End of the Month View – July 2017

It is just over a year that I have been doing this blog. During that time I have done a number of EoMV which centred around one view across the main lawn.

July 2017

To start with I am going to look back at this view as to how it has changed through the seasons. To do this I have put together a slide show in chronological order.

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Its is not perfect and how I wish I had taken this view every month. Never the less it is interesting how the colours change through the year with plants coming into bloom and then dying back and the angle of the sun making the shadows change.

Back to this July. So far the weather has been a tough this year with the first six months being very much drier then usual but then quite a heavy amount of rain in the last couple of weeks.  Plants that love rain have suffered from the lack. Dahlias are not as tall as this time last year. However there is much to look at.

This is the bed to the right of the view above. You can see one of the penalties of going on holiday….the box hedge has not been cut yet! Behind the urn we planted some Artemesia. This is the first year it has looked the part with clouds of little white flowers.

Moving around the beds from the right of the classic view to the left, we have. The dry heads of Kniphofia ‘Nancy’s Red’ needs to be removed as they make the border look like autumn. However the day lily Hemerocallis ‘Stafford’ looks good against the Cotinus ‘Nottcutts Variety’.The Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’ beautiful lilac blue balls would look good any where but against the dark foliage of Dahlia Bishop of Auckland they look great. A self set Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Willmott’s ghost’ was presumably planted by Miss Willmot!Phloxs have been grown well this year, this one is Phlox paniculata ‘David’.Agapanthus remind me of Tresco with the red Potentilla ‘Gibson’s Scarlet’ to the front. This Agapanthus is kept in the pot and left outside through the winter but always seems to comeback each year.This border is a bit disappointing. The dry weather seems to have resulted in the roses stopping earlier than normal and, as I said above, the dahlias have not been as good this year.The bright yellow flowers are Achillea filipendulina ‘Cloth of Gold’ and should continue to flower through the autumn.The nice Osteospermum is Osteospermum ‘Tresco hybrids’ but is not hardy in Leicestershire so I will take cuttings shortly.

Miss Willmott’s ghost and Cloth of Gold

The large leaves are Ricinus communis impala with Clematis ‘Wyevale’, the blue flowers on the right.A very striking Ligularia ‘Britt-Marie Crawford’A Kniphofia ‘Nancy’s Red’ with some specimen weeds in the background.Looking back towards the pergola the border I was disappointed in does not look so bad after all!And this view caught my eye.

Do have a look at Helen The Patient Gardener’s blog where you will find links to other gardens at the end of July. Thank you to Helen for hosting this meme.

The rain has kept us out of the garden this week but there is lots to do, particularly removing the specimen weeds!

2017 Gardening Hours
Week beginning July 22nd	Total 2017 to-date	Average per week
22	609	20