking definitely autumnal, these are from one of our Chestnut trees. The Chestnuts are the first to get their leaves in the spring and the first to drop them. This year though, the hot weather without rain for so many weeks, has made them start falling earlier than usual.
In the woodland, the leaves are crunching underfoot, autumn has certainly come early here!
I think I can say that the garden has coped with the extremes of weather that it has had, some plants, only just with extra watering, but some extremely well with no extra watering. I had thought it would all be doom and gloom this month with such high temperatures, but the rain arrived just in time and has made everything flourish once more.
With thanks to Helen at The Patient Gardener for hosting a Review of the month, do pay a visit to see how other gardens are coping with the weather this month.
I’m so glad the rain arrived just in time, most plants recover quickly once they have that much needed water. I love the colour of your pink Hemerocallis, do you know its name by any chance? Probably even the trees will recover and not lose all their leaves this early now that there is moisture available to them. Leaf drop is just their way of protecting themselves.
I’ve cut some plants back Christina, that were struggling before flowering, and hope that maybe they will flower later, maybe September time. Sorry, I can’t remember the name of the pink/purple day lily, it was planted long before I thought of writing a blog! The garden is looking a lot happier now, everything is bright and perky once more.
I’ve never tasted a gooseberry but those look good! How much sun does the Iris ensata need? Looks like the photo was taken in the shade.
Gooseberries are quite tart Marian, they need a lot of sugar with them, the red ones are a bit sweeter. We like them with a bit of ginger grated into them when making crumbles in the winter. My Iris ensata are in shade for most of the day, as is the rest of the bog garden, but they have sun from sunrise until about 10am, then shade for the rest of the day, in spite of this they seem quite happy.
Wonderful looking gooseberries. I miss ‘Lucifer’, I really must plant some in this garden, it is such a wonderful plant, even before it flowers. So many lovely things flowering away despite the dry spell, I wish I could work out where to plant daylilies, they are gorgeous plants but just don’t fit in my idea of how my front garden should look, and I have very little room in the back. Oh, the dilemmas! Thank you for more inspiration.
Janet, my Lucifer started out as 10 corms, I dread to think how many there are now, I really must split them otherwise we won’t be able to get through the gate next year! Gardening does present us with dilemmas, we can’t plant everything we like, but how to choose what to leave out!?
I havent been a fan of Hemoracallis for a while but at my garden club this month they had some beautiful spider ones which I may be tempted with. And Ilove your Iris ensata – added to the very long list.
Thank for joining in the End of Month View again this month
I think Helen, that the garden would just be green at the moment if it wasn’t for the day lilies and crocosmia making splashes of colour everywhere. I haven’t been tempted by spider day lilies yet, maybe you can change my mind!
The pink day lily is lovely, but the crocosmia steals the show – wonderful! We’ve noticed too there was a distinct autumn feel in the air here today after the heat of July. I’m amazed at your primula standing up to it so well!
Yes Cathy, Lucifer draws the eye, no matter where you are and is in the centre of the main view from the house. I’m surprised too that the whole of the bog garden is looking so good, there must have been plenty of water in the underground stream all the time we were having our heatwave.
I just love day lilies, and this year mine have been so nice, due to the good weather I think. Lucifer looks so fine and I have also planted it. Maybe next year it will flower.
Lots of delicious berries to put in the freezer. I had some blackcurrants, but they were consumed when I passed by it on my way round the garden.
We have had the driest july ever, and with my sandy soil I have had to water a lot, to save some of the plants. But some plants love the sun, ecpecially the roses.
The day lilies have been brilliant Gitte, as you say, probably the weather. I hope Lucifer performs well for you next year and that you have left room for him to spread! It has also been our driest July, I am lucky? in having heavy clay soil that retains water for a long time (I wasn’t saying this last year when we had non stop rain), which means that plants can cope for quite a while without extra watering. I can’t say that my roses liked all the heat, maybe they were telling me that they needed more water!
What a year so far Pauline. I wonder what it will throw out next. Glad to read that the wet stuff arrived in the nick of time for you. Some disappointment here as I came back from holiday to find some of my favourites had been and gone in a flash. As with you my day lilies have been most happy apart from two that have not flowered at all. I think that maybe I should have divided them last year. Do you know the name of the one in your second photo down?
After a lot of rain each day for a while now Anna, we are back to heatwave once more! The rain has made such a difference and today I caught up with dead heading and the grass got cut, what a difference it makes, everywhere looking neat and tidy and plants looking happy and not stressed any more. The day lilies have shown that they don’t care what the weather is doing, they flowered just as well last year with all the rain, good cast iron plants. Sorry no, I don’t know the name of the second day lily, I got it long before I was writing a blog!
I see what you mean about your leaves, Pauline! And a 400 gallon water butt? Not litres? Even that would be huge – how big is it in dimensional terms? Where does it feed from? Whenever it’s dry I look round for other places to have another butt – we have 7 but I am looking at another two potential sites…. That H, Stafford is lovely, and the unidentified purple one too. I need to stake my Lucifer, which as you say tends to flop after heavy rain. I rather envy you your primula… Thanks for sharing all this Pauline.
Yes Cathy, 400 gallons, not litres! It is huge and the water comes off the house roof, we have 2 smaller ones of 50 gallons each taking water off the garage roof. Not sure what the dimensions are, all I know is that it is taller than me, 5ft 8ins, by quite a bit. It’s dark now, but I will try and measure it in the morning!
Friday – I’ve been and had a look at the water butt, it’s at least 6 ft tall and at least 4 1/2 ft across, I almost can’t get my arms round it!
Glad to see your garden looking so cheerful Pauline. The iris is lovely as is Lillium Pink Perfection. What a beauty. We are losing leaves from our River Birch as always about this time of year. I always attributed it to drought that the leaves fall so early, but this year we’ve had ample rain so it can’t be that. At any rate, thanks for sharing your garden today. Susie
Susie, I should have photographed the leaves under my Silver Birches, they are just as bad as the Chestnuts, having such shallow roots. This year, I can’t say that we have had a lot of rain, I would definitely say that it was the heat for 6 weeks and lack of rain that has caused the leaves to drop. I have wondered about buying a River Birch, I assume that they grow by rivers in the wild and wondered if we would be wet enough for them?
The day lilies are looking great this year aren’t they. I’ve planted a Lucifer crocosmia but I think in too much shade as it has only one flower. Come autumn I’ll have to move it. What a treat though if it turns out to be like yours!
Hi Jessica, apart from C. Lucifer, I would say that the day lilies are the stars of the garden at the moment. They seem to be better than they’ve ever been, this year, I’ve never known them to have so many flowers before. Beware, Lucifer increases very quickly, or it does here anyway, so give it plenty of room when you move it!