After a cold and wet start to summer this week has by contrast been warm and dry – in some parts of the country even hot, but Cornwall doesn’t really do hot, though in this clear and unpolluted region even 19°C feels hot enough for me. I thought that this week I’d have a wander around the garden and see what appealed to me, not necessarily individual plants, but the way the garden is looking. Foxgloves, lupins and alliums are all reaching the end of their time, but there is much to be loved even in their decline.
First off though are Ox-eye daisies / Leucanthemum vulgare. The header shows how they have begun to colonise the wild garden – they started off from a packet of mixed wild flower seeds that I scattered over my Cornish hedge in 2019. Now you can barely see the actual ‘hedge’.
And this is a ‘small’ clump that I allowed to grow in my Gravel garden. They will have to be cut down before long, but I am impressed how well they grow considering a 2L pot of Leucanthemum × superbum / Shasta daisies only lasted one season!
BTW a question for those of you who grow Thalictrum – once it has finished flowering do you cut it down, or leave it until the autumn?
We’ll head to the woodland border which runs along the left of my garden from the house, it is now looking pretty with ferns and hardy geraniums. I just leave them to do their thing, though the geraniums can get out of hand and require being cut back by the end of July.
And at the back of the garden we find the herb bed where the wonderful flat-leaved parsley which has been used over the last year has now run to seed. It looks so beautiful though that I can’t bear to pull it out yet, and hopefully it will self-seed to provide me with new plants.
Here you’ll find the lupins
And Scabious ‘Blue Butterfly’ creating a pretty toned background to a self-seeded foxglove which is growing in the shale path, both contrasting well with the Golden Marjoram in the herb bed.
From this position I can see the new leaves of the Himalayan honeysuckle ‘Golden Lanterns’ / Leycesteria formosa, the pheasant berry, or flowering nutmeg which will soon form pendulous racemes of white flowers with showy red-purple bracts.
The dry weather has enabled me to repaint the exterior cill of the conservatory which was showing signs of water damage and finally get the summer plants into pots. Lots more to do as in it’s 5th year the garden is now becoming mature and some things need to be cut back/down/removed. I’m hoping for a good dry spell to get things done.
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 
Your parsley is sure to self seed, as mine has done- copiously. The borders in your garden are delightful, Jude. I don’t grow Thalictrum, but I think I have admired yours before.
Lovely photos, I especially like the calendula/parsley shot. Ox-eye daisies are a favourite of mine, so fresh and clean looking. Not heard the leycesteria called flowering nutmeg before, it is a good name.
The daisies are practically horizontal now after this morning’s rain!
Nice lot of rain though, I expect you had similar to us. They will soon pop back up.
I always enjoy my Saturday visits to your garden and today’s hasn’t disappointed. I especially love your wild garden!
Totally flattened now from this mornings rain!
Hopefully it will bounce back! Do send some rain our way – our garden is parched and we’ve only had a few drops.
I’d happily send you some – would you like the wind too? 🙄
No thanks, you can keep that!
Haha!
I love all the color in your garden! I also like that your parsley goes to seed – is it a biennial? If so, must be too darn cold in my winter to allow for reseeding of parsley.
I think they are annuals, but mine do seem to over winter quite well for one year as long as I cut off any flowers.
I almost feel cooler looking at all your lovely flowers, Jude, although that’s difficult when it’s 90 at 7:30 am. 😦 But my visits to your garden always make me happy and are a lovely enhancement to my Saturday mornings. I grew parsley this year but given how dry and hot things are here, I doubt it will do anything more than just wither, especially as I won’t be watering it anymore. Thanks for the wander and enjoy the weekend.
it’s wet and windy today Janet so I am stating indoors and watching the tennis in between blogging! I love growing both parsley and mint and use copious amounts during the summer months.
It’s like a wild flower garden, I love it.
Thank you 😊
Interesting parsley flowers. I haven’t been successful germinating parsley for years, maybe I will do my usual trick of buying a supermarket one but let it go to seed. We had a lot of rain earlier today too, thank goodness.
I have also used supermarket parsley, but the most successful plants have been those that self-seeded.
That picture of parsley flowers and calendula is especially pretty, Jude, and the ox-eye daisies make a real splash throughout the garden
These are really lovely photos, Jude! I love the stepping stones one, the harts tongue fern and the last one. The colours blend so beautifully. Don’t the seasons move on quickly?
All too quickly for my liking Jo. I am looking forward to the next three months, but I know I shall have lots of work in the garden to keep things under control. Wild weather today, even thunder and lightning! But an amazing sunset to end the day.
Oh your garden is looking beautiful. I too have let the ox eyed daisy seed all over too. It likes the gravelly paths around the house
It has certainly made itself at home in my gravel area!