I had a walk around my garden this morning – the birds were singing, it was pretty mild even though the weather had cooled a little and there was some overnight rain/drizzle, but as I sipped my tea, I noticed that there were lots of new flowers open and plenty more buds beginning to swell.
Summer is en route, and my garden is ready for it.
The Foxgloves
I transplanted into the garden, some of the Foxgloves that had self-seeded into pots at my previous home a year or so ago. There’s lots of them – once you get a foxglove, then you’ve probably got them for life. These plants are descendants of the Foxgloves ‘Excelsior Hybrids Mixed’ plants that I grew from seed back in 2011.
Thankfully they tolerate shade, and my back garden gets shaded at various times of the day either by the shadow of the house, or by one of the side fences. There’s one spot where I don’t think it gets the sun for very long at all, so these Foxgloves were perfect for this spot.
The bees love foxgloves, and soon rush to enter their bell-shaped flowers as they uncurl their colourful spires towards the sun. I suspect that in about 10 days, many of the foxgloves will be open or right on the verge of being open.
From memory, I’ve only ever had pinks and cream coloured foxgloves, with the pink colour seemingly more common in my gardens.
Despite their beauty, foxgloves are of course poisonous to humans, cats, and dogs, so use gloves when touching these plants, or make sure that you wash your hands thoroughly afterwards.
The Roses
Last year, when I broke the tired lawn, in the blank garden, I planted some roses. One of these, Rose ‘Just Joey’, led the way with the flowering and had opened a wonderfully fragrant peach-coloured flower by the start of the second week of June.
This rose, which I’m not entirely convinced particularly enjoys it’s spot in the garden, has budded up again for a second flowering year.
I’ll be pleased to see it on flower, and hope that it also puts effort into growing its structure a bit more – it looks a bit weedy. In contrast, the other Rose ‘Ernest H Morse’, has grown very large but shows no sign yet of any buds.
The purple Geranium Himalayense
In the corner of my garden is a Geranium ‘Himalayense’. I planted this last year and it sent out a number of bluey-purple flowers. My parents have always had one of these in their gardens, so I decided that I should get one too.
I wasn’t overly convinced that I’d planted it in the correct spot, and even though they die right back during the winter (and what a winter it was!), I was pleased to see the emergence of green shoots just a few weeks ago.
This morning I caught it with two flowers, and I’m really pleased to welcome it back into this corner of the garden – right near my backdoor.
Aquilegia
I bought three Aquilegia plants from my local market a week or so ago, and I’m still yet to plant them out (the hot weather has put me off planting them out, as they’re shade-tolerant).
However, two of them have begun flowering. Aquilegia ‘Spring Magic White’ has thrown out some delicate-looking white flowers, and it is joined by Aquilegia ‘Winky Red-White’.
I think it must have been a slow day when they chose ‘Winky Red-White’ in the Aquilegia department. Honestly?! Crimson? Love? Blush? Heart…? Surely they could have done better.
The remaining Aquilegia plant (Aquilegia ‘McKana Group’) is not yet on flower, and it is also the same variety that I attempted to grow from seed at the back of my fridge months ago.
I saw a butterfly the other day – not sure what variety as it swiftly fluttered along in the sunshine, but hopefully it won’t be long before I can plant out all the plants that are making my windowsills creak, and fill the garden with flowers, veg, and fruit.
As ever, happy gardening, and thanks a lot for reading. If you’re using instagram, go ahead and join me over there for a few extra photos of the garden 🙂
Andrew
