Stop press – it rained but then the wind came!!!!!

After writing yesterday that it was unlikely that we would have any rain before September, I awoke to a very cloudy sky and a nice cool breeze.  At about 8 am there were a few drops of rain, but so few that washing I had on the line drying still dried very quickly but then at about 9 am the rain came down in earnest accompanied by thunder and lighting.  It rained steadily for about half an hour, the garden was transformed; mostly I think because all the dust was washed from the foliage it was as if all the plants signed with relief, I know I was energised by the change in temperature, but then…….

Cut flower beds in June

We are nearly at the end of June and I haven’t yet written about the cut flower beds this year.  Of course you’ve seen the results of what is growing in my Monday vases but it is good to share what the beds look like.

Tuesday View 27th June 2016

It continues to be hot!  I’ve been saying that for a month already, and I’ve had enough of the heat and so have my plants.  As there is very little chance of the temperatures falling and it is unlikely that it will rain in the near future I decided to start cutting back all the brown dead foliage on the perennials, remove the spent flowering stems of the Iris, annual lupin and remove some of the Stipa tenuissima where it is obscuring silver foliage plants that do at least look bright in the shimmering heat.

In a vase on Monday – Spoilt for choice

The cut flower beds are producing a lot of blooms but that is a good thing as it is so hot now that even the cut flowers don’t last very long.  I picked my flowers early this morning but then was busy trying to complete some tasks outside, make apricot jam, tie in tomatoes, etc, etc, and all before it became to hot.  Because I left it so late I had trouble finding somewhere shady to photograph my vase for Cathy at  Rambling in the Garden.

Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day – High summer when foliage is essential

Firstly, many, many apologies for not posting for GBFD in May.  I was at the Chelsea Flower Show and didn’t have my laptop with me.  Thank you to those of you who posted anyway, I read your posts with great pleasure.

Wordless Wednesday – late on a summer’s night

Drumstick Alliums, Allium Sphaerocephalon

Tuesday View 20th June 2017

I try to join Cathy of Words and Herbs every Tuesday to share a view of one area of the garden to observe progress through the growing season.

In a vase on Monday – Dahlias and Zinnias begin their summer bounty

The past week has been even hotter than the week before and still there has been no rain and with none forecast for at least the next two weeks I think we can say that the drought has started early and with the soil already parched from a rainless winter and spring much of the garden is already looked very stressed.  So I am even more pleased to have flowers to cut to enjoy in the house from the irrigated cutting beds.

In a Vase on Monday – Summer Pickings

If it was too hot to think last Monday, today it is too hot to even think that?  At 7.30 the sun was already burning down; luckily the flowers were picked yesterday so I do have vases to enjoy and share with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

Tuesday View 6th June 2017 – different again

After a week of intense heat the garden looks different again.  That’s why this meme hosted by Cathy at Words and Herbs is so useful in recording the changes of one area of the garden.  I should be as diligent in recording all the different views and borders but I’m not so I’m grateful to Cathy for challenging me to at least record one part of the garden each Tuesday.