The June Garden

The June garden is coming along nicely. I've now replaced all of the perennials I lost during the winter and have planted up a few pots of annuals to brighten the garden while I wait for the perennials to grow. The only disappointments have been the hanging baskets, which aren't doing as well as I'd hoped, and the lack of growth in the centre bed. M planted up the last of the pots when she was here on Thursday so there will hopefully be begonias and gladioli to see before too long.

The clematis (in the photo below) is huge this year ... the best I've seen it since I moved in ten years ago. It's too heavy and was falling forwards so M has stabilised it with some twine to anchor it back to the trellis. Much as I love the square trellis, the wooden struts are too wide for the clematis tendrils which means that it doesn't get a really good grip, so next year M will add some finer mesh before it starts to regrow. Hopefully, that will solve the problem. The plan is to let the clematis and the white rose to the left of it grow together. That's started but next year we can be more proactive and encourage them to mingle, especially the clematis as that's easier to persuade in that direction thanks to the position of the sun.   

The centre bed is not looking as good as in previous years. There's no cosmos this year ... just haven't seen any! ... and I'm still waiting for the gauras to fill out. They die back below ground in the winter and, while I can see the regrowth, they are still very small and a long way off of flowering ... maybe I just need to be patient!

Everything in the outer borders is looking strong and healthy, especially the roses which all like my clay soil. The hydrangea has loads of buds and looks like it will put on a good show this year.

The bush rose in the pot (bottom left hand corner of the photo below) is slow to grow, but there are signs that it's not completely dead! It's going to be moved to the other side of the garden where it'll be in the sun for longer to see if that helps. I have to decide what to do about these two pots as, once the climbers on the pergola are established, I won't be able to see them from the house. 

On the far side of the bench, between the bench and the water butt, are the blue pots that hold the spring bulbs. They've all died back now so it's time to move them back in the garage to get them out of the way. That's a job for a dry day though, so it won't be done this week.

I've had poppies in the garden this year, not planted by me, but they have been a lovely addition. Luckily they understood the colour scheme and are pink!

So, the biggest change this month is the completion of the pergola. These photos were taken on Saturday before the planters were lined. I love how it looks and the shadows it creates.  My next job is to transfer the soil from the bulk bag on the drive to the planters. The bulk bag is covered so hopefully the rain won't get in and make the soil even heavier! I'll think about starting this on Thursday, which is supposed to be our next rain free day. 

The centre planter will have a white potato vine and the right hand one will have a climbing rose, possibly Zéphirine Drouhin'. I'm not sure that the left hand planter needs another climber as the potato vine should be vigorous enough to cover that trellis as well, but for this year I will plant some sweet peas ... assuming there are plants still available in the garden centre. I've also ordered a mix of hardy nemesias for these planters ... there are five plants of each of the five varieties, so 25 plants in total which I'll be sharing with M. I've seen this done (but with annual nemesias) by a friend's dad and I loved how it looked, so hopefully my attempt will be as successful. I still have to look for some trailing plants but haven't really made a decision on what I want so will need to have a look at what is available locally.