I’ve looked at whites and pinks recently so I thought I would end the month with the colour I am least fond of in the summer garden – yellow. I also have orange and peach which I do like. These pops of colour contrast nicely with all the blues and purples I have around.

Calendula

Two types in the herb raised bed. I once had ‘Indian Prince’ which I love, but that hasn’t appeared this year. I don’t know what the all orange one is, but the one with the dark centre is called Calendula ‘Nova’ and is very pretty with vibrant orange petals. Hopefully they will both self-seed so that I have some next year.

Californian Poppies in orange

These are from last year’s sowing in the zinc container.

Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’ is such a gorgeous rich sunshiny buttery colour when it first opens, then it gradually fades to pale lemon. The blooms don’t last for long and this year I haven’t had very many. I think the problem here is that other taller perennials are blocking out the sun.

Another bright spark is this yellow loosestrife / Lysimachia vulgaris which spreads by rhizomes. Fortunately it is in my woodland border and quite restrained by the wall.

On the opposite side of the garden are several clematis. My only yellow one is Clematis ‘Lambton Park’ which loves to be in full sun and supposedly has a coconut fragrance. I can’t get close enough to find out and I also suspect that my neighbour has more of the flowers than I do! The bright yellow nodding lantern-shaped flowers are followed by beautiful silky seed-heads.

The final example is one of those plants that I have no idea why I bought it as I am not really fond of them. Let me introduce a red-hot poker / Kniphofia ‘‘Drunmore Apricot’ though it looks very yellow to me. My only excuse is that I thought it would look good in this gravel area around my large flat rock among the grasses.

And as a bonus this week, a photo of a dragonfly which found it’s way into my conservatory and had difficulty finding its way out again, until I had the brainwave of holding out a broom handle to which it clung to so I could safely take it outside where it rested a while before flying off.

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