It seemed to be quite a quiet month for flowers as there is still a lot of green. Two very wet periods at the beginning and the end of the month - on the sixth the gravel at the back of the house was partially under water. Can't recall that happening even in winter.

Flowering

There was one foxglove flowering, there are many plants at the side of the house that I believe are foxgloves in their first year, but only this one flowering.

This is one of the Gazania plants, it is the best of the six, at least during the month as the others have not flowered much.

Three Geraniums: the first one is a second smaller clump of the pink one that appeared in May.

This second one started flowering later than the others, but also is almost now finished. While is was out it was by …

So I decided to harvest the largest chilli to see how it was doing. It was about 3-4cm (didn't actually measure it - I'm just going by others) and it didn't appear that it was going to get any larger.

I could tell it was going to be good as soon as I cut into it. It was very tastly and quite hot enough already.

This is week 13.

This is the main patch of yellow loosestrife. To give a better idea of the scale, the tallest one is about four and a half feet tall (1.4m). This is taller than usual - most sources have the height up to 1m.

There is some of the variegated "Alexander" variety as well has the regular one too.

In the bottom right corner there is a Salvia.

This was another mystery plant. When I first arrived there were just the dead stalks which I thought were just another patch of the yellow loosestrife. However when it started growing, it was clearly something else.

Now that it has flowered I am fairly sure that it is a Lychnis chalcedonica. It is very different from the other Lychnis species that I am familiar with as it is tall with a thick hairy stalk.

It is inconveniently situated under the Pyracantha so you have the flower heads reaching up through the branches. The tree does provide support which it might otherwise need to stay upright in the strong winds that we have been getting recently.

1. Hypericum

I'm starting with this, as the first two flowers just opened today in the lovely sunshine we have been having. A couple of weeks ago I was down south for a wedding and saw a Hypericum that was just starting to flower, so here we are about 2 weeks behind.

2. Eryngium

When the leaves first appeared I had no idea what this was. However I recently saw Eryngium planum in the garden center that had similar roundish leaves, which are different to the Eryngiums that I am familiar with, such as the Neptunes Gold variety that I bought last month. Anyway, it has now put up flower stalks and it is definitely beginning to form into the distinctive Eryngium flower formation although it is still small and green.

3. Geum

This is a Geum 'Totally Tangerine'. It has masses of flowers and is providing a bit …

The two bluebells have now flowered and they do not appear to be English bluebells at all. The flower shape and colour is all wrong and the flowers are arranged around the upright stalk rather than being hanging from one side from a drooping flower stalk.

The only things that point towards being English bluebells is that the leaves are narrow and the pollen is maybe a cream colour although I am not sure about the last point. Could well be a hybrid as many bluebells are.

There is one more that has recently started growing a flower so we shall see how that one turns out.

The orchids are now fully out, and the picture below is of the larger flower of the two. I have since seen this orchid in a few places around and about so it clearly grows wild in this area.

There are now actual chillis growing. There are masses of flowers too.