Blooming July


 

Campanula takesimana

 The bells ring out in July. Or they will if the slugs don’t get to them first. The dreaded molluscs have already invaded and destroyed my ‘Pantaloons’ so it remains to be seen whether they get this one as well. I shall cross fingers and enjoy it while I can.

 
 
 

 

Cornus kousa ‘Wieting’s Select’

The early summer blooms are fading gracefully now, with a delicate pink flush in the case of the Cornus tree.

 
 
 

 

Philadelphus ‘Belle Etoile’

And glorious scent from this late flowering Philadelphus.

 
 
 

 

Honeysuckle, tumbling over a pergola, still fills the air with fragrance.

 
 
 

 

Dierama ‘Guinevere’

Evidence of rain damage to the angel’s fishing rod.

 
 
 

 

Lavandula angustifolia ‘Elegance Purple’

But whoever thought I would be showing you this? After all my complaining that lavender never survives in my garden, up it pops. Alas, it is but half a plant. The other side is as bald as a coot.

 
 
 

 

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (EDIT: Subsequently re-identified as Geranium wallichianum ‘Sylvia’s Surprise’)

A bit of zing. I love this combo with Hakonechloa macro Aureola.

 
 
 

 

Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’

The black mondo grass, which I use so often as a contrast to other blooms, now has tiny purple and white flowers of its own.

 
 
 

 

Potentilla thurberi ‘Monarch’s Velvet’

 
 
 

 

Linum rubrum ‘Bright Eyes’

 
 
 

 

 An unknown miniature rose

 
 
 

 

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Unique’

 

There is quite a bit of colour in the July garden, but I felt it needed more. Last Saturday we were due to meet my brother in law and his family for lunch, as they made their way home from a holiday in Cornwall. As it happened the appointed meeting place got us a goodly part of the way towards a very good source for plants.

We had a nice lunch, during which I may have partaken of the odd glass of wine. Then brother in law and family head off north up the A30 and I plot a course to the garden centre. Now, ours is a very old map book. And to make matters worse the critical part of the route fell into the ditch between two pages. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? And when there are two grey blobs for villages but only one place name exactly midway between the two, so you don’t know to which grey blob the label refers?

It didn’t take us long to realise we were on the wrong road.

To try and make up for the error I decided on a cross country route to where we needed to be. Well, we went down roads with grass growing up the middle barely wide enough to take the car. We had to back up for farmers’ Land Rovers and a very large tractor until, 45 minutes later, we ended up 5 minutes away from the pub where we’d just had lunch. You can guess that Yours Truly was the flavour of the month, not.

 
 
 

 

Rose ‘Boscobel’

This could now be my favourite rose. When the blooms open they are of the deepest coral that you can imagine and then fade to the softest smoky pink. And what if this, and all David Austin roses at the garden centre, were on sale for half price? Still bursting with vigour and many with blooms to come.

 
 
 

 

Rose ‘Jude the Obscure’

 I bought this one too. It has the strongest scent I’ve ever experienced from a rose.

 
 
 

 

Cistus argenteus ‘Silver Pink’

As a Mediterranean plant it’s a bit of a risk in the wet south west. But as it was also half price it’s worth a flyer. If it survives the winter I’ll try more next year.

 
 

There’s nothing like a bargain or three to put a stop to Mike’s grumbling.

Although he did insist we find a different route home.

 
 

Linking to Carol and Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens, where you will find other July bloomers from around the world.