Summer

(June, July, August)

When all the tender perennials, that survived the winter indoors, have been re potted, and the seedlings of the annuals have found a place in either a hanging basket jpeg 16 Kb or a container, summer can start. Most of the annuals need a lot of sun, so I have to keep them in containers on the terrace. Each year I try different seeds, I can hardly wait to see what they will look like when they flower. Some turn out real gems, like this Echium 'Bedder Mix' jpeg 21 Kb
This year, sometime in April, I put my seedlings outside in a big polystyrene box, covered with glass-plates. At night it was still cold, but they kept nicely. Then, all of a sudden, one day it was like summer, 25&#186 C (almost 80&#186 F) and quite sunny. You can guess what happened, when I came home, they where all cooked...! I should have taken off the glass-plates, so no tomatoes and no self grown annuals this year.

The end of May, a lot of plants come into flower: Delphiniums, Geraniums, Polemonium, roses... Delphinium 'Mighty Atom' jpeg 13 Kb has beautiful double flowers, so big that after heavy rain, the flower spikes often snap and I have to put a 'splint' on to keep on enjoying them. Alas, it did not come back this year (I don't mind too much, gives me room to try something else). So I replaced it with Delphinium 'Morgentau' jpeg 10 Kb, I am still not sure if I like the coloring, it is a bit too....

Polemonium reptans 'Lambrook Mauve' jpeg 13 Kb gives me a lot of pleasure. I tried the common variety before, but it didn't come back. This one has lilac flowers on reddish stems, flowers quite a long time and seems to be very happy. Dead heading spent flowers prolongs the flowering period.
They make a nice combination with Dicentra eximia 'Alba' jpeg 21 Kb, a small white 'Bleeding heart' that flowers until September at least. It's fresh-green feathery leaves contrast nicely with the darker leaves of the Polemonium and the brown-red Heuchera.

I love Geraniums, Cranebills that is. There must be hundreds of varieties, one for every place. I have five different ones at the moment. The early flowering Ger. Phaeum, the 'Black Widdow' has very deep purple, almost black flowers on long stems. It does well in full shade, as does Ger. Nodosum jpeg 20 Kb. It can take sun also, as long as it isn't too dry. This is my favorite, it has nice glossy green leaves, doesn't grow very big and flowers from May till October. Like Phaeum, it seeds out easily, even in my small patch, so I always have seedlings to give away to friends. I have had two plants now for five years, never have to do anything with them, they just go on brightening up the garden.
Then there is Ger. himalayensis 'Gravetye' jpeg 18 Kb, it only flowers for a few weeks in June, but the clear blue flowers are very special. (Funny thing, most blue flowers come out purple on pictures, something to do with UV-light, I think) The flowers are about 5 cm and they contrast nicely with the soft colors from the other plants. Another one I had is Ger. endressii, masses of small pink flowers all through summer. But this is a fast grower, and I had to divide it almost twice a year. Furthermore the bright pink did not go very well with my rose 'Lady of the Dawn', so I replaced it with Ger. endressii 'Wargrave Pink'. This one doesn't grow so big and the flowers are more like salmon.
Last year I went on a Garden Tour in England, where we visited the garden of Margery Fish at Lambrook Manor. There speciality is geraniums; it was really difficult to make a choice, of course I had to buy some, even if I didn't know where to put them! So I bought two, one of which died, the other one 'Lambrook Gillian' is struggling to stay alive, nice soft pink flower though.

On that same trip I found a very special clematis, Clematis florida 'Sieboldii' jpeg 13 Kb, I had never seen it before. The flower is white with a deep purple heart from very small petals. It likes a south wall best, so I grow it in a big container. It survived the winter (hardly any frost this year) and had many beautiful flowers in June and July. I am not sure what the hot summer sun is doing to the roots, cannot very well keep them cool, but so far it looks ok.

In England small gardens don't seem to exist. What they call small, is at least 10 times as big as mine. So they have plenty of room to grow a lot of roses. I on the other hand am glad I have place for two. One I mentioned already, Lady of the Dawn jpeg 11 Kb; it is grafted on a stem, medium-sized salmon-pink flowers with a faint smell. And a bad case of blackspot! Every year it starts out very nice, but after some weeks there is hardly a healthy leaf left. Cannot seem to get rid of it, so now I just cut it back strongly, whenever a branch finishes flowering. The young leaves look fine now and new flowers are coming.
But although it has a lovely flower, I am thinking of replacing it for another stronger rose, because it probably needs more sun. But you should not plant a rose in a spot, where a rose has been, because of rose-eelworms. Or you have to replace the earth two feet deep, which is out of the question in my case. An alternative is to grow marigolds during one season, it seems that their roots attract the eelworms and kill them. I don't like their flowers in my garden, their color doesn't combine (even on this page they clash!), but it should also work if I cut out the flowerheads. Something to ponder about this winter...
I am very happy though with my other rose, a climber called Clair Matin jpeg 11 Kb. I planted it against the north-facing fence and it is doing great! I have to admit, not many flowers where the sun doesn't come, but it grows on top of the fence and now I am leading the longer branches over the window, where clematis montana jpeg 19 Kb used to be. The buds are almost red, but the flowers soft pink, and it has a lovely smell.
Right now I am trying to find a summer flowering clematis to lead through Clair Matin, I was thinking maybe of Clematis eriostemon jpeg 20 Kb, with darkblue bell-like flowers, but it may need more sun. Any suggestions?

Off and on during this tour I mentioned Heuchera micrantha 'Palace Purple' jpeg 16 Kb. If they told me, I could have only ten plants in my garden, this one would most definitely be amongst the chosen ones. It is such a nice plant all year around, but especially in summer when the dainty flower spikes show off perfectly against the brown-green leaves. You can put almost any plant next to it, and it will be enhancing their beauty. I love the combination with Fritillaria meleagris in the spring, Dicentra eximia and Polemonium reptans later on, and Astilbe jpeg 23 Kb towards the end of summer. The more sun the plant gets, the more the color of the leaves turns chocolate-brown. I must say that I rather like the greenish brown they become when only getting the afternoon sun.

The longer I garden (about six years ago I didn't know the difference between a rose and a hydrangea so to speak!), the more I am interested in leaf structure. Not only the flowers make a garden look nice, but even more the combination of leaves. Take hostas for example, their flowers are a bonus, but I have a Hosta undulata albomarginata jpeg 19 Kb in a container in full shade and after the first year it never flowered again. No reason at all to chuck it out, the leaves are so ornamental, and with their white border they brighten up this relatively dark patch. Recently I came upon a baby hosta called 'Dew Drop' jpeg 16 Kb and although it was really expensive ($12.-) I couldn't resist it. Its 5 cm small leaves are faintly blue with a small white border, it looks real cute! I am not the only one who likes hostas, for slugs and snails they are the main attraction in a garden. To prevent them from finishing of my baby in one night, I put some bark chips around it. Supposedly the slimy creatures don't like to crawl over the sharp edges, but I do see their trails on it. No holes yet, so I just keep my fingers crossed!

There was a time, at least here in Holland, when Hydrangeas were looked upon as plants good for a farm-garden, but you shouldn't put them in your own. Now it is very fashionable to have all the colors and varieties you can place. I had a dark pink one growing in a rather dark corner. Last year I replaced it for a white lacecap, Hydrangea 'Lanarth White' jpeg 19 Kb to brighten the shadows. The small fertile flowers are soft pink (blue in more acidic soil) and wreathed with white sterile ones. After a while they turn soft green and stay pretty for a long time.

I told you already about my Buddleia-tree jpeg 19 Kb. It is in full flower for some time now and really covered with butterflies. It is a very good year for butterflies and Belle, the cat is having the time of her life trying to catch them. Sometimes she does actually, if she eats them, I don't know....

A few plants, that are rather spectacular. Codonopsis clematidea jpeg 7 Kb has pale blue bell-shaped flowers, nothing special so to see. But take a look inside, then you see the yellow and brown coloring, which makes you want to plant it on the roof, so you can look up into it all the time! And this one, Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigra' jpeg 20 Kb, have you ever seen leaves thát black? And it stays like this all year around. Looks nice with the Campanula poscharskyana. Last but certainly not least, Oreganum rotundifolia 'Kent Beauty' jpeg 15 Kb, not very hardy, but such beautiful coloring! It smells nice too, like the common oregano, I wouldn't use it for cooking though.

There are more plants, I would like to put in the spotlights, but summer is almost gone. Summer flowers are finishing, leaves are turning yellow and red and slowly but surely we are going towards autumn.