It’s easy to tell when August arrives in Cornwall – not just from the amount of cars on the roads and people on the beaches and in the villages – but the lanes and roadsides are a riot of colour from the orange Montbretia, blue Agapanthus, purple Butterfly bushes (Buddleja), tall white and purple Bear’s Breeches (Acanthus mollis), and of course the ubiquitous hydrangeas.

This week’s post is brief as I have been under the weather for a fortnight and getting out into the garden has been a struggle, not to mention using a computer. Luckily last week’s post had already been scheduled.

(1) Phlox paniculata ‘Twinkle Purple’ 

This is in the Bee and Butterfly bed along with #3 and this year is complemented by lots of the lovely blackcurrant coloured Allium drumsticks (Allium sphaerocephalon). I’m thinking of planting some of these in my new gravel garden.

(2) Tulbaghia violacea / Society Garlic has a mild garlic smell and can be used in cooking. Above upright clusters of narrow strap-shaped leaves stand bare stems carrying allium-like heads of soft lilac-mauve, fragrant, flowers throughout summer until autumn. Native to South Africa this can be used as a lovely edging to a border and in fact looks like a mini agapanthus.

(3) Lythrum salicaria ‘Blush’ is a tall plant with slender tapering spikes with small soft pink flowers. It is very attractive to butterflies and bees and likes moisture. I have several of these around the garden and they take up very little room.

(4) Eryngium. I thought I had removed this plant a couple of years ago, but obviously some of the root remained. This year it is a mass of ‘flowers’ and doesn’t seem to be quite as stinky as previously. I have even seen bees on it this year and the keen-eyed amongst you may spot one.

(5) Agapanthus. I bought a batch of bare-root agapanthus back in 2017 and basically shoved them into a few containers, this year as they had grown substantially I split them and planted them individually into pots. And several have sent up flower spikes in deep blue, pale blue and I think a white one is about to open. I was also excited to see my beautiful Agapanthus ‘Silver Moon’ with variegated leaves send up two spikes this year after four years of no flowers at all.

(6) Olearia hastii is an evergreen shrub smothered with clusters of white, daisy-like flowers with yellow centres. A tough hedging plant which is one of the few flowering species suitable for coastal positions and very windy sites, all it needs is sun and in August it comes into full flower.

This is planted next to my large flat rock and where I have my succulents this year. Aeonium Zwartkop looks quite lovely as a contrast to the green and white. I was a bit worried about this one as when I put it out the flower heads were very flat, but now they have opened  into the normal glossy purple-black rosettes.

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.

Six on Saturday