We have had some lovely weather the last week, and the weather is set to last for some time with temperatures around 20 degrees C. Not exactly scorching summer highs, but from what we have had up until now it feels lovely! I don’t think my garden is catching up, it is just plodding on, everything being equally late as it emerges. My dahlias are barely out of ground, so are the Lobelia cardinalis, I think it will be well into July before I see any flowers on either. My lilies are in bud but are a long way away from their normal early June flowering.
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I bought two hardy geraniums last autumn, never had any before so these are welcoming newcomers. This is Geranium 'Brookside', tucked up in the shady, dry corner on the right side of my garden, behind the big conifer. I hope it will be happy there :-)
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And this is Geranium 'Ann Folkard', this one is planted between my acer and all the hellebores at the bottom left of the garden. It has turned out to be more of a groundcover than the upright bush I expected. Perhaps next year it will be taller and not so wide.
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The alliums and irises are really what gives colour to the garden at the moment, there are even both alliums and irises still in bud!
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Iris, Dutch mixed.
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Iris up-close.
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Iris.
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Allium Superglobe.
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I am still waiting for my roses....can’t believe it’s 7th June and I still haven’t got the first flush of roses going. The cream pot rose is the only one that has started, very carefully though, with just a couple of roses almost open.
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Cream pot rose.
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This is one of my David Austin roses I got last year, 'Susan Williams-Ellis', not long before the first one open!
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And this is another of my David Austin roses, 'Scepter'd Isle', not long to wait here either hopefully!
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Can you remember this picture from my GBBD post in May? The only rose bud with any colour showing....
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....here it is, the same bud, it is certainly taking its time! 3 ½ weeks later and it is still not open. This is 'Crimson Cascade', a lovely climber I have trained on my fence, the bud is on a cutting in a pot, the mother plant is way behind. Not long to go for this little bud, but a good few weeks for the rest.
I am also waiting for the first clematis flowers to open, I think it will be tomorrow or the day after on ‘Niobe’ and possibly next week on 'Gravetye Beauty'. My oriental poppies are not far from ‘popping’ either, they are spectacular this year, so tall, I think the lack of sunshine must have spurred them on to just grow and grow before developing the flowers. And the peonies have fat buds but are probably a few weeks from opening up.
What are you waiting for in your garden? Something late or perhaps earlier than usual or are your garden right on normal time this year? Let me know so we can compare. Until next time, take care.
What are you waiting for in your garden? Something late or perhaps earlier than usual or are your garden right on normal time this year? Let me know so we can compare. Until next time, take care.
It's so interesting that we're right on the same schedule this year. Except you're a bit ahead of me with the Roses--mine are just about to bloom. I let out a sigh when I saw both the soft Rose photos and the Allium! You are such a talented photographer, Helene!
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth!
DeleteThe picture of the alliums and irises was just a lucky one, I sat in my garden, in my chair and just noticed how the sun was filtering through the alliums. I had the camera next to me, as usual and just picked it up. Two minutes later the sun was gone and the whole thing looked very different.
I hope we both have lots of roses soon, my garden feel so empty without roses and I have waited since February, since I pruned them, for the flowers...been a long wait!
Helene, I'm glad the weather is getting warmer in your garden!
ReplyDeleteAnd sure you will see the roses very soon, they need only one or two warm nights to open their buds. Mine are with buds as well, but I lost many roses after winter. The Canadian roses are well, as always.
Your photo of sun rays going through the alliums is stunning!
Happy weekend!
Thanks Nadezda, but we still have quite cold nights here so it will probably be some time before I have a proper flush of roses. I hope the buds I am showing here will be properly out till GBBD on the 15th June, but the full flush will be even later. My roses are certainly taking their time this year! Fortunately I haven't lost any, it hasn't been that cold here, I only lost some geraniums in pots this winter, that's all. Have a great week-end you too!
DeleteI love purples and blues! That rose is taking its time isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThey certainly are, all of them! I think it will be end of June before I have a proper full flush on all my bushes. That's about 6-7 weeks late.
DeleteHelene-your gardens are coming along. Your Allium and your cream pot rose are lovely and I am glad to hear that your weather is finally starting to warm up. As you know we had the same type of spring here in the northeast but once the temperatures and rains came the garden finally came about. You look like you are off to a good start with your lovely purples and blues! Looking forward to more.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lee, I am so enjoying the warmer weather! It is far from a scorching summer heat, but after having been stuck on 12-13 degrees for such a long time, 19-20 C feels so much better :-)
DeleteI am waiting for our roses, some of which look like they will have an outstanding season of bloom - specifically 'Cassie' and 'Sally Holmes'. Also our Culver's Root 'Temptation'.
ReplyDeleteSeems like a lot of us are waiting for roses, on both sides of the Atlantic. I hadn't heard about Culver's Root before so I had to look it up, beautiful purple racemes! Looking forward to seeing photos of it on your blog when it starts to flower :-)
DeleteThat is a lovely shot of the allium and iris---great lighting!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carolyn!
DeleteIt's so funny that all the roses are waiting and waiting to open together. You are going to be rushing from one to the other with your camera when they do! Everything else is coming along beautifully. You're going to have days and days of colour ahead.
ReplyDeleteYes, I really hope so! That's what the first flush of roses is like here, lots and lots of roses, and then the rest of the year I have a more modest amount. But the first flush is usually spectacular :-)
DeleteHere I am hoping the flowers will slow down a little. The Dahlias are ridiculously early this year, everything else is reasonably timely. I enjoyed your Dutch Iris--that last one especially--they are very brief in my climate.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I love those irises too, they are new this year, haven't had Dutch irises before. I hope they'll come back next year. I guess every climate has their challenges, it is many years since we had any troublesome heat!
DeleteLove your purples and blues, the two Geraniums are a real gain, very good and strong plants. And the roses........they are so slow this year, they just start to show colour here, every day another rose. Your Irises with alliums look so sunny, just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Janneke, the last week has helped a lot, although today it was rather chilly with a cold wind, but sunny at times - it helps, I will have roses eventually!
DeleteI am so pleased I am not the only one who is waiting for the roses to open theire flowers. Before starting planting roses I never thought growing roses was so difficult. In my garden it seems like it's the Macdonalds for insects at the moment. I have no idea how to get rid of it. The weather is finaly beautiful overhere but every afternoon a strong wind is blowing from the east. And now some roses in my little garden are covered with mildew. Your garden is looking beautiful at the moment. Our flowertime will come soon.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful sunday Helene.
I have realised that in the British climate you can’t really grow roses and just leave them to it, they need some help. I know most people would like to grow organically and not spray for anything, but if you want to grow roses you need to make some compromises.
DeleteFor insects like greenflies and red spider mites I use an organic systemic insecticide made of fermented soya and herbs, from a company called Pireco, maybe you can Google it and see if you can get hold of it? I think it is a Dutch company originally. I use the type you pour on the soil. For mildew, black spot and other fungus I use Fungus Clear, a systemic fungicide. Both are used only once a month and are taken up by the leaves and last the whole month, much easier than going around spraying several times a week. I use both these products on all the plants in my garden that needs it. And I feed my roses with a slow release fertiliser, first time in February when I prune them, and then again in June – but I might delay that a bit this year as they haven’t even started flowering – I usually do second fertilizer when the first flush of flowers is almost over. Well fed roses will withstand attacks from pests and fungus better than if they are starved of nutrients so feeding them is not just to get lots of flowers.
Perhaps you can find similar products, or the same, and start a routine, I do it the first week of every month, easy to remember :-)
I like your combination of the Allium and Iris, blue and purple are such a pretty combination. I have various Hardy Geraniums around my garden, and they are so versatile and trouble free, they seem to grow in any situation.
ReplyDeleteI keep wondering how long it will be before we get roses too. I have buds on mine, but only one seems ready to bloom anytime soon. Your Crimson Cascade is certainly taking it's time, but it looks like it will be beautiful when it does bloom.
Thanks Paula, my red rose is fully out now! And I have a yellow and a white rose - far from a first flush, but I'm getting there :-)
DeleteAll beautiful flowers!
ReplyDeleteI especially like the photo of the iris and alliums - love the way you have captured the sunlight.
Happy gardening!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie
Thanks Lea, it was a spur of the moment picture :-)
DeleteWow wow wow! Stunning photographs, Helene. I love the allium and iris - in fact, I just used the Giant Allium as my new header photo. That flower is so photogenic :) I can just feel your anticipation for those rose buds to open.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can't wait for them all to pop open! I have a couple of roses now, but most of the buds are still very green.
DeleteOh, Helene. You make me want to run out and buy up more geraniums! These are glorious. And those irises of yours are so vibrant. Each like its own works of art.
ReplyDeleteThank you, the blue geranium had certainly turned out well, the purple one produce only one flower at the time and is creeping along the ground, I hope it will flower better and be more upright when it gets a bit more established.
DeleteYour photos are just gorgeous!! Especially the combitation of alliums and irises is quite attractive! And Cream pot rose is lovely, too. Most roses are beyond their peak in Japan, and we are getting into rainy season. But I'm going to enjoy roses flowering in your blog:)
ReplyDeleteThank you Keity, I have only one iris left today, but still alliums in bud! The roses are slowly getting there but are weeks away from their peak, which normally is in May here, or even late April some years. I think it will be early July before you will see my roses at their best on my blog :-)
DeleteI am coming here after a long time it seems or you wrote fast two posts quickly. Last time I checked, there was no update. Today I come and I see two posts :-). My garden is way too early this year. Peonies and roses everything flowered earlier. They usually flower in July or so. Any of those David Austin roses, do they have good smell? Thee are so many flowers here but almost none of them have any smell :-(. I love your blue (the first pic) Geranium and the alium.
ReplyDeleteI try to write one post per week, sometime a bit more often, but at this time of year I have so much to do in the garden :-)
DeleteAll of my 3 David Austin roses are scented, I chose them deliberately because of their scent, but the best one of them is the 'Scepter'd Isle' and it is not a very big rose so I have it in a container at my seating area where I can really enjoy it.
I have a lot of scented flowers, I think I have some in flower every month of the year, perhaps I should write a post about that, so you can get some ideas for your own garden, but at this time of year think oriental lilies!
Oh, by the way, the first peony flowered today, finally, will post photo on GBBD on Saturday!
Hello Helene, surprisingly we are not so very far behind you, also had a lot of good weather and even managing to relax a little in it. I like your Geranium Brookside very nice blue. I was just thinking of reintroducing Anne Folkard, it does very much have a trailing habit and wont clump at all, a plant worth having though and lends itself well for mingling with others.
ReplyDeleteHi Alistair, yes, I think we are the ones being very late this year, my garden is 6-7 weeks late, I still have camellia flowers!
DeleteAnne Folkard hasn't produced much flowers yet, just one at the time, but there are lots of buds, I hope for a better display a bit later, but the flowers I have had have been gorgeous.
Brookside is a great geranium - in our garden it scrambles obligingly around, making little rivers of blue among other plants. Just wish it hadn't, apparently, been named after a soap opera! Lovely photos.
ReplyDelete