July!

UG. It is a glorious summer day, the sun is shining and the plants are beginning to go crazy and get jungly yet here I am sitting inside feeling sorry for myself, a snotty ball of hay fever miserableness...ok this is worsened by having a boozy day yesterday, but still, its not fun!

 Anyway I have been doing lots of artistic things and will share some of my new paintings soon, I’ve also been doing some hypertufa sculpture which is very exciting, more on that to come too..

Day lilys....Not my usual cup of tea, but if you get the right colour they can be stunning. They are currently looking amazing by the Tetrapanax jungle. Being insect pollinarted they are also ok for hayfever

One piece of slight miserableness which lifted today was the bees.... they have not been my best friends recently as they tried to swarm, and then last week looked to be trying to swarm again, however giving them some more space and time for the new queen to settle in  seems to have worked and they seemed happy today. They are also beginning to start storing honey which is great news...

The bees are loving the opium poppies...these are all self sown and it is always a miracle that so many have survived the weeding. The garden is currently peppered with lots of different shades of red and plum and they are beautiful...the bees also love them in the morning with groups of them having a party in the flowers.

 

Mum was also instrumental in leading a slug Apocalypse earlier in the week and there are carcases everywhere so finally some of the dahlias have a chance...so, all in all the garden is looking great but getting bigger by the minute and needing sorting!

So on towards a gentle July garden meander.....

 

The Echiums which survived the winter are beginning to look rather large

The pond is looking rather full with the banana and Tetrapanax beginning to bulk out

This is the other side of the pond, the Ensete is still coming back to life, cannas and Ricinus beginning to shoot, Paulownia shooting

 A yucca looking Fab.u.lous

Eccremus.....Ive found this funny as they were very ropey from seed last year, however those that survived the winter are turning into major plants with stunning tropical blooms

Yes, I am still wandering around the garden gazing at the bamboo willing it to grow taller, thicker and stronger and here at the side it is suddenly looking dense

I am back to swooning as all of a sudden the Helianthus salicifolius is back to looking fab

I admired this Clematis from afar being put off by the name (Princess Diana). What would people think? I'm not that kind of boy... however I bit the bullet and this year is is looking proper....I actually think it fits well into the garden as the flowers look rather naturalistic and I welcome the bright colours

Things are still a little bare, although the Jerusalem artichoke forest is HUGE! the banana isn't quite in leaf..

The tropics are there....Canna musifolia behind a Digitalis parviflora? gingers behind, Ricius poised to pounce...

Paulownias growing by the minute

A Kangeroo apple with Persicaria Red Dragon which is probably in need of a haircut

And finally who can resist a palm with the light shining through it!