Well, we can’t complain any more that we need more rain, we had a deluge all day yesterday with more promised today. We have had rain and sunshine in equal quantities all week, but now the rain has eventually won. This has meant of course that not as much gardening has been done, but I’ve caught up with a lot of housework which had also been neglected because of Wimbledon!
My six for this week are here………..
No 1
Clematis Prince Charles has really taken off, not only has it climbed the trellis hiding the huge 200 gallon water butt at the side of the house, but it has spread over the next shrub, swung across the path to the water butt and gas tank and is now sprawling over one of my camellias! It is a lovely pale blue, a very attractive flower, I just have to remember to duck when I go to fill my watering can!
No 2
Crocosmia Paul’s Best Yellow is in the driveway border. I planted it next to a dark blue Agapanthus thinking they would flower together and look rather nice, however they had other ideas, the crocosmia always flowers first and is just finishing when the agapanthus starts flowering!
No 3
Hydrangeas planted near the house are pink, the ones away from the house are blue…………
………….except for the white ones. This one is under the kitchen window and in the background you can see the previous hydrangea.
No 4
In the border by the field is Rosa Brother Cadfael, a nice rose with a lovely perfume.
No 5
Opposite Brother Cadfael, on the other side of the wide grassy path, in the border round the dead oak, is Hypericum prolificum. I have grown it as a small tree rather then a shrub, but it is only as tall as me and has been for the last 20 yrs. It is covered in tiny little yellow flowers at this time of year, a good bee magnet.
No 6
The other side of the dead oak is a myrtle tree, Myrtus communis, which is hardy here, I planted it here after we had a holiday on Crete and saw a more exotic variety there with much larger flowers. At the moment it is covered with lovely little white flowers which are then followed by black berries which the birds love.
A few years ago I noticed a small evergreen bush growing next to one of my rhododendrons and thought I must get it taken out, then the rhododendron looked as though it was dying after last years drought so nothing was done. All of a sudden this week I noticed some tiny white flowers, and yes, I have another Myrtus communis! The jury is out on whether it stays or it gets moved somewhere else.
Those are my six for this week. We are supposed to have rain and thunder all day, but so far it is lovely sunshine, wonder how long it will last! Thanks to Jim at Garden Ruminations for hosting, do pay him a visit to see what is happening in gardens around the world. Hope you all have a good weekend!
I like the Crocosmia, mine are the common orange ones. And your lovely Hydrangea are wonderful to stop and look at. I must look ingot some other varieties.
I have lots of the orange crocosmia, they seed themselves around so lots need pulling out, I wish the others bulked up so quickly! Hydrangeas near the house are pink I think thanks to the cement in the soil as further into the garden, even if they start off pink, they gradually change to blue as the soil is just the acid side of neutral. I have a few different varieties and am now taking cuttings to increase them.
That’s a beautiful clematis and fabulous hydrangeas, don’t they grow big with you? Your myrtle is delightful and what fun to have a baby, it’s too cold for it here. All that rain yesterday was great but we could do without today’s wind.
Thanks Liz, the hydrangeas do grow rather large, but thank goodness I have quite a lot of space! I was so pleased to find the baby myrtle, the first in about 20 yrs since the parent was planted. No rain so far today, but so much wind, the lawn is covered with leaves off the trees, more like autumn!
Brother Cadfael is beautiful, and looks almost like a paeony!
Thank you Helen, it does look like a peony doesn’t it.
A lovely selection. Those Hydrangeas are a show and I wish I had more luck with Clematis – that one is a beauty. I know I bought a Paul’s Best Yellow last year but I’ve already forgotten where I planted it. Hopefully I’ll remember when it flowers.
Hydrangeas seem to like my soil Graeme, although in a drought they do demand extra water if I want to keep them. Strangely, the white one under the kitchen window was the only one that didn’t wilt all last summer and in the heat of June this year, probably because all the others have huge trees growing next to them which probably take all available water.Hope you find Paul’s Best Yellow when it flowers!
Oh dear, the weather seems to have been tormenting us all! Your Clematis Prince Charles is beautiful, Pauline – it looks huge! I do love your hydrangeas, both of them appeal to me. Most of mine are quite small and I keep hoping that they will put on weight. Perhaps I’ve just picked the wrong varieties! I’m also impressed with the myrtle. It must be happy in your garden to have given you another for free. 🙂
Today, Sunday seems a lot calmer Catherine, the high wind yesterday has brought loads of leaves down from my huge, ancient trees, they are all over the back lawn now, you would think it was November! I have to confess that I think I forgot to prune Prince Charles back in early spring when I was doing the others, so he started off at 6ft! I’m really pleased that my unknown shrub has turned into a myrtle, I just have to decide if I want to have it moved or not, it can only remain there if the rhododendron goes.
Glad you have had much needed rain Pauline and it is good not only for the plants but also the house cleaning! The flowering myrtle tree is beautiful and how nice that it has self seeded and provided you with a second one.
After the rain came the wind Denise, the back lawn now looks as though it is November with leaves everywhere! I am so pleased about the new myrtle, I just have to decide if I’m going to get it moved somewhere else or not, if it does get moved it will have to be kept as a smallish shrub, I don’t have room for any more trees!
Original yellow crocosmias: I had never seen any! Mine are red or orange
Our wild crocosmias are orange Fred, Paul’s Best Yellow is a hybrid, there are lots of new yellow hybrids on the market over here. I don’t have any orange ones, they remind me too much of the wild ones, I pull those out when I see them, but have a couple of red ones.
What a gorgeous selection. I can’t choose which ones to pick out. That rose is lovely, but I’ve looked it up and it seems like it’s no longer available. I’m familiar with Myrtus only from Gertrude Jekyll’s writings and it looks like a very pretty thing. Did they used to put it in bridal bouquets?
I am very jealous of the Prince Charles clematis which I have been on the look out for some time, and it looks just stunning.
Such a shame if Brother Cadfael isn’t available any more, it is a nice rose but does flop a little, I had to prop it up to take its photograph! I think Queen Victoria had a Myrtle at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and since then it has always been included in royal bridal bouquets. We have pruned our original one to be a tree rather than a shrub and found it has wonderful bark too.
It looks like your garden is doing really well! Beautiful colours 🙂
Thanks Nikki, the rain has made such a difference to the garden, after the hot weather in June. Everything is looking a lot happier!
What a prolific clematis! Loving your rose and hydrangeas. Your myrtle is lovely, I planted two in the new build last year and lost both during the cold winter. xxx
The clematis has spread even further now Dina, I wonder when it is going to stop! so sorry to hear that your myrtles didn’t survive last year, they aren’t totally hardy so I suppose it was a risk unfortunately.x
I must have missed this post, Pauline – sorry! Prince Charles has indeed done a great job of screening your water tank! And what a pretty rose Brother Cadfael is – it is such a shame that he and many other of our favourite roses are being retired, but David Austin Roses insist it is mainly because they do not perform as well in our changing climate
Brother Cadfael does tend to flop rather Cathy and I have to prop him up, the flowers must be rather heavy and that must be why it has been discontinued. A shame because it is a lovely rose with a lovely perfume.