Fantastic Flowers

I must say and I am being completely bias but honest, that the garden looks fabulous on the whole - the herbaceous border is amazing, the annuals and rose garden is really coming into its own and the vegetable patch is blooming. A surprise for this year was the creation of a wonderful rockery but the manly beloved - he moved a whole load of concrete from the old path and earth and a few old tree stumps to make a stunning structure, which is really coming into its own.

There is still work to be done nearer the house - aquilegia-tastic but I will be weedkilling today. I KNOW it is better to dig it out, more organic etc but they are a total nuisance and must die!! The herbaceous border is GORGEOUS; so many plants kindly donated by my mother last year have really come into their own. I can really see that as the plants become more established they flourish and really do bloom more and look stronger. The success flower in the Spring has to be the lupin - three lowly plants put in last year have created towering spikes of candy floss that are still blooming now in July. I keep cutting the old spikes down to the nearest leaf and another albeit slightly smaller one pops up in its place.

Other successes this year are the Cirsium - I think the tallest was about five foot and all May the bumble bees (of which there have been masses) have been snuffling right into the densely packed petals getting their fix of honey for the day.

Plants that are really coming into their best now include the Monarda, which only seems to grown well in my garden; I keep giving my mother and sister cuttings but they don't seem to take, which is frustrating as it is a lovely flower. The pink Gypsophila is taking off and I love the scent it gives off plus the fact it is a great flower for cutting. It sits quite happily next to the Lavender and Mexican Daisy with yellow Sage and dwarf Amaranthus poking through at intervals. It has been a good year for Heucharas - my Mocha has grown to be vast and I'll probably chop a bit off for mum later in the year. Dead nettles are still proving to be lovely ground cover that stretches over the patch to make the whole area look a little more established.
Roses I must say have not been that great in my opinion; we discussed this yesterday and think we will give them a really good feed at the end of the season and lots of farmyard manure. Annuals are filling up the spaces where we have no roses and I'm very pleased with myself and my annual trials. I have had immense success with Briza grasses, aforementioned Dwarf Amaranthus, Cerinthe or 'Honeywort', Black Boy Cornflowers, the most amazing Black Peony Poppies, the Cosmos purity and Zinnia envy are on their way as are the Scabious, Agrostis, Anethum or 'Dill' and the simple but very pretty Oriental nights Allysum. I will definitely grow annuals again next year as they are so easy and are out of the greenhouse before the toms, etc need the space.