The hot (for us!!) humid weather is continuing, I much prefer the shade in this weather and follow it round the garden, retreating to my sewing room when there isn’t enough shade! The garden is starting to look a bit over blown, I need to do a bit more (or a lot more!) dead heading and cutting back plants that are past their best.
The roses are still looking good, though lots of dead heading to do there. This one is called Champagne Moments, it’s actually three bushes planted together to give the effect of one big bush. We bought these when we got married and I’ve given quite a few as presents as it flowers it’s socks off and is pretty disease resistant…
This beautiful rose is called Lark Ascending, it’s a gorgeous delicate shade of apricot. It grows to quite a big bush so it’s in the middle of the autumn bed over looking the amber and amethyst garden…
…just noticed all the blueberries on the bush behind. We’ve never managed to eat the blueberries as the birds always beat us to it.
One more rose picture, this one is Teasing Georgia, it’s meant to be climbing over the arch down by the patio but it is prone to blackspot and last year I ended up cutting it back hard and it’s still recovering. I’m aiming over the autumn and winter to sort this bed out, it has some of the worst soil of the garden, so I’m hoping if we can manage to turn the heavy clay a bit and get some compost in, possibly raising the bed a little with log roll, Teasing Georgia will be a bit happier.It’s a bit more yellowy than it looks in the photo.
At the other end of the patio is my pot garden. This is where the worst soil is, silver clay, it was so bad I just leveled it, put some membrane and pebbles over it and filled it with pots. It seems to have it’s own little micro-culture as it has to be really dry for me to need to water the pots. I had a bit of a sort out last week, potting up a lamium and a fuschia. I’ve also empied the water feature pot as it was still leaking, so I’ve dried it out so I can now replug the holes with blutack and hopefully it will be watertight for another ten years.
The border by the big fence is really filling out, I struggle to get in to weed now, but the bindweed keeps sneaking up so I shimmy behind the purple cotinus and try and attack it from the back. There’s a nice mix of plants here, peony, day lily, astrantia, geranium, roses – these ones are called Darcey Bussell.
I think I’ll try and get out in the garden early in the morning before it gets too warm, do a bit more weeding and dead-heading.
thecraftycreek 
It’s looking very lush and gorgeous. If Blutak doesn’t work, try Sugru, which will form a permanent bond. I’ve used it for mending absolutely everything, from split casing on my computer cable to a plastic water butt.
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Thanks Kate, I’ve asked James, my son, to come round, he’s a plumber so he should have something to make it water tight 🙂
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He’ll definitely have the right stuff!
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It is far too hot! Your pot garden is doing very well with lots of colour and shades of green
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You know that I love wandering around your garden with you, Margaret. I am amazed how your green fingers can grow those lush plants in the pots. Beautiful!
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Thanks Anne, I grow plants that thrive on neglect 🙂
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Overblown! That’s a good word for how some of our beds are looking at the moment. I actually think I heard ‘the Head Gardener’ say ‘we don’t need any more plants’ the other day. I might have been dreaming.
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…there’s always room for another plant 🙂
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Your gardens are gorgeous! There is nothing in the world like an English garden! I have garden envy, we moved a little over a year ago and I’m starting the garden from nothing. It will never look like yours because we’re not blessed with your climate, but I’m trying!
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Thanks Carolyn, when we moved in here 20 years go it was pretty empty, I think the knack with a lush garden is to find what likes your soil and climate – I’ve got heavy clay, so if I find something that likes it, I buy one in every colour 🙂
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The show in your garden this week is splendid! We are suffering through a very hot dry spell at the moment, 33-38 C this week.
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We’re hot and humid…but not that hot
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