High Summer


There's a 'fullness' to everything at this time of year. The Gaura has just taken off with spreading wands nigh on a metre long. I didn't realise how readily it self seeds. After losing a few plants, it's still managed to replace itself.



The sea holly has 'blued' up completely.  In fact there's a lot of blue and mauve in the garden at the moment, best of all a deep blue sky which hasn't made an appearance with the regularity I hoped, expected for the first two weeks of July.

The Feather Reed grass, calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'  looks great and doesn't 'wash' out in the summer sun. I like it mixed with bronze fennel and the first blooms of aster frikartii 'monch' making an appearance.




Stipa calamagrostis has probably the finest colour in grass. It's there, above, in all it's tawnyness behind the pennisetum 'Karley rose'.

 
The artichoke buds are starting to open up completely, so flowering isn't far away. In some ways it's almost a shame as they've lost their culinary significance at this stage.


 Another shot of S. calamagrostis, I couldn't get a sharp image as the inflorescences were constantly moving in the light breeze.




 Globe thistle and the thin, bristly flowerheads of  pennisetum macrourum. The pennisetum is in it's first season so it'll need a year or two before reaching a good size.






 Russian sage and buddleja lindleyana 'lochinch'


More globe thistle with echinacea purpurea. Again, I was suprised at how easily the coneflower self seeds.




Finally, the best three euro I spent this Summer. Back in March, I picked up three small plants of blue bacopa at a euro each. They seem to be perfectly happy in their current position and have bulked out at some speed. I much prefer the lavender blue to the white.



Comments

  1. Love the last photo, but I am a sucker for terracotta pots. Everything looks so good though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I got those pots for literally just five euros each from IKEA in Bordeaux - so it doesn't hurt too much if I crack one.

      Delete
  2. Your gardens look amazing and I love the colors! So much bloom at once!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Freda. It's the gaura that's gone ballistic.

      Delete
  3. The globe thistle with the coneflowers and the pennisetum are lovely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mary. I've three pennisetum macrourum, all small plants this year. Should achieve a good size next year.

      Delete
  4. Your garden is looking fantastic. I am very sad that both my artichoke plants that looked amazing before winter have both died this year. I agree that blue sky is very welcome, I thought it had gone AWOL! Diane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shame about the artichokes Diane. Hopefully there won't be a winter like last for another 60 years!

      Delete
    2. I will go along with that!!

      Delete
  5. Your garden is looking amazing! I love the gaura, sea holly and grasses.

    To answer your question our over 100 streak broke and then the humidity went up and stayed up, so we haven't had much of a break from the heat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks sweetbay. I guess with humidity going up then storms aren't far away.

      Delete
  6. The garden looks spectacular! Dreaming of far off places and the warmth of the sun...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pinks and purples soo lovely and sunny and warm looking......

    ReplyDelete
  8. "High summer" is indeed the perfect phrase to sum up this time of year in your garden Rob. Here I sowed some gaura in the spring - they have reached the grand height of about six inches :(

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment