IT’S TIME TO DANCE WITH YOUR PLANTS
Evenings enjoying barbecues are accentuated by the many vibrant blooms which dance in your outdoor living room. Lupins provide the disco lights for the occasion and Alliums, with their cool purple shades and their starry globes provide the pre-summer firework displays.
Astrantias bring style to the cottage garden along with Campanulas.
The shiny plates of Cistus add a Medittereanean touch to the shrub border and French Lavenders are soon happy to join in too.
This type of border is further enlightened by Convolvulus ‘Cneorum’ with their blinding white trumpets.
The adorable Nigellas (Love in a Mist) look gorgeous growing through areas of gravel, such as a covered border or informal path.
Summer bedding plants start to produce their rainbow colours spurred on by the strongest sunshine of the year and the occasional refreshing downpour.
In the shade, clusters of Sweet Williams are an unforgettable sight, jostling amongst Aquilegias. My best advice this month is to walk around the garden everyday and enjoy all that’s going on around you.
At the same time this might be a time to plan a little for your autumn work as well as next June’s display.
Those of you who really love your plants will be in your element - enjoy!!!
Try to avoid faulty towers
It’s best to stick to one variety of plant for the best effect and certainly the most striking would be mixed Busy Lizzies, trailing mixed Lobelias or Lobelia ‘Sapphire’ which has deep blue flowers with white eyes.
Give these impressive ‘flower towers’ plenty of food and water!
A YEAR ago on a short break to Weston-Super-Mare, a rainy Saturday afternoon cut short a visit to the beach so I opted to visit Grove Park where Jill Dando’s garden was built by BBC ‘Groundforce’. A series of wooden benches was planted either side by masses of Alliums and I immediately fell in love with them. I stopped and thought: "What can I do with Alliums in my own 16ft x 16ft cottage garden space?"
I ended up planting 28 of these beauties last autumn in amongst everything else. Here are my favourite varieties and why......
Allium ‘Schubertii’ - The loose starry blooms are a mellow shade of lilac. The best variety for cottage gardens.
Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ - These form very neat globes of deep purple which look excellent amongst Aquilegias.
Allium. ‘Karaviense’ - This dwarf variety produces a neat small globe of pale pink stars. Allium ‘Gigantea’ - In the right conditions, this one will reach up to 6ft in height with mauve globes up to six inxhes across.
Allium ‘Caeruleum’ - This dwarf type produces small sky-blue globes slightly later than most other varieties do.
ITALIAN herbs are not only great to cook with, they will grace any salad and are also extremely decorative. Those I have in mind will make a difference to your containers and hanging baskets - especially the traditional rattan (wicker) type. Here are a few suggestions.......
Celery Leaf - This finely cut leaved herb is strong, so should be used sparingly in salads.
Radichio ‘Palla’ - This is very decorative with its purple tinged leaves and it is also ideal for using in a number of dishes including stir-fries or with a pasta of your choice.
Purple Basil - This needs a warm sunny position to thrive, but it will reward you with highly decorative leaves and will provide you with help in the kitchen - it’s delicious in bolognese.
Variegated Oregano - This herb is famed for its ‘pizza’ taste and no topping is complete without it! The variegated version is much less invasive than the standard green type and will produce pale lilac flowers in July and August which the bees will love.
Tomato ‘Tumbler’ - This trailing cherry tomato is superb for a basket as it crops remarkably early from July onwards with its gorgeous sweet fruit - ideal for Italian style cooking or salads.
Remember to place your container or basket near the kitchen so the herbs you pick are as fresh as possible when you use them to compliment the dish you’ve cooked for that special person. And remember: "You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"
YOUR hedges will be growing at a phenomonal rate and most of them will need to be trimmed. I would leave Holly alone as their winter decoration is invaluable. The more vigorous evergreens such as Privet and Lonicera can be trimmed every four weeks from now on to keep them looking good. Towards the end of the month Beech can be given its annual cut and the same rule could be applied to Buxus (box). Early flowering hedges of Forsythia and Ribes can be cut back quite hard to promote vigorous growth and a good floral display for next spring.
It’ll be enough to give you the Willies next year
SOW Sweet Williams in seed trays in a sheltered shady spot in the garden and keep them moist. When they have germinated they can be potted up individually and be grown on through the summer months.
They can then be planted out during autumn to provide you with a blitz of colour in June and July next year.
Are you considering doing a runner?
RUNNER beans started in pots can be planted out into your prepared sites and watered in thoroughly. Try to avoid using slug pellets but do use a mulch of grit around the individual plants instead.
Either wonderfully warm or a thunderstorm
JUNE is likely to be rather changeable, though there should be two or three decent very warm spells and the month should fare well in the sunshine stakes too. Thunderstorms could be a rather regular occurrence with local flooding.
Later in the month it should turn fresher with more ‘open’ weather and showery westerly winds.
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See you next month!
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