A busy week gardening and keeping out of the hot sunshine. This is when all my shady borders benefit as I can’t work in the heat. Thank goodness there was tennis to watch in the afternoons and it will soon be Wimbledon! If I need to work on sunny borders, I try to get them done before breakfast as it is nice and cool then. It was so hot yesterday and last night but rain is promised for later today so I hope it isn’t an empty promise as my water butts need filling again and the garden needs rain.
My six for this week are as follows.
No 1
Stipa gigantea, my favourite grass. I already have one up by the circular lawn but can’t see it from the house, so have planted another near the dining room where the sun can shine through it all day long and make it look like spun gold!
No 2
My lovely Rodgersia in the bog garden is now flowering. The beautiful bronze pleated leaves that it had when first coming through the soil are now flat and green and the flower now takes over as it is so pretty.
No 3
Clematis pagoda now into flowering mode, it flowers for such a long time and from now on will be covered with lovely small flowers.
No 4
Pale blue lobelia in a pot outside the back door. Ok, I forgot to cut it back last autumn and maybe throw it out. Obviously the old growth ptotected it from all the winter frosts and once it had been tidied up it is flowering madly, frothing everywhere!
No 5
Allium christophii has taken over from A. Purple Rain. I planted quite a lot many years ago but now only have 3 left, must buy some more in the autumn.
no 6
He’s been back! This is what I found at 5.30am on Thursday morning, on the path round the mini meadow, the Roe deer buck has been back sampling all the nice little rose shoots that had grown after his last visit, while I was sound asleep. They must just have reached the right state of juiciness and he remembered where they were, will I be having a visit every 6 or 7 weeks – it was April 21st when he originally came? I have flicked his droppings onto the rose beside where he left his mark, after all if he can eat my roses, he can also fertilise them, its just my recycled roses!
That is my 6 for this week, hopefully we will get much needed rain this evening, it is already a lot cooler so far today, thank goodness. Thanks go to Jon the Propagator for organising us all, do pay him a visit to see what is happening in gardens around the world.
Lovely grass. This stipa gigantea has been on my wish list but not for long,( having seen it before in a Six)
I can’t praise it highly enough Fred, you must get one, but make sure you can plant it where the sun shines through it, it is magical!
I can see why Stipa is your favourite grass as it looks lovely in the sun.
It really comes to life with the sun shining through it Jane, absolutely beautiful!
The lobelia is a lovely blue. Oh your poor roses! They eat my brother-in-laws garden too.
I’m amazed at hoe the pale lobelia has grown Rosie, the dark one from last year is still very small. I’ve lived here for over 30 yrs, but the deer have only just started coming.
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The stipa is stunning. How lovely.
The Stipa seems to be the flavour of the week, I’m not surprised!
Oh I didn’t expect #6! Hope he doesn’t make a pest of himself, here deer can be quite overwhelming when their numbers explode.
The stipa is always such a show. I’ve heard it does not always enjoy our climate but I might have to try anyway! Hope the rain finds you.
No 6 was a surprise to me too Frank when I found it on my early morning wander, obviously not early enough, but I refuse to get up before 5am! Rain hasn’t reached us yet, but it is forecast for this evening, hopefully it won’t pass us by. The common name for Stipa gigantea is Spanish Oat so it should be used to temperatures higher than here, might be worth giving a try as it is so gorgeous!
Does your lobelia often overwinter, Pauline? It must make it worth leaving pots untouched till the spring, if it does? It’s a pretty colour, that pale blue. I usually buy ‘lilac’ but it wasn’t available this year so I chose ‘rose’ instead, but it’s more of a bright purple and not what I had hoped for. Your bloomin’ deer! I wonder why they have started coming after all thesose years of absence…?
This is the first time that I didn’t clear it away Cathy, pure laziness on my part and it looked a mess all winter! I was so surprised when they started flowering again after a quick tidy up, so now I might try digging them up and overwintering them in stead of putting them on the compost heap.
Oh heck, that’s a great pity regarding the roses. How annoying. The other 5 selections are lovely though! The shimmering Stipa gigantea is stunning.
It’s just as well that I have plenty of roses Graeme! Fortunately he doesn’t seem to go for the ones already flowering, just the new shoots and juicy buds! The stipa is extra beautiful when it gets the sun shining through it, I can see it from where my lap top is!
I love the alliums Pauline and A. christophii has such lovely star-shaped florets. Some of mine (can’t remember the names) self seed so I now have a nice little patch. No.6 did make me smile though I really hope he will not make a nuisance of himself.
I suppose the alliums would rather have a lighter soil than mine Denise, but they are so beautiful I have to have them! I think I can cope with my nocturnal visitor as long as he doesn’t bring all his ladies with him!
I love that grass. I didn’t know lobelia could survive winter! Lovely blooms. Wonderful having a deer visit but I hope it doesn’t do too much damage.xxx
Like you Dina, I never knew that lobelia could survive a winter, I have always thrown them out before! At least the deer is only eating a few roses, there is so much else he could eat if he wanted to, as long as he doesn’t come too often!x