My Garden In Mid Summer
When our garden was originally planted by a previous owner, it was done with so much thought and planning. I find it so clever how there is a real progression of what blooms and when, and even what colours emerge around the boarders. We’ve tried to keep to these patterns with the new additions we’ve planted, and when the sun is out, and flowers are all blooming, it’s a truly beautiful sight.
Summer in my garden see’s the colours shift from yellows to more pinks and purples.
The hypericum (pictured above) which brought most of the yellow colour in spring has berries that turn a gorgeous salmon pink colour in summer, I absolutely adore this change and makes it such an interesting plant to have in a garden. My sister had the berries in her wedding bouquet, so these will always be special to me.
We are lucky to have an abundance of hydrangea bushes around the garden too. When they are in full bloom they create there own little flower wall, and the colours fade from blue to pink on this one below.
Hydrangeas are perfect as a dried flower too - in face I wanted blue ones in my wedding bouquet but they were totally out of season so we dried them and they turned a beautiful duck egg blue.
For the first year our main hydrangea bush hasn’t bloomed at all. There was a long harsh and very late frost that killed all the buds that it had, and it’s stayed blind and small, but thankfully hasn’t died completely. I would never have thought to protect it as it’s a well established bush. I’m just hoping the next winter isn’t as long and the blooms will be bigger than ever next summer.
In keeping with the purples we added some gorgeous English Lavender which bursts into life and colour in the middle of summer. It smells fantastic (fresh or dried), and attracts the bees too. It’s lasted a few years now and loves the sunny spot it’s in.
The hebe also fits in the purple colour scheme, first coming out in the deep colours, then fading into a white and pale purple flower. We have one out the front of our house, and one I planted in a shady spot that seems to be thriving just as well. They are great for bees, and are evergreen so perfect for coverage and colour all year round.
Our purple rhododendron really steals the show with it’s bright bold blooms. It starts flowering early summer and sticks around well into June. It’s a really low maintenance shrub that has a big impact with it’s colour and size, so if you are looking for something dramatic but easy to keep, then you can’t go wrong with a rhododendron of any colour.
We removed a really spikey aggressive bush from one of our boarders which opened up a huge amount of space to play with. For the past two years I had an array of digitalis there but a lot of them died in the last winter. I planted a new one called Fire Bird, and this gorgeous blue delphinium which provides height as well as complements the hydrangea it’s next to.
Where do I start with the roses? We inherited a few roses with the garden, and some we have been given since we moved in. We moved some of the existing ones and replanted them in the boarders, I had no idea if they would survive such a change and chop but they’ve come back thriving. It’s safe to say roses are pretty hardy!
I wish I knew the exact names for them, all I know is that we have two Alexander rose plants, one rambling Trumpeter rose, and a Sweet Memories rose. Each flower is so bold in colour and sweet in smell - I find it hard not to love a rose.
I always forget that the hosta flowers! It’s leaves are variegated and stunning, in fact seeing water droplets on them after a summer shower is mesmerising. But we must remember the flowers! Another purpley white addition, they don’t flower for long, but they are pretty - like a summer snow drop.
