I took no pictures this month of the garden. You can see last year here.

I do have some pictures of the sweetcorn. They were not very big, larger than the mini ones. I cooked them by boiling and then frying with some chilli and oil and they tasted great.

The average temperature was 14.7C with a minimum of 4.4C and maximum of 26.2C. Last year the average was 12.7C (min 3.2C, max 24.9C), so it was warmer than last year.

There was 25mm of rain, again more than twice last year's 54mm.

A few of the flowers from the month. You can compare with last year.

The Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm' which is spreading well and the Alstroemeria 'Summer breeze' which did not do well this year. It completly died down over the cold spell at the beginning of the year and is only now beginning to show some flowers, almost too late.

A Cyclamen hederifolium it seems to be different from my other ones in leaf shape and flowering time. I suspected it may be a different species.

A new sunflower: Helianthus 'Gullick's Variety'. It is very tall and has a good number of flowers on a few stalks. Next year it should be very good!

I don't often grow vegetables, just occasionally to see what happens or if I am given seeds as a present as this year. The successful outcomes were for carrots and sweetcorn.

Carrots

A few of the carrots, they have a purple skin. It is noticeable in the water when cooking. They were very nice.

Sweetcorn

I grew a sweetcorn in a container. It was very interesting as I didn't know how they flowered. Below is a female flower that forms between a leaf and the stalk. The threads are called silks and are the stigmas of the flower and grow to several inches.

At the top of the plant are the male flower, called tassels. These appear first.

The average temperature was 15.3C with a minimum of 7.7C and maximum of 24.1C. Last year the average was 15.5C (min 4.6C, max 27.6C), so it was about the same as last year.

There was 145mm of rain, over twice the amount of last year when there was 58mm.

Some of the flowers that were out during the month. You can compare with last year.

Liatris

Not exactly flourishing, but have been returning reliably for a few years now.

Helianthus 'Capenoch Star'

Large flowered perenial sunflower.

Lythrum salicaria 'Robert'

I moved this as I thought it might be a bit dry where it was. It certainly seems to have done better this year.

Lobelia × speciosa 'Hadspen Purple'

I've had mixed results with the Lobelia, this one seems to be thriving though.

I've been lucky enough to have a couple of self seeded Primula vialii spring up. This one is inconveniently by the side of the path, but has grown to a good size. The other one I moved to what I thought would be a better place, but it has been badly shaded.

Center is Plox paniculata 'Laura', behind is Eupatorium dubium 'Baby Joe'.