The weather over the last two months has been extremely variable, ranging from extreme heat to severe thunderstorms and downpours. It has on occasion also been unseasonably chilly too. The plants seem to have survived the weather, although not so much the onslaught of slugs, snails and cats for some of them. The Nerines have not reappeared, the French beans, parsley, tomatillos, perennial cornflower, Echinacea and sunflowers were munched to oblivion, as was the flower stalk of Eryngium agavifolium.
On the plus side, plenty of plants survived and the garden looks lovely! I decided to keep the centre of the lawn longer to allow the wildflowers to blossom, and was rewarded with a tiny meadow of cats ears, self-heal, white clover, buttercups, daisies and dandelions. Not sure what the neighbours thought, but the insects were happy. The list of flowers by the end of July was exceeding 60, and the garden buzzed with hoverflies, several species of bees and bumblebees, flies, aphids, wasps, beetles and ladybirds (I know they are also beetles!).
The weather encouraged everything to grow well, including the blessed bindweed so I have been continually uprooting that. Not that that makes the slightest bit of difference. Good job the flowers are pretty.
My nephew came over for a day and built me an amazing bench out of an old bedframe and random bits of wood from around the place; we had a lovely time building it, but sadly the weather didn't agree with indoor wood, and the whole thing fell apart after a few weeks. It was comfy while it lasted!
I have given up on growing vegetables as everything I tried to grow this year, except the broad beans, has been annihilated by the slugs and snails. I will keep the soft fruit as the wineberry has had lots of fruit, the blackberry is laden and the tomatoes are OK, but everything else will be shop bought. The herbs are doing really well and I have more oregano than I know what to do with.
Flowering plants:
Common Daisy Dandelion Columbine Herb Robert
Forget-me-not Hardy geranium Bidens Euphorbia
Broad Beans Purple Allium Nectoscordum Chives
Rosemary Climbing rose Foxglove Red Verbena
Buttercups Sisyrinchium Sweet William Pink deadnettle
Swiss Chard Hellebore Penstemon (red) Penstemon (purple)
Sedum Ivy Broomrape (42 stems!) Creeping Jenny
Japanese Wineberry White Clover Nasturtium Lavender 'Munstead'
Libertia grandiflora Campanula Helenium Achillea 'Cerise Queen'
Purple toadflax Sweet Pea Oriental Poppy Fuchsia 'Genii'
Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' Potentilla Privet Purple Sage
Common Thyme Salvia 'Amythyst Lips' English Marigold
Passion flower Scabious Feverfew Groundsel
Nigella Cornflower Selfheal Lemon Geranium
Peas Grasses Honeysuckle Thornless bramble
Alchemilla mollis Cephalaria gigantea Verbena bonariensis Shrubby mallow
Annual Poppy Gypsophila Sow thistle Scarlet Pimpernel
Speedwell Spiraea Achillea 'Gold Plate' Wallflower
Red deadnettle Lemon Balm Geum urbanum Tomatoes
Nettles Dock Willowherb Bindweed
Spurge French Bean Soapwort Oregano
Agapanthus Purple Lily Lantana Butterfly Bush
Sempervivum Rosa 'Brother Cadfael' Eryngium planum Teucrium
Eupatorium Agastache 'Liquorice Blue'
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