Green Girl Gardener

1st June! Does that mean it’s officially Summer? It feels like it today and we’re off to my Dad and C’s this afternoon which, if the weather holds, means we can sit in their beautiful garden and get some tips.

Right, this needs to be a speedy six today because I’m writing it in the hairdressers whilst my hair ‘cooks’ and then I’ll be busy for the rest of the day.

1. Roses.

The top picture is ‘Hot Chocolate’ and was a house warming present five years ago from my Mum. It lives in the shade, but seems perfectly happy and flowers every year.

The middle two were from a sale table last year and I watered them religiously while they were establishing and I’m so happy they made it through the hot Summer. One of them was called ‘Teen Spirit’ but I can’t remember the other. They could do with a prune to retain their champagne glass shape but I’m not chopping all those buds and flowers off .

The bottom one has just appeared in our rather unruly front garden. I don’t remember it in previous years. It looks somewhat Camellia-like (and is actually underneath our Camellia) but it’s definitely a Rose. I should’ve included some foliage to prove it.

2. Peonies

We inherited these Peonies and they are absolutely beautiful. I’ll definitely include them in a future six once they’ve bloomed. It’s a shame they’re so short-lived. I should really stake them too because it only takes one heavy fall of rain and they flop! As you can see, they’re not far off revealing the gorgeousness inside.

3. Summer Bulbs

A couple of months ago I planted about twenty summer bulbs …. and then promptly forgot what I’d planted and where! D’oh! These two above are now emerging, but I’ve no idea what they are. There’s various leaves appearing around the garden that may or may not be other summer bulbs! While it makes it difficult to know where I can plant my new planty acquisitions because of the unknown bulb location, it is quite exciting wondering what’s going to appear.

4. Funky Veg

These are the successes from my Funky Veg kit. Two Purple Carrot plants, which I’ve been advised to plant on keeping them in the cardboard pot, two Stripy Tomato plants which seem to be doing well. Not sure how big they need to be before I can plant them on and the Yellow Courgettes. These were very successful. I’ve gifted three plants and have another one to give away shortly and I’m keeping two for us. I bought new pots for them this week so I’ll plant them on tomorrow.

5. Diascia Cherry Blossom

I’ve been wondering what to do with this for a few weeks now. It was new last year so I wasn’t quite sure how it would cope with the Winter and how to care for it. You can see in the first pic that it’s got quite quite leggy but is well and truly still alive. The second pic shows some tiny new life appearing, so, I’ve decided that the best course of action is the Chelsea Chop on the rest of it. I’ll do that tomorrow.

6. Another Mystery Plant

I wondered whether this was a Foxglove but now it’s started to develop a bud which doesn’t look very Digitalis to me (although I may be wrong). It could also be Dock because we do have lots of nettles (although not near here) but I’m not sure if Dock flowers. Or is it some sort of Primrose? I really don’t know but it’s not unattractive and is taking up space which otherwise could be filled with unwanted weedery, so I’ve left it and will eagerly await the bloom to try to identify it (unless anyone can do so already).

So there are my six. It was hard to narrow down. I could’ve talked Geums or Lilies or Euphorbia or any other number of garden wonders, but in the end I plumped for these and hope it makes for an interesting read.

I’m about to set off for Worcester now to deliver a special package to a special person who is having a round number birthday on Tuesday – keep your fingers crossed for light traffic.

Enjoy your weekends – TTFN.