As I showed you all my orange flowers in the garden last week, I thought I’d have a blue day, show you the flowers I have to calm down the orange in my Amber and Amethyst garden, although there isn’t too many out at the moment…

…it’s also an excuse to show you my clematis. This year it is glorious, I think it’s the best it’s ever been! I probably planted it about 15 years ago, so quite a while! It shares the arch leading to the patio with a rose and a sickly honeysuckle but it has this side to it’s self.

I’m pretty sure it’s a Ville de Lyon, when I googled it most of them look pinkier, but there are a few this colour. It’s very similar to a Jackmanii but Ville de Lyon is the name that came out from the depths of my memory!! It’s one of the ones that you prune in late winter / early spring (or at least that’s what I do!) I leave it as it is all winter then just as it starts to shoot I cut it back to about 12-18″ tall.

I think this year I must have been a bit late cutting it as usually it gets right over the arch, but it has compensated with the sheer number of blooms, right down the stems.

I actually managed to get some weeding done on the raised bed by the patio, it took a while to battle through the plants but it does look better for it. The veronica is just coming to the end but it has been lovely his year, it’s a really deep blue tall variety, luckily it’s self seeding around the garden now.

Another blue flower which gently dominates this bed is a blue geranium. It’s a sprawling one, so over winter the bed looks pretty bare but over summer it’s as full as can be. It mingles with all the other plants with it’s soft blue flowers appearing everywhere. The bees love it too.

Liatris is a funny looking plant but it adds a frothy spike of purple and clumps up nicely. We did laugh the other day when we were have lunch in a pub nearby, the waiter came to change the flowers on the table from a pretty vase of daisy style flowers to a single spike of liatris! It felt a poor exchange and even the waiter looked a bit sheepish! Unfortunately in the photo you can also see the bindweed curling round, think I’ll be getting the weedkiller out once it stops raining long enough!

Echinaceas are more pinky-purple really, they’re looking really pretty at the moment, though I think they’ve been a bit bashed by the rain. I love their spiky amber heads. I’ve got a white one in the garden somewhere too, but I prefer the pinky-purple one.

The last flower I’m showing you today isn’t purple at all but it’s just come into flower and it’s so beautiful I couldn’t resist taking a photo to share. It’s a pot of lily bulbs I bought at the Harrogate show. I think these are called tree lillies, they are pretty tall and the flowers are huge, they are such a lovely delicate shade of pink.

Hopefully soon I’ll be able to start laying out my new AA garden as I’ve finally finished clearing the old beds and digging over the compacted clay under the former paths, just needs a rotavate and then levelling, then it’s ready for the split log roll edging and gravel…then the fun starts, planting!