End of June round up

Posted Tue 30 June 2020 in garden

You can compare with last year.

Weather

The average temperature was 14.1C with a minimum of 3.2C and maximum of 30.1C. There was 89mm of rain, so a reasonable amount, but not as much as last year at 137mm.

Pictures

Orchid

This is the one by the back door. The flowerhead was exceptionally tall last year, and seems to be shorter this year.

Geranium × magnificum

This is my favorite Geranium, shame it flowers for such a short period though.

Geum 'Totally tangerine'

This was a mass of flowers this year, recovering from last year where I reduced it to about a quarter of the size it had reached.

Knautia macedonica 'Melton Pastels'

The Goldfinches have been eating the seeds of this plant, although not visible in this photo, I did see one actually eating them and there were many empty seed heads.

Knautia macedonica self seeded

I was surprised to see this as I had no idea that it was growing until I saw the bud about to open a week or so before taking this picture. It is kind of hidden beneath the Lupins. The presumed parent plant (in the picture above) used to be around about here although it was moved last year.

I think I like the colour a bit more than the parent.

Potato flower

I am growing some Maris Piper potatoes in bags for the first time. Just an experiment really to see what happens.

Digitalis × valinii Illumination rose 'Tmdgfp001' (Illumination Series)

This is a perennial foxglove, it hasn't been very impressive this year, but at least this picture looks good.

Geranium pratense 'Hocus pocus'

I may have to move this as it is quickly shaded by the nearby Ligularia, but it is still flowering fine. The flowers look almost translucent.

Rose

I am not a big fan of roses, but I do have this wild one that grew up among the Cotoneasters. Flowers don't last long but they are amazing.

Helenium 'Mardi Gras'

A very early flowering (this was taken 23rd Jun) Helenium that flowers throughout the summer until the frosts cut it down.

Helenium 'El Dorado'

Another early flowering Helenium, this one is taller than the 'Mardi Gras' but is still robust enough and does not need staking here.

Gaillardia × grandiflora 'Burgunder'

A tall Gaillardia.

Agastache 'Morello'

This was quite a revelation. I had always overlooked Agastache before, but got this one at the tail end of last year, reduced in price I think and it has been absolutely amazing this year, flowering for a long time.

Lychnis chalcedonica

These seeded from the plant that was already here when I arrived. They are a bit too prone to falling over and are one of the few plants that I need to use supports for.

Ligularia 'Little rocket'

The labeling of Ligularia can be pretty random. There were plants with completely different leaves that were both labeled 'Little rocket'. I got the one with the leaf I liked the most. [Update: that's not right, I picked the one that I thought was most likely to be different to the ones I have already] The bud was similar to 'Zepter', but the leaf is different (and the other ones had a leaf very similar to 'Zepter'.

Tiarella 'Spring Symphony'

This was only one of my original Tiarellas that was at all impressive this year. I think the dry spring time weather is not good for them.

Veronica 'Pink Damask'

A very nice Veronica. It does suffer a lot from mildew but usually after it has finished flowering.

Ligularia przewalskii

My first L. przewalskii died over the winter, which was a shame as it would have been quite large this year. As it turned out, the other one which nearly died after planting has put on a good display this year.

Notes

There was not much blossom on the Pyracantha this year.

I started digging the back border to enlarge it and to rearrange the exising plants on the 1 jun.

Posted by Steve