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' 005 Wm[1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Cornus-kousa-Wietings-Select-005-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
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 Wm[1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Philadelphus-Belle-Etoile-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C705&ssl=1)
Philadelphus ‘Belle Etoile’
And glorious scent from this late flowering Philadelphus.
![Honeysuckle 001 Wm[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Honeysuckle-001-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
Honeysuckle, tumbling over a pergola, still fills the air with fragrance.
![Dierama Guinevere 002 Wm[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Dierama-Guinevere-002-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C673&ssl=1)
Dierama ‘Guinevere’
Evidence of rain damage to the angel’s fishing rod.
![Lavandula 'Elegance Purple' 002 Wm[1]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Lavandula-Elegance-Purple-002-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
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 001 Wm[1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Geranium-Rozanne-001-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C660&ssl=1)
Geranium ‘Rozanne’
A bit of zing. I love this combo with Hakonechloa macro Aureola.
![Ophiopogon nigrescens 002 Wm[1]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Ophiopogon-nigrescens-002-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C677&ssl=1)
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 001 Wm[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Potentilla-thurberi-Monarchs-Velvet-001-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
Potentilla thurberi ‘Monarch’s Velvet’
![Linum rubrum 'Bright Eyes' 001 Wm[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Linum-rubrum-Bright-Eyes-001-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
Linum rubrum ‘Bright Eyes’
![Patio Rose 001 Wm[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Patio-Rose-001-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
An unknown miniature rose
![Hydrangea paniculata 'Unique' 002 Wm[1]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Hydrangea-paniculata-Unique-002-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
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 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 001 Wm[1]](https://i2.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Rose-Boscobel-001-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
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, were on sale for half price? Still bursting with vigour and many with blooms to come.
![Rose Jude the Obscure 001 Wm[1]](https://i1.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Rose-Jude-the-Obscure-001-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
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' 001 Wm[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.rustyduck.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Cistus-argenteus-Silver-Pink-001-Wm1.jpg?resize=1000%2C669&ssl=1)
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 we did have to take 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.
That’s a really pretty cistus, and a great collection of roses too. Your description of the “interesting” route to plant heaven made my laugh wryly, one major advantage of the modern SatNav is the absence of fold-induced error. I also don’t miss the frankly criminally dangerous antics when attempting to consult a large map book when driving solo! But I hate the lack of context when you just have that small window on where you are. Hey ho, you seem to be successfully adding colour, and half bald lavender is better than totally bald. I really must start getting organised with climbers…
We had three alternative sat nav systems in the car.. his iPhone, my iPad and a Tom Tom, and still I used the map. Like you, I prefer to see the big picture. But I suppose there are times when the technology does come into its own. Like after a glass of wine.
Some gorgeous blooms there, that red miniature rose is so pretty! Haven’t those slugs and snails been a nuisance this year, they appear to have had a nibble at most things in my garden. Hope they leave your remaining campanula alone.
Hi Paula, great to see you back blogging!
The slimy ones are everywhere. I gave up applying nematodes when I’d spent forty quid and still they nibbled on. And the size of some of them this year!
Ah yes, the joys of the map book!! We always seem to be heading to somewhere that is just underneath a staple or something , or right on the edge of a page. The sat nav has saved a lot of problems with that sort of thing, although it does cause its own issues!! xx
It certainly causes issues down here, we’ve ended up in farmyards and all manner of unlikely places!
I think map books are designed to be frustrating. We regularly suffer from ditch problem. We bought a climbing white rose last week – White cloud.
That sounds a beauty, floriferous and scented. At the moment I’m just buying bush roses because I’ve few places to put a climber. There is just one rather lanky specimen that grows under the bedroom window. All its flowers are at the top so I deadhead leaning out of the window!
I’m not allowed to give directions of any sort, not ever! What lovely bargains you found though.
I might not be after last Saturday’s experience. I used to be quite good with maps, but I’m out of practice. Made redundant by technology.
I’m drooling…
That Jude the Obscure rose has me drooling, the scent is just fantastic.
What a beautiful campanula . I also have some. You have a lot of plants we can’t grow in Germany. But when the weather is changing in the future, may be that you also can’t grow it.
Your Rozanne is so pink, normaly it is lilic, is that the camera?
Sigrun
It is lilac, and I’ve seen another post today (from Linda, below) where it has come out very blue. Perhaps it’s just a difficult colour to capture on the camera?
I was wondering about Rozanne too – mine is very blue also. I wonder if it changes with the soil like hydrangea.
That’s a thought.. it’s possible isn’t it.
I love to see what you have blooming each month because there is always something wonderful that won’t take our climate, and I like to know that someone else is enjoying such beautiful things as Kousa dogwoods and Dierama. The roses look spectacular and have what one always wants: best color or best fragrance. I just ordered a dwarf Philadelphus and am very excited about it. (We went on a garden tour in a town about a half hour away from us last night and got lost multiple times.)
The Kousa dogwoods have to be my favourite trees. I have two, white and pink, and both have been loaded with blooms this year. They last well over a month too. The pink (‘Satomi’) has better autumn colour for me.
Gorgeous blooms! Visiting your garden on Bloom Day is such a treat and always gives me good ideas. Now if I could only execute them!
I have the same problem, there are not enough hours in the day. And when there are, it’s raining. Thanks Dorothy.
Oh dear, that sounds like the sort of thing that would happen to me. Love the lavender; half a lavender is good enough for me. And the honeysuckle and roses are exquisite. Summertime. Bliss.
I can’t resist fragrance. Trouble is it has to be strong, a lot of so called scented roses I can’t smell at all. Jude is definitely an exception.
I bought Jude The Obscure in a sale at my local garden centre. It is a beautiful rose. Philadelphius is on my wishlist. There is one in the middle of town that pumps out scent.
Leanne
They’re not cheap, David Austin roses, but they are lovely. Mine seem to limp along for a year or so and then pick up, getting better every year. My problem is blackspot, presumably because it is so damp down here.
I think all my roses have blackspot too! I always forget to look for varieties that don’t suffer with it so much.
Some do seem to be worse than others. I’m afraid I just buy the roses I want and assume I can manage the problem, unsuccessfully usually.
Gosh, aren’t we incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such beauty and wonderful scents (honeysuckle springs to mind – love it). Your story about losing the way made me laugh (sorry) – very recognisable.
It’s very easy to get lost here (says she, hopefully!) and the roads are so narrow with high banks on either side. There is often nowhere to turn round so it’s a case of navigating from village to village with the help of road signs. I really must get the technology sorted out!
Jude the Obscure looks good enough to eat. And you say it smells wonderful, too?
It smells absolutely divine Jean.
Fabulous photos of your garden – I am glad that you now have lavender – even if it is just half a plant!
If it survives the winter I’ll try adding another behind it to hide its exposed rear!
I just love your bargain roses, such beauties too. Seems you drove all around the world!!! We often end up doing that, most frustrating. That white campanula is gorgeous.xxx
It felt like driving all around the world. The trouble is, Mike has quite a good sense of direction (unlike me) so he can spot when we seem to be going round in circles. 🙁
You have so many of my favorite plants: dogwood, philadelphus, dierama. Well, actually I like all of your plants! I especially like the dierama. I grew mine from seed so it has a special place in my heart. I often wish I had a pond so that it could arch over the water! Very nice Bloom Day post!
I have successfully germinated seeds from this dierama too and they flowered for the first time this year.. mostly the same colour, one is slightly too pink. I shall do some more now. Thanks Dorothy.
Half price David Austin roses – where is this magical place ? Boscobel looks really unusual and is one I covet, amongst others. I love Jude too, and he is ridiculously easy to propagate from cuttings. You have lots of gorgeous plants in bloom right now, Jessica … enjoy!
I found the roses in South Devon, you’d blow all your saving and more on the petrol. Thanks for the tip on cuttings, I’d never thought to try it, but it would be a very good way of getting more roses if it works.
Great pictures, with plants to drool over – that dierama is gorgeous, and you make growing it sound easy as I have some from Hayloft which are looking OK so far but haven’t flowered yet. And I too am wanting to add to my roses – where to put them though?!
I was told to put the dierama in full sun and moist soil, tricky. Mine is growing right under a tall conifer! The canopy is high so it gets enough sun and it’s on irrigation so it just about survives. The seedlings I put at the lower end of the bank where it’s boggy and they are doing much better.
Gorgeous gorgeous plants Jessica. As I write (late evening) a few tiny sprigs of night-scented stock are filling the whole room with fragrance! Astonishing!
Marvellous, I don’t have any and really should!
Lovely things in bloom. I am so jealous of your fabulous Cornus kousa I just can’ t get it to grow like that here. Well done getting those gorgeous roses half price.
I find it’s always better to use the satnav when we are out together. Then if we go wrong it’ s her fault and not mine.( the satnav’ s I mean_ she,’ s called Rita.) I’ m quite glad when that happens, she’ s such a know- all and has such an irritating voice.
Your photos are amazing.
Ours is called Gloria. When I used my iPhone for sat nav I’m sure there was a way of changing the voice. Celebrities record for the purpose too. Imagine, if you were lost, George Clooney’s dulcet tones:
“Turn around where possible.”
“Turn around where possible….”
Much better, no?
Your photos are so good…..beautiful!
Thank you!
It is a very beautiful blooming 🙂
Thank you! I still need more colour. I hope it will come as the garden matures.
The GPS’s don’t always work, especially in the countryside here in upstate New York. That reminds me of a post I should write about trying to find a certain nursery. But in the meantime, wanted you to know that I enjoyed all of your photos, especially the dogwood.
Thank you Alana, I’ll look out for your post. It’s the same here with the sat nav. I’ve known it give up.. “Cannot navigate to destination from your current location.” Huh?
I know that feeling so well, when you know your destination is near but you just can’t find it! Someone beside me though just seems to follow his nose- and there it is, so frustrating!
All your flowers are so beautiful, I wish I could grow Dierama, it just fades away with me, yours is so beautiful.
I haven’t noticed my Ophiopogon flowering this year, I must go and have a look.
Have you tried Dierama in your bog garden? It could be the ideal place for it. I’ll swop you some seeds for your Meconopsis!
I didn’t know they needed moist soil Jessica, that must be where I’ve been going wrong! I will certainly swop some meconopsis seed for some Dierama seed. I was looking the other day, the seed heads are almost ready for me to harvest them, I will be in touch when they are ready, thanks.
In the terraces, and now on the bank, the astilbes get the benefit of irrigation. But when I get that far I want to put some down at the lower level in the bog garden, hopefully it won’t be such a struggle there. Be warned though, when they are happy they take over!
I do love to visit your blog for all the beautiful colour and blooms you share. I am terrible at growing anything that blooms so I stick with edible plants.
Maps love em or hate em are great to ponder over. We have been looking at some from St Helena recently which is particularly poignant after reading about a blog from there on a recent post. You are most likely to be on the edge of a map as there is more edge than middle…….
I think it’s the other way round for me, edible plants are proving the most problematic. Perhaps because everything else that lives in the garden has discovered that they taste nice too. 🙁
Why is it that where you want to go is in that ditch between the pages? I think Tom Tom saved my marriage and certainly makes journeys more pleasurable, nice roses btw!
From my limited experience of driving in Italy, it’s enough of a nightmare without added navigational challenges. Brinkmanship on motorways and all those scooters in towns and cities. Just thinking about Florence is bringing me out in a cold sweat. Marriage threatening in the extreme.
So lovely – I feel so inadequate but am working on it!
The wonderful thing about close up photography is that the shitty bits (i.e. all of the rest) are all out of shot.
Those David Austin Roses are so tempting. I just learned about them recently during a Flower Arranging class I took. I don’t have much space left in my container so I need to be super selective if I do decided to take on another Rose. Right now I have 8. I think my next purchase will be the David Austin but how the heck am I supposed to choose just one!!!?? 🙂
It is very difficult to choose, they are all lovely. I have been building up a collection gradually, not least because they are expensive as roses go. Hence I was delighted to find them at half price. I’d have bought more if I’d had more footwell space in the car!
fabulous color this month….and I’d take 1/2 a lavender plant over NO (as in my garden!) lavender any old day.
I’m encouraged by the half.. I shall buy another one and stick it in behind, no-one will know.
Lovely images! I have never been a fan of roses, but may have to reconsider ……
Here it’s more a case of them not liking me! They do take a bit of looking after and start to look tatty after a while because I’m reluctant to use sprays. But the old fashioned type of rose with a good scent I do persevere with.
Happy Bloom Day…It’s been too long since I have dropped by. I have been so busy spinning my wheels I forget to look and see what real gardeners are doing…beautiful as always.
Hi Janie, great to hear from you. I do know what you mean, gardening is a full time job and often there’s precious little time for anything else. I will pop by and see how the peacock’s doing.
delightful flowers & pesky slugs !
Very pesky this year!!
Ah Jessica, don’t feel too badly about the map book. From what I understand those navigational doohickeys everyone uses ( except us) lead you down the wrong ” path” too! Look at it as an adventure. Mike will recover. I have had similar rides in the car. You’d think they’d learn and figure out the directions before hand to save themselves from the dilemmas ” we get them in”.
Super photos. I love the yellow with the purple too. Or do you call that geranium blue over there?
When I worked in the retail nursery business years ago I dealt with roses. I have a fondness for the Austin’s. Love scented roses. If they don’t smell is there any sense in having them? They are a bit of work. Still I too will see a shade I just must have and give in and buy.
Enjoy your planting ( or where the heck will these fit it?)
The colour of the geranium didn’t really reproduce in the photo. I would call it lilac (purple). I’ve been on a bit of a splurge this week and now have about ten plants to get into the terraces. The astilbes are coming out. Some have already moved but today we got caught in torrential rain and had to give up, two drowned rats!
Yes, the sat nav gizmos have got us totally lost before now!
I am a huge fan of Philadelphus ‘Belle Etoile’, but your roses are absolute perfection. The photos are so amazing, really enjoyable.
The roses are pristine, fresh from the garden centre! It may be a different story after they are planted but I am ever hopeful. Thanks Charlie.
Loved the story of the journey Jessica – have been there on that fold between the pages many a time 🙂 I hope that Mike chilled out with a glass of wine or beer when you got home whilst you admired your exciting new purchases.
I have him busy digging holes Anna, those DA rose pots are huge aren’t they?
Love, love, love the linum. Thank you for teaching me they come in more colours than blue!
It’s a new one on me, but its flowers really caught my eye when I saw it in the nursery. I shall try and save some seed.