We have had some very pleasant days this week, warm and mostly sunny and never uncomfortably hot, so lots of gardening jobs have been done - perhaps as well, as our open days are suddenly creeping up really quickly. I still took time out to go for a walk on one of the days, choosing a route I have avoided for some time because it crosses fields which will have been muddy and difficult to walk through for many weeks. Taking a slight detour, I entered a small woodland which from experience I know is host to naturalised bluebells. Unfortunately, a fallen tree and overgrown paths meant I failed to get the full experience this year, but it made me aware just how realistic our own little woodland is. Despite being planted with trees, bluebells, wood anemones, wild garlic, fritillaries, snowdrops, comfrey and more, many other things have arrived uninvited and there is a real woodland feel to it, even more so at this time of year, as the green canopy closes in and brings an air of coolness and greenness. Lovely...
Out in the sunshine again, each day another rose surprises me with its first bloom of the season, like 'Strawberry Hill' and 'Cécile Brunner' below; the latter should be climbing over the shed roof, but since being pruned it hasn't been tied back in so is going wherever it chooses:
So far my aquilegia have been fairly well behaved and have resisted interbreeding, although there are a couple that should perhaps be in the blue & white border rather than the main borders, which are reserved for pinks and purples and perhaps a bit of white. However, there are several pretty anemone flowered specimens, like this pink one, grown from seed:
Also on the pink spectrum is yet another bountifully blooming rhododendron, an unnamed specimen from Aldi with huge blooms, this one in the corner of the woodland.
Back in the shade and just outside the back door, I spotted some pristine spathes on Arum italicum 'Marmoratum'; once the bright red berries emerge towards the end of summer the leaves will die back, temporarily removing one of the most useful foliage plants in the garden.
My priority at the start of the weekend was to finish planting up the cutting beds, now duly done, other than the zinnias which were sown later this year. A more fiddly and less satisfying task was to then fit the horizontal netting which will support the plants as they grow and protect them from passing cats. Having emptied the greenhouse prior to moving it, it took a considerable time to find where I had stored the posts, and erecting them and attaching the netting involved a lot of bending and stretching on what was probably the hottest day of the week, but at least it is done now and all that's needed is to water the plants as required and watch them grow before being rewarded in due course with months of blooms.
Thank you to Jim of Garden Ruminations for providing us with the opportunity to share six things from our gardens every Saturday.
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