Six on Saturday 18/07/20

Don’t the weeds grow fast at this time of year? I try to cover as much of the soil as I can but it doesn’t always work. Mind you, a lot of the ‘weeds’ are Forget-Me-Nots and Verbena bonariensis (apologies to our host for complaining). I’ve carried out a severe cull this week. In last weeks Six I showed you as far as the second arch so this week I’ll take you through the arch to the main part of the garden, it even has some grass!

I love all sorts of plants but I really love herbaceous perennials. This border has quite a lot of bulbs in for early interest and also some Hellebores. There are a few shrubs but it’s mostly herbaceous plants.

1. Through the arch and to the left. This part of the border runs alongside the glasshouse and faces north. The Amelanchier makes it a very dry area.

The main part of the border faces South. This part of the garden is actually in front of the house and there used to be a Leylandii hedge. It was kept to about seven/eight feet tall and lasted for about thirty years. It started to gradually die back and we removed it four years ago and replaced it with Beech. We live in a cul-de-sac so it’s quiet anyway but the new hedge is growing well (and needs a cut) and the garden is becoming private again. Hooray!!!

This part of the border is backed by a mixed hedge running along the drive. It seemed a good idea when I planted it but is quite hard to manage as the shrubs need pruning at different times of the year. I’m considering replacing it with Beech but that would mean several more years with the garden being exposed. This is a very dry part of the border.

2. Now for some plants. Kniphofia ‘Timothy’ is glowing in the border at the moment. When I’m on a slug and snail hunt this is the first plant that I check.

3. Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’ (I think) is a lovely plant – hardy, tall, long flowering season, a magnet for bees etc and SnS don’t bother with it. However, all is not perfect this year as it has been affected by fasciation. A couple of stems are badly affected and most of the rest have a bit of fasciation at the tips of the flower spikes.

4. Many years ago I grew a golden hop over one of the arches. It didn’t produce flowers and was eventually removed to make way for another plant, (the trouble with a small garden ). A few years ago I bought a dwarf version to grow through a Clematis (‘Etoile Violette’ I think but the label has been lost somewhere along the line) on an obelisk in the border. This is NOT a dwarf hop! I’ve dug out some of the root, cut some shoots back and still it grows. I like the combination though and I get the hops.

5. This Aster always flowers early and continues to do so for weeks and weeks. It’s slightly past it’s peak but had to wait until I reached this border on my tour.

6. Last one for this week is Francoa sonchifolia. The flowering stems have been blown around a lot with the recent high winds. Such a pretty flower when you look a bit closer.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this weeks tour, thanks for reading. There’s just the front garden left for me to show you next week. It won’t take long.

Wishing you a great weekend, I’ll be staying safe in my garden (best place to be!) and wondering how I can fit all the wonderful plants I see in other Sixers gardens courtesy of our host at Six HQ

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