It’s time I got my finger out. I have a camera full of images of my garden, and an inbox full of images from my students, but real life has got in the way. See the picture? It’s the lovely Flaming June by Lord Frederic Leighton. And that’s what this June has been. Flaming. They’re talking about hosepipe bans now. Some parts of the lawn crackle when you walk on them, like walking on a packet of crisps. I can’t keep up with the watering. I have too many plants in pots that are shrivelling and baking. And I hate the heat. I’m done-for before I get up!
Anyway, enough snivelling. Here are some images from my students. I hope you enjoy them. And I’ll come and see what you’ve all been up to.
1 Sweet Peas
This gardener has taken on a couple of allotments, and this is her first vase of sweet peas, in what looks like a classy allotment shed. I can smell them from here…
2 This is also from a gardener away from home. It’s Veratrum nigrum, not often seen, at Wentworth Woodhouse, where the gardens are being remade. This is clearly one plant that’s staying.
3 From the same gardener, again away from home, is this image from Lea Gardens, always worth a visit, and especially at rhododendron time.
4 From another gardener is this lovely miniature hosta, ‘Teaspoon’. Had the breeder been watching ‘The Matrix’, I wonder? There is no spoon…
5 From the same gardener, here’s Digitalis parviflora ‘Milk Chocolate’, with Trollius chinensis ‘Golden Queen’ behind.
6 And also this Lilium martagon var. album, in front of that lovely thornless climbing rose, ‘Zephirine Drouhin’. Doesn’t that rose foliage look really healthy?
And that’s it for tonight. The heat has done for me. I want to go somewhere nice and temperate. Antarctica? Falkland Islands? Winterfell?
This little meme was started by https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/
I blame him! Go visit, and be inspired.
The Pleasure Gardener 
A lovely six. The tree in the photo of Lea Gardens is a most beautiful and desirable shape. And the sweet peas- gorgeous old-fashioned colours.
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Thank you! I’ll pass that on.
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I agree! I wonder if the tiered effect is a natural growth pattern or the result of masterly pruning. I wish I had those pruning skills!
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I wasn’t there, but I believe the tree is Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’, the Wedding Cake Tree. It naturally grows in tiers, and I don’t think that much pruning is required to keep that shape. Pruning skills, ladders, scaffolding and tape measures not required… :~))
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Sweet peas?! Ours dried up and blew away quite a while ago!
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Oh, heck! Mind you, ours will be following before long, if this weather doesn’t break soon. May was the hottest on record, and June is looking to be the same. I know you get this all the time, but here, we’re more used to, um, soggy weather! At best, the British summer follows the pattern of three fine days and a thunderstorm. Yesterday was, I think, hotter than Florida. I’m fed up with it now…
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Well, Florida would be icky. It is so humid there. However, their sweet-peas last longer.
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Oh, Veratrum nigrum. I have had a plant for decades, I grew it from seed. It flowered once, a few years ago. Slugs just love it too much, but have never finished it off. I can’t bring myself to get rid of it because a good one is such a fabulous thing.
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Hi Jim. We all do that, don’t we? Can’t bear to throw out the motheaten/dessicated/sulking specimen because of what we know they could be… :~)) I wish your Veratrum a speedy reflowering!
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Really like that veratrum nigrum. So stately. Also like the combo of foxglove & trollius, which is another new face for me. Loved them all, but those 2 photos struck me hard. In a good way!
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Thank you, Lora! I’ll pass that on.
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