And on day lilies, salvia, hypericum berries…
This morning I finished the tasks from yesterday that got put off because of the rain – mainly planting the aquilegia and geum, but there was a little bit of deadheading I missed too. There’s a lot of weeding to be done still but I got some of the worst ones; the rest will just have to wait till next weekend. The aquilegia is a McKana hybrid so should produce large flowers and the colours are pretty much pot luck from what I can gather. The geum is a yellow variety, Lady Stratheden, and I’ve put it near the last surviving Mrs Bradshaw.
Taking advantage of it not raining for a while, I also had a wander round with the camera (and used the macro converter a few times too).
In the back garden, the small hydrangea is doing very well this year:
And in one of the new bits of flower bed, we’ve got a happy fuschia, as well as annuals (clary and rudbeckia) and the larger hydrangea and sambucca that I moved when we extended the bed (the sambucca is just peeping into the bottom right corner).
More annual rudbeckias, on the opposite side of the path:
And a wider shot looking up the garden. It barely looks like a new flower bed any more.
Close-ups time!
The new hardy rudbeckia, a lovely striking burnt orange.
Hypericum berries after rain…
Apples – another small crop this year but the tree is still small. Still happy that we get a few!
Penstemon “Bodnant” has been lovely. “Flamingo” has flowered well too. “Sour Grapes” has yet to flower so I hope it’s ok.
Blackberries! We will be able to have apple and blackberry crumble.
And in extreme close-up.
Verbena bonariensis.
And yarrow (Achillea) in white and pink. The white has self-seeded.
Meanwhile at the front…
The pelargoniums are looking good and I’m glad I went with just red and white this year.
The monarda, which I’ve never grown before, seem to be settling in well.
Some of the astilbes have suffered despite a promising start, but this one is flowering:
The day lilies survived being split and have been flowering happily.
And Salvia “Hot Lips”… well, what can I say?
What you don’t see on that photo is that it’s fill of honey bees. I tried getting photos but they were shy.
Lots of hoverflies too, which is always good as they eat aphids.
I also had a go with the macro converter:
And finally, the rose I promised you at the beginning:
The Random Gardener 