fionagardens

[fionagardens]

This clematis, Perle D’Azur, is 20 years old. Its great trusses of flowers at the boundary of my garden make such a valuable contribution in July, when a lot of summer flowers have gone over. It’s growing here with a golden hop, which is providing the bright green leaves.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #julygarden #clematis #cottagecore #summer gardening #summer garden

[fionagardens]

This is a much greater contrast of colours than I would normally choose - I imagine I chose the clematis long before the rose came out and I forgot what they would look like together. However, I actually really like the way the deep red of the clematis flowers echoes the pink speckles on the rambling rose. Edit, have worked out that the clematis is Rouge Cardinal.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #summer gardening #clematis #rambling rose #rose

[fionagardens]

More pink. I had not noticed how much pink was in the garden until my son complained about it. This hydrangea is much happier since my husband put in an automatic watering system.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #summer garden #hydrangea #cottagecore

[fionagardens]

This is a patch of wildflowers someone has randomly sown at the edge of a Devon car park. Love it.

#wildflowers

[fionagardens]

At last, a picture of my garden without pink! More different plants with the same colour flowers, an effect I find very satisfying. Tradescantia variety Blue Stone on the left, and Geranium Magnificum on the right. Both of these plants are supposed flower in June and July, but went over earlier than expected as we had such strong sun this year.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summer gardening #summergarden #tradescantia #geranium #cranesbill #cottagecore #purple flowers #climate change

[fionagardens]

Too much pink is a theme for my garden this summer. I chose pink flowers (peonies here) that turned out to be much more vigorous over time than I expected, and I did not have the heart to take them out or even cut back. Here are pictures of where I have used rich purple clematis in different shades to cut the sugary look produced by too much pink.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #summer gardening #summer garden #purple flowers #pink flowers #clematis #peonies

[fionagardens]

What did I say yesterday about too much pink in the garden? Not a colour match but toning shades of pink, geranium in the foreground and Veronica RotFuchs. In the background, the lavender blue is provided by Brookside geranium and a tradescantia (far right of the photo). The pink geranium is one of my favourites, but can I remember what it is? No. I need to keep much much better records. Also, no more pink.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summer gardening #summergarden #summer garden #cottagecore #cottage core #cottage garden #pink flowers

[fionagardens]

My son thinks there’s too much pink in my garden. He’s probably right. But what to take out? Certainly not my standard rambling rose, which makes me think of a huge strawberry icecream cone.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #summer garden #ramblingrose #pink flowers #cottage core #cottagecore

[fionagardens]

I just love this sort of thing: two different plants with flowers in the same colour. This was created by chance. A self-seeded foxglove and a Comtesse de Bouchard clematis in the same pink, growing over a creamy Wedding Day rose. I find it very difficult to exactly match colours in plants despite best efforts, and quite often find, once established, flowers slightly clash - especially pinks. I often add reddish purple to turn a pink clash into a rich spectrum of colour, but just as often move a plant. Moving plants in summer is risky as the roots dry out and damage the plant, however much I seem to water. Happily no moving here necessary, the colours work perfectly!

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #summer gardening #summer garden #foxglove #clematis #rambling rose #pink flowers #cottagecore #cottage core

[fionagardens]

The rambling roses are out bringing a more romantic feel to my garden. Smell lovely too & need very little care. This one is Goldfinch planted 20 years ago!

[fionagardens]

It’s been very hot and dry in the UK for a few weeks which means flowers are going over unusually quickly. Blink and they’ve gone. My bright pink peonies are fading after only a week and these deep pink / red ones, variety Bunker Hill, are also close to going over, despite being in semi-shade. All the more important to enjoy the various summer flowers for the brief days they are with us. I am making changes in the garden to adapt to the hotter drier summers brought by climate change. I don’t think I shall replace my peonies though.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #summer gardening #summer garden #climate change #cottagecore #cottage core #peonies

[fionagardens]

These Bowl of Beauty peonies are such a metaphor for life. If I had known how bonkers they would be 20 years after I planted them, I would have chosen a different variety. I could not imagine how they would multiply and the over-the-top impact of their colour en masse. And yet, I am curiously attached to them now, and could not imagine summer without them.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #summer gardening #summer garden #peonies #pink flowers

[fionagardens]

This is my wild flower verge’s third summer. It used to be a patch of grass, weeds and blind daffodils (daffodils that no longer flowered). Wild flowers would not have coped with the competition if I had just sowed their seed on top. I therefore had to dig out all the old grass, weeds and bulbs, which was a good if arduous lockdown project in winter 2021. I sowed wildflower seed in 2021 and again in 2022, but this spring the flowers produced enough seed for over sowing to be unnecessary. The verge looks lovely over the summer, but is not a great sight the rest of the year!

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #summergarden #summer gardening #wildflowerverge #wildflowers

[fionagardens]

As previously mentioned, I went to the Chelsea Flower Show last week. It is a very intense experience as there is so much to see but it is also so crowded, so many visitors as well as film crews. Every year, there are one or two plants that feature in a lot of the show gardens. This year, it was the turn of Thalictrum ‘Black Stockings’, this pink flower with dark grey stems. I thought it would go well with some of the moody purples in my garden and rushed to look it up on line. Often a new plant to me turns out to be unsuitable because it needs acid soil (mine is alkaline) or wet ground, mine is dry. Thalictrum was a different sort of disappointment though as the plant is normally 2m high. Somehow at Chelsea, all the plants were only 60cm or so. It’s wonderful show, but not always very accurate in its representation of plants!

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #spring gardening #springgarden #springgardening #chelseaflowershow #thalictrum

[fionagardens]

This Elsa Spath clematis has never flowered like this before? Lots of rain and rather cool in late April and early May, followed by sunshine and warmth in the second half of the month perhaps? Who knows? But it’s great. The way the clematis and campanula (low, creeping plant) match is much more apparent this year. The uniformity of colour would not have won any prizes at last week’s Chelsea Flower Show, but it makes quite an impact.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #spring gardening #springgarden #springgardening #clematis #campanula

[fionagardens]

These are flowers from a young lilac tree, variety Katherine Hevemeyer. It smells absolutely delicious. In a few years, it should have grown enough for there to be spare blossoms to cut and bring indoors. I should have planted one years ago.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #cotswoldgarden #gardener #spring gardening #springgarden #springgardening #purple lilac #syringa

[fionagardens]

I will going to the Chelsea Flower Show on Tuesday. Can’t wait! Apart from being a wonderful day, it’s a great reminder to do the Chelsea Chop on late flowering summer perennials. These plants that flower in August and September, benefit from their foliage being reduced by a third in May. This makes them more bushy, less leggy, when they come to flower. I have sedums and asters who greatly benefit from this treatment. 20 years ago, before I knew what I was doing in the garden, I chucked out a sedum plant because it flopped everywhere - it had just needed a Chelsea chop, not putting in the bin. Here’s a picture of a sedum before and after it’s haircut.

#cotswoldsgarden #cotswolds #gardening #garden #gardener #cotswoldgarden #spring gardening #springgarden #springgardening #sedum #chelseaflowershow #perennial