Another week, another month. June heralds the beginning of the Northern hemisphere summer and yet there are only 21 days left before we reach the longest day! Too soon, I hear you cry. How is it that the winter months drag and yet the lighter days speed by? The warmer weather this week (not every day) has enabled me to get out and do some more work in the garden. One of my sons is visiting so he has been helping me with the Cornish hedge and we have sifted through a heap of compost and dug up a ton of bindweed (leaving a ton behind I’m sure) and managed to create a new bed in the ‘Wild Garden’ which is not so wild now. My thinking is two lovely climbing roses, but I need to check wind durability. Any suggestions?
- Dianthus ‘Mrs Sinkins’ (a classic old English garden Pink) These fragrant, shaggy, white flowers were in the garden when I moved here. Last year they suffered from the cold, but this year they are blooming well. Mrs Sinkins is an old-fashioned pink with a strong, rich, clove scent. As you enter the garden the air is perfumed by these flowers. I know you can cut them for a vase, but I rarely do. I might this year though to see if that encourages more flowers.
- Calendula officianalis ‘Indian Prince’ (Marigold). These were planted in the raised vegetable bed last year, but only a couple flowered. This year they are magnificent. Mixing with the lime green Euphorbia they make a striking pair. This marigold has orange daisy-style flowerheads, tinted reddish-brown on the petals which matches the darker centre of the flower.
Calendula ‘Indian Prince’
Calendula ‘Indian Prince’
Calendula ‘Indian Prince’ - Clematis ‘Marjorie’ – at least I think this is what it is having seen it on the Prop’s own post a couple of weeks ago and another SoS blog. She is the world’s first double flowering Clematis Montana, known as the ‘Mile a Minute’ Clematis. The two-toned coppery-pink flowers needs full sun to bring out the colours. Mine grows on the fence in the Woodland Border and faces north, but does receive full sunshine from mid-afternoon. It is a very old clematis and very unruly. I might bite the bullet and chop it right down after she finishes flowering this year.
- Roses. Last year I featured my white unknown roses and said I might remove them as they flower right at the top of the shrub/climber. I didn’t get around to cutting them back so they have had a stay of execution. I noticed today that they do actually have a faint lemon fragrance and in bud they have a pale pink tinge.
This one is known. Gertrude Jekyll, a shrub rose from David Austin. I am trying to grow her up a trellis to hide the fence along the sunny border. She has several flowers this year, but they don’t seem to last very long. Mindst you, it has been extremely windy here this week. I love this rose. The tightly scrolled buds open to large, rosette-shaped flowers and the scent is very much Old Rose.
- Another scented flower in the garden is this unusual Buddleia alternifolia (‘The Weeping Butterfly Bush’ ). Featured last year, this year it has a lot more flowers. I still need to get it into a weeping shape, but that is proving difficult. Flowers form on the previous years wood so I need to cut it after it finishes flowering. I have yet to see any butterflies on it.
- More scented flowers, this time the biennial flower, Dianthus barbatus (Sweet Willam) another member of the carnation family. I bought these from a garden centre last autumn and used them as pot toppers in my tulip pots. Of course the tulips have long finished, but at least these flowers hide the ugly dying foliage. They come in all sorts of bright colours and are as their name suggests, lightly fragrant.
Sweet William
Sweet William Sweet William
I am having to water the garden regularly as we haven’t had much rain. Mist and mizzle, yes, but barely wetting the ground and I have new plants that I don’t want to lose. I have already lost two Penstemons, a Monarda and a Chocolate Cosmos from the ‘Bee and Butterfly’ bed that I planted in the autumn. They just never reappeared in the spring. Rain is forecast from tomorrow so my watering may be over, but so will my walks on the beach 😦
As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to our host, the lovely Jon, AKA ‘The Propagator’ where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world
See here for the participant’s guide.
Cornwall in Colours 
Gertrude Jekyl has been on my radar along time. The weather is rubbish isn’t it….I was working in Glasgow on Friday and looked at the 10 day forecast and there was rain every day!
You’ve got some lovely things growing – the various dianthus, the clematis & rose. I love the colours you’ve chosen. I’ve lived w/2 separate weeping budds & trained both over trellises. They grew like crazy things so gave plenty of flexibility in terms of shaping & still having plenty of flowers the next year – in fact, they were hard to keep up with. Sounds like yours is being slightly oppositional.
The Buddleia alternifolia is new to me and the Clematis ‘Marjorie’ is fantastic. Both are things for me to keep an eye out for. Thanks for those photos.