Hi everyone Just wondering what's lighting up your garden flower-wise right now? Mine is having a bit of a "July gap" and I'm wondering what I could put in to brighten things up this time next year? Thank you!
Ending: Lupines, last foxglove, last aquilegia, allium christophii, geum (but probably reflowers), salvia (also expect it to reflower). In full flower: Roses, dianthus, creeping thyme, some annuals, alstroemeria, heucheras, english lavenders, monardas, eryngium, hardy geraniums. Starting: Verbena bonariensis, dutch lavender, hydrangea, more annuals, daylilies, occasional blooms on hesperantha.
Thanks everyone. Really helpful. Also interesting to see how gardens in different parts of the country are at different stages - my foxgloves and bearded irises, for example, are all pretty much finished now. I do have a lot of these things here and there in the garden - I think maybe I just need to double up on a few of my favourites - lavenders, salvias, etc. I'm opening for NGS next year for the first time and they asked me to pick two dates. One in June for the roses, but for the second I need to choose between spring and July. I'm thinking I may go for spring next year at least - when I'm confident the garden will be a sea of blue (forget-me-nots etc) - and work on improving the show in July for the year after. It is hard, isn't it, to keep the show going uninterrupted for months at a time! Here's a pic of the same path down the back of one of my borders, in spring, June and now... ('scuse the back of my Dad's head in the first one!) So it's not a disaster in July, just a bit of an anticlimax!
Cosmos just starting to bud, some penstemmon which came back from last year, echinacea budding, even got a dicentra having a second flowering. Verbascum (one of my absolute favourites), some lovely white mums (i don't usually like them in the borders but this white one's quite nice. Roses all blooming well and hollyhocks just starting. Loads of other bits and bobs but I do have a whole lot of gaps where I cut back out of control mallow and wild geraniums. Not a huge fan of 'bedding' plants though so the gaps will remain until I can find suitable prennials.
Lavender, clematis, roses, shrubby salvias, hardy geraniums snapdragons, monarda and the tail end of campanulas. Also annual geraniums and busy lizzies. Good luck with opening your garden! I went to an open garden a few weeks ago, it was lovely, especially to get planting ideas for my own from somewhere from a similar area.
Nothing much but the first dahlias and the late lilies Vb and the odd rose. Not a good time of year in my garden either. The hot, dry weather hasn't helped but I,too, need to find plants that will flower in the early july gap.
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I'm opening for NGS next year for the first time and they asked me to pick two dates. One in June for the roses, but for the second I need to choose between spring and July. I'm thinking I may go for spring next year at least - when I'm confident the garden will be a sea of blue (forget-me-nots etc) - and work on improving the show in July for the year after. It is hard, isn't it, to keep the show going uninterrupted for months at a time!
Here's a pic of the same path down the back of one of my borders, in spring, June and now... ('scuse the back of my Dad's head in the first one!)
So it's not a disaster in July, just a bit of an anticlimax!