Whirlwind tour

It’s been a while since the last garden round up so here we go….

Late July can be a bit of a gappy time in our garden. The roses are just starting to flag, and the late summer spectaculars are yet to really get into full swing, though the big double hemerocallis have started to emerge. Overall, there is a languid and overblown air to things which I rather like.

The dierama around the pond is looking good and holding its own against the daucus (a wild form of carrot with huge white umbels – this self seeds prodigiously and I think this year I have left too much in as we are virtually overwhelmed). Alchemilla mollis – another freebie which has self-seeded everywhere – is producing huge fluffy yellow clouds which I haven’t the heart to cut down ( though I have cut and hung up some bunches to dry) so I predict much weeding out next year. There is a lovely powder blue veronicastrum in the bottom border and the vibrant “eggs on stalks” of allium sphaerocaphalon have been working their way through all over (though not as many as I would like so I shall be adding another bag to the bulb list). We sowed the antirrhinum too late last year but salvaged the sorry looking overwintered seedlings and they are now performing well in the borders. With my lazy pants on I am hoping they will run to seed so we get a rerun next year for nil effort. Some of last year’s annual rudbeckia also finally blooming!

The lavender field is a mass of bees, butterflies and moths. You can hardly tell it has had a couple of pickings now. (The coos have been most interested in the harvesting activity and have positively hung over the fence watching). It is just starting to go over now and Keith has a savage set of clippers lined up for a hair cut in a week or so. I have started to run the secateurs over the thyme and oregano have huge heaps drying alongside trays of rose and marigold petals in my garret. Lyra came up just now and had a good old sniff before wandering off with some dried orange slices (intended for pot pourri rather than dog treats).

I have been potting on like billyo. Most of the baby greenhouse seedlings have now graduated to the cold frame and the cold frame teenagers are now out in the garden centre pending placement. I spend many an idle hour looking around looking for gaps to put them in. Some are for a new bed at the front, behind the hedge. (This is a sore topic today (a strimming accident has cut a new tree in half – you could probably hear the shouting in Edinburgh, if not London) so a post on the new bed will follow at a later date when harmony is restored and the replacement tree installed. )

I had what was likely the last decent pick of the fruit cage yesterday. It went into a summer fruit shortcake which, if I do say so myself (and I do), rather hit the spot. I whipped the meadowsweet cordial I made into the cream and it was lovely. Too late to make more I think, but I’ll try to remember for next year.