Midsummer Garden

June and Midsummer's Day has passed and now we've reached July. I always think that June and July are spectacular months in the garden - a culmination of all that you wait for during those dark months of winter. 

There are so many plants blooming and flowering that it's difficult to be able to give each one the appreciation they deserve, but here are few of my favourities from the garden this June. 

Delphiniums and foxgloves amongst the wallflowers

Pots of wallflowers, cotton lavenders and begonias

Shades of poppies amongst verbena, daisies and irises

Lupin time

Perlargoniums and begonia pots

A summer favourite - sweet peas

Nothing like picking your own raspberries

The sweet smell of a summer honeysuckle

Campions and lavenders

Salvias in different varieties 

Summer isn't complete without the heady scent of roses

Hebe foaming on the rockery

Bees and bright cotton lavenders

August Garden

We've been lucky this summer to enjoy so much sunshine and it's been a real pleasure to be able to spend so many days and evenings purely enjoying the garden. 

The lavenders have been in full bloom, full of bees and butterflies and their perfume strong in the balmy heat. Hebes have looked gorgeous in their calming pastel shades of pink, blue and purple. I always love the hydrangeas at this time of year, persistantly giving us a show of large colourful flowerheads in dazzling pinks, blues, purples and softer whites and knowing they will bloom through until autumn. 

The gentle pinks of daphne and the vibrant purple of the tall verbenas wafting in the summer breeze are also a delight that carry us on through those early autumn months. The roses are enjoying continuously flowering, many of them giving a second late summer flush. 

My absolute favourite has to be the crocosia with its bright flame orange flowers. It always brings the garden back to life in late summer, lighting it with dazzling colour, refecting the subtle change of the seasons as high summer seemlessly runs to late summer and then the months of early autumn. The vivid orange of the flowers is like a beacon signalling the intense heat of August, but also preparing us for the russets, golds and red shades of autumn. 

There's something quite special about picking your own flowers for inside the house at this time of year too ...

Summer Pots and Baskets

I'm a great collector of pots and baskets.

Diasca flowering again from last summer after our mild winter

In fact I know I have far too many, but they're the things that can give that finishing touch to the garden. I'm not a tidy gardener, I like pots strewn around everywhere, brimming with colourful plants and flowers. 

Hot red perlargiums in terracotta pots conjures up happy holidays on the Mediterranean

A mismatch of alpines and cuttings, brightening a dull corner

In the summer months, it's those annual plants that continue flowering from May until the frosts of Autumn that sustain interest as other perennial plants come and go. 

Baskets hang off the pergola and pink roses ramble up to meet them

Fuscia, perlargiums in pots, but mingling with the hebe in the border

A little place for birds to feed amongst the cosmos, as well as a present from a friend

I like them surrounding my front door with pots, making a small pathway to the house, a warm and happy welcome to visitors and a welcoming, cheerful sight when we arrive back home each time. 

Another basket - beautiful wrought iron in the shape of a heart - packed with summer colour. Another special gift from a friend 

When it's suddenly a hot summers day, it's the assortment of pots and colourful bright flowers that surround the sitting and eating areas which are such a delight -  they help to create a small refuge to relax in. And then there's nothing more calming than to potter with a watering can after a baking day, listening to the sounds of the evening. 

When it's cooler or wet, the pots and baskets are beautiful to look out on, especially from the conservatory, which feels halfway to being in the garden anyway despite the weather. I place them in deliberate places so I can glimpse them through windows and doors. 

I love perlargiums in pinks and reds and a mix of begonias in a variety of colours - I find these give strong colour all summer long and stay in good shape through to the first frosts. They seem to thrive easily either in the full sun or the dappled shade. Some other favourites are petunias and cosmos. 

I've had many pots and baskets given as presents and brought every pot I've ever owned with me from every house we've lived in. They are reminders of special people and special friends. They spill with plants from all our old gardens. 

Blue campanula spilling and rambling aside the bronze of a yucca - I brought the campanula from one of my mum's gardens and it's thrived in every garden I've owned since! 

I think it's all these reasons why I'm an avid collector and love to surround myself with colourful, vibrant pots. Of course, summer always ends, but then it's a great opportunity to prepare the pots and baskets full of hardy winter plants, revamp and change the whole look and bring them even more closer to the house so they can be enjoyed for the winter. 

A trail of pots by the door

July in the Garden

July is pretty spectacular in the garden this year. I've been really pleased with the new planting in the front garden where we had a big overgrown tree chopped down earlier in the year. We deliberately tried to choose plants that would come at their best during June and July and be a magnet for the butterflies and bees. We picked various colours of blue, lilacs, purples with a few pink and white plant varieties too. 

The weather conditions during the last year have been good for breeding butterflies and we seem to have literally created our very own butterfly garden, so I've been delighted. Planting out new plants and just seeing how they turn out and what unfolds can be so rewarding! 

Varying heights of purple wallflowers and different varieties of lavender. 

Butterfly enjoying the blue catmint. All the blue and purple plants have been covered in butterflies. Every time we come out of the house and walk past this area we are treated to dozens of butterflies fluttering up from the plants. It has been fascinating, you find yourself stopping and staring, it's not so good if you are in a rush! 

Enjoying some verbena, which is now out in full. 

Delphiniums are out at the back of the borders. 

Wallflowers, lobelia and geraniums make a good combination by the back patio. 

The water lilies are just beginning to flower now, the pond is full of their leaves and blooms. 

Bright pink carnations make a great colour combination with the bronze leaves and pink flowers of the heuchera. 

Sidalcea malviflora flowering in the back border. 

The tomatoe baskets are full of fruit and are ripening nice and early with all the hot sunshine we've been having. 

There are still plenty of foxgloves blooming and popping up in all different places. I love the colour combinations of this one. 

I've made a few pots full of wildflowers planted from seed and they are looking great at the moment, full of vibrant colours. Cornflowers are one of my favourites, I love this shade of blue. 

We have quite a few hebe plants flowering in pinks, blues and purples, another good one for the butterflies! 

There are lots of these little froglets around. We have to look out for them jumping into the house. The pond is full of frogs, when we have the heavy showers we've had recently they all seem to come out of the pond and jump across the garden. It's a mass exodus of frogs and quite entertaining and funny to watch!