Cheer brilliance for June’s blooms
The first summer blooms open as the late spring favourites start to fade away.
In the herbaceous borders, plants jostle and fight for attention as spires of Lupins display their formal candle-like florets which contrast against the exotic open blooms of Daylilies. The latter are particularly cheerful with their vibrant warm shades.
Hardy Geraniums come in hundreds of varieties and many are at their best in June.
Although brief, Oriental Poppies are a real treat as their massive flowers shriek out boldly at any passer-by.
In this issue, we will be planting patio containers with exotic sub-tropical plants and adding new plants to liven up rockeries, which have looked gorgeous in winter and spring.
What you might call a Geri-built border
HARDY Geraniums are extremely useful as border plants as they flower for such a long period, provide good ground cover and come in many different colours – mainly pinks, whites and blues.
They are pretty adaptable and will grow in sun or light shade in any reasonably fertile soil that doesn’t become waterlogged or bone dry.
Most of them can be easily divided in Autumn to make new plants and many varieties will also self-seed from their beak-shaped seedheads – hence the common name of this plant Cranesbill.
Johnson’s Blue is, in my opinion, an absolutely outstanding colour. The inky blue flowers are produced all summer long and I love their translucency on a sunny day.
NOW IS a good time to sow biennials such as Hesperis, Wallflowers, Canterbury Bells, Forget-Me-Nots and ornamental Kale. These can be sown in a spare area of the veg plot in rows or, if space is limited, they can be sown into seed trays in a sheltered shady corner of the garden.
The tray-raised seedlings can be potted up and grown on in a sunnier position whereas those sown in rows can be thinned as you would do with small vegetable plants.
Pop goes the Lupins
LUPINS and Oriental Poppies look gorgeous together and both do well in the same conditions – fairly poor soil, unlimited sunshine and a fairly open position.
They contrast each other well as the sharp spires of Lupins rise above the giant satiny round-heads of the poppies.
That’ll be the Day Lilies….
Day Lilies are great at this time of year:
'Stella d'Oro' is a compact variety reaching only 40 cm in height. Plentiful pale orange-yellow flowers are produced during the latter half of summer.
'Bold Courtier' is much taller, reaching 90 cm in height. The trumpet-shaped blooms are rose pink on the inside, whereas the outer petals are pink-flushed rich cream.
Don’t let them flop
IN JUNE, everything grows like mad and it is a good time to keep the ‘bullies’ in check.
For instance, Sedum ‘Autumn Glory’ which has a tendency to grow tall and flop over can be cut back to 6ins early in the month to promote more compact growth.
Tovey's Tips
• KEEP on top of weeds as they really are growing like mad. This is almost a daily job, but rather than regarding it as a chore, use the time to work around and appreciate your plants which will thank you for relieving them of the competition that these unwanted wild visitors bring.
• NOW IS the time to hang out your summer baskets. For the first few weeks, watering will depend on how hot or windy it is, but generally a gentle watering every other day will do. As summer really kicks in later in the month, and the baskets fill up with roots, start watering liberally, daily and commence liquid feeding.
• JUNE is the very last chance to get some seeds in for quick colour later this summer. Try sunflowers, Godetias Larkspurs, Nigellas and Calendulas.
Ringing in the changes
LAST MONTH we were sowing tender vegetables such as runner beans, peppers and pumpkins. Now we can start planting them into grow bags or patio containers.
All of them can be supported using canes or ring-supports as they do grow quite tall and will need plenty of support, if only to prop up the weight of their fruits later on.
Tomatoes grown in grow bags respond particularly well to ‘ring culture’ which has been popular for decades. Basically, special rings can be purchased and inserted into the grow bags and this allows the base of the tomato plant stems to send out their ‘upper’ roots into the rings of compost so that their ordinary fibrous roots can do their work inside the bag underneath.
This method tends to reduce the need for supporting the growing stems or, at any rate, makes it overall easier to do. Pumpkins and cucumbers also respond well to this.
Smaller or dwarfer-growing vegetables such as courgettes, peppers and chillies will grow happily with little support in largish terracotta pots.
When planting these tender vegetables, it is a good idea to mix an all-season fertiliser which contains water-saving/storing granules. The latter are particularly useful as these plants do make huge water demands on their own roots.
For that reason, it is critical that these plants do not dry out, especially in hot spells as fruit production is wholly influenced by the amount of moisture available.
Show a bit of Erige-nality
Erigerons provide a blast of mauve or pink daisies, way ahead of the similarly coloured michaelmas varieties that flower in late summer and autumn. My favourites include ‘Charity’ and ‘Serenity’, both flowering throughout June and July. They excel in a sunny spot in reasonably fertile and well-drained soil – and look superb when allowed to spill over the edges of a raised bed or steep rockery. Plants purchased now will soon enlighten the front of any border, and will quickly grow to provide invaluable ground cover.
June’s looking fine
A changeable start to June looks like settling down into potentially fine, dry and warm or even hot weather for quite a while, hopefully! Occasional cooler and cloudier interludes from the north-west might intervene at times. Very high temperatures may occur at the month’s end.
What will be July elected?
IN JULY’S issue, we explore hotter colours provided by Gaura, Penstemons, Californian Poppies, alongside some mellow shades from pink Sidalceas and closely related Malvas. We shall be harvesting new potatoes and tender young carrots as well as paying attention to feeding tomatoes and other tender vegetables along with patio containers.
See you next month!
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