An unlikely star of the garden show

It's Ground Hog Day again. Yes, here's the garden in July.....an annual post!

My little garden will not win favour with those who think we should be painting with flowers and making garden creation an art form.  No, it's crammed full of plants that I love and it's not making any particular statements. I just do the best I can with a clay soil and a north facing plot  (which fortunately gets a few hours of sunshine a day).  The colour palette is primarily pink and white with a few red highlights.

This year's hits are the hollyhocks, seen on the left, by the fence, which started life being so badly mauled by snails I didn't think they would have a chance. They don't look like the usual hollyhocks but have fluffy pink balls of flower, like rosettes.

The unlikely star of the garden is erigeron karvinskianus, a tumbling daisy, part of the aster family, which is pink and white and also grows well in crevices.  I love the way it spills over my sleepers, softening the edges.

I am thrilled that a couple of tender trailing fuchsias from last year lived through the winter and are blooming again.

I have a few delights to follow in late summer:  gladioli, nerines and monarda, all for the first time.

And next week I have a day off work to visit the Hampton Court flower show. This will partly make up for the disappointment of missing Chelsea, when I had to spend the day in bed with food poisoning from oysters.

Erigeron

Salvia Hot Lips

The garden in July

I'm horrified to see that my last post was as long ago as May, and then it was "The garden in May." Now I am back with "The garden in July."

I am very pleased with it this year; the raised bed border has certainly bushed out. No gaps now!

New this year were sweet peas, scrambling up an obelisk;  (still to flower); a jasmine; two more salvias to attract bees, and various additions including dianthus Doris, fuchsia Display, dahlias, love-in-the-mist and amberboa Sweet Sultan.

The raised bed border is mostly pink and mauve with touches of white.

Meanwhile my hot border, on the other side of the garden, has been a bit of a let down so far. I have fewer nasturtiums and cosmos Bright Lights died. Three salvia Hot Lips have gone completely crazy though.

Garden Progress

The garden is making good progress. The borders have now been planted. The extra light bestowed by removing Leylandii trees has given a new lease of life to the hawthorn and clematis Montana Rubens, which were both magnificent a couple of weeks ago.  My blackcurrants are thriving so I am hopeful for berries this year.

I've chosen mostly perennials and shrubs for the main border, adding some different textures with hosta white feather and a couple of ferns. I'll fill in the gaps with cosmos  (being grown from my Mum's seeds), nicotiana nd penstemons. I went in search of penstemons and salvia hot lips at the weekend but could only find one penstemon. Hot Lips arrives later in June I was told.

Clematis Dr Ruppel

The smaller border

L to R: part of the large border: lupin, honeysuckle Serotina, fuchsia, viburnum, hosta White Feather

The cherry tree (needs re-siting in the autumn, too close to the wall)

Blackcurrants

In the smaller border last year's nasturtiums have re-seeded themselves, which ruined my colour scheme somewhat (it was going to be restful white, pink and purple) but I've now turned that border into a "jewel garden". There are dahlias, which are still not showing yet; lavender, John's favourite; lime green nicotiana and a red penstemon.