Working in my Roehampton Garden today, and in hindsight, I ought to have started at 6am rather than 10am as the mercury began to rise to what, 30°C, more? In any event, a good few hours and some definition brought back to one of the borders, the semi-circular one, which had morphed into a rather amorphous mass of (beautiful) vegetation. Time to get the secateurs out onto the tired geraniums and aquilegias, poppies and knautia, seed heads of Penstemon (Garnet and Sour Grapes), Sidalcea (Elsie Heugh), some summer pruning of the roses (Harlow Carr, Munstead Wood, Lichfield Angel, Graham Thomas, Pomponella) and also pulling out of a lot of Forget-me-not (Mysosotis). Much, much better. There are even gaps (tempting…).
I love the pale pink Sanguisorba (the last pictures above), not too tall, self-supporting and long-flowering. The name escapes me!
At the front of the house, I found what I hoped would be just the right planter, 7′ long black, timber, quite smart – and this I planted up with Agastache Blue Fortune, Verbena bonariensis Lollipop, Digitalis mertonensis, Lysimachia Snowcandles, Clematis Prince Charles, Helianthus Miss Mellish, Geranium Rozanne, Anemone hybrid Whirlwind, Miscanthus sinensis Kleine Fontane and Stipa arundianacea, Salvia Amistad and Salvia Madeline.. Enough, I think!
For refreshment, I think a bottle or two of Pep-Up would have been just the thing, particularly with that rather unique ingredient, Lithium……
And finally today, another of my cacti is flowering, though I do not know the name. Utterly charming though and on this, such a hot day, with great timing too.
The Teddington Gardener 