Late May Colour in Sarah & Mike's Garden

Tortoiseshell butterfly on Heliotrope Cherry pie

Clematis Margot Kosta

Pink daisy with red campion and West Country lupin masterpiece

Sweet Williams growing through Lavender Munstead

Rose Buff Beauty with Clematis Margot Kosta

Best wishes

Sarah

Roses, peonies and visitors!

The garden at Skinners Cottage is in full swing now, although it would appreciate some rain.  

Sarah F-R and her friend Lynne visited on Wednesday, maintaining the recommended social distancing, and the photos below are a mixture of those taken by Sarah and others taken by Ray.  

The rose Graham Thomas is a fabulous one;  we put in a number of plants several years ago in memory of a lovely aunt of Ray's;  her favourite colours were yellow and green and this rose seemed to be entirely appropriate;  it appears to have loved the wet spring and the subsequent sunshine.    It is to the west side of the house and also gets some protection from the prevailing winds.

The apothecary rose is another firm favourite which is lovely now.

Above is Ruby Wedding, a gift from Glenys and Rob Rowe on our Ruby Wedding, is just in bud - here with sisyrinchums (which are such a delicate colour but are everywhere).   Below is Rosemary Ann also a gift from G&R on a special "25th Birthday" !!!!!

Talking of glorious roses, Sarah sent this picture of the rose Buff Beauty in her own garden - which she says has never been so good. 

The foxgloves are popping up all over the place - a great self-seeder as they are easy to remove as they pass their best but will produce a dramatic display at this time of year;   

I promised you peonies and we have a lot out now.    Most of these are from Sarah Raven and they include Bowl of Beauty,  Sarah Bernhardt, Monsieur Jules Elie and the latest is "Coral Charm".      

I am sure that everyone's garden is at its best just now, so do not hesitate to share your photos. 

Best wishes

Rosemary and Sarah

Linda's garden in May

Cistus, Alliums, Iris, Roses, Erysimum, Helianthemum, Orlaya, Silene, Veronica, and hardy Geraniums are just a few of the plants making a patchwork of colour in the garden at this time of year.

I was surprised that these Echium survived the winter storms in such good condition.  Every day they are a magnet for bees of all descriptions.

This trough of Rhodohypoxis flowers for absolutely ages.  The gap is due to a small furry animal having a midnight feast of some of the bulbs.  

This Lampranthus spent the past winter outside tucked away in a sheltered corner,  rather than in the greenhouse, and has produced the best display ever.

Abraham Darby is a David Austen rose with a strong perfume and huge heavy flowers that tend to hang down.  I am now training it as a climber in order to tie in the stems and enjoy the blooms.

Dictamnus is a striking plant with large flower spikes.  It is also known as the Burning Bush because it produces a volatile oil that can ignite in very hot conditions.  The seed heads are also attractive and when ripe the capsules explode sending seeds far and wide.

Best wishes

Linda

Sarah and Mike's Garden

Hello Sage members

Here we are again with another update and pictures for you. 

Our Sorbus vilmorinii tree is in blossom. It is a small spreading deciduous tree with fern-like leaves. It has flat heads of creamy-white flowers which are strongly scented and much loved by our bees, butterflies and other insects. Later the flowers will be followed by crimson fruits which fade to a pinky-white. 

Photo bee on blossom

Baby thrush in vilmorinii tree 

Bumble bee with blue sky

Red Admiral on blossom

We have an old tree stump which was previously used for splitting logs and has now started to rot and be attractive to insects. We have decided to keep the stump in a quiet corner of the garden where we hope it will attract insects and provide food for birds. 

I am rather fond of this particular corner of the garden It’s a lovely place to sit at any time of the day and on a warm evening we like to have supper here and then sit and take in all the wildlife around us as the light fades.

Our roses are lovely at the moment and the Clematis are coming into bloom.

Buff Beauty

Polish Spirit

Our Madame Alfred Carriere is in full bloom and covers the entire length of the back garden growing along a trellis and providing important Summer screening and privacy for the garden. We are also enjoying Rose New Dawn which intertwines with a rambling honeysuckle. On our north facing fence grows Rose Souvenir du Dr Jamain with rich deep red colouring and a delicious scent. Margot Kosta Clematis is scrambling through our Buff Beauty shrub Rose. Clematis Princess Diana and Arabella are also out and the first of Clematis Betty Corning came out today. 

This year we have sown a lot of seed collected from the garden last Summer and it’s been good to have our own small plants to put into the borders. We have planted Sweet Rocket, Cosmos dazzler, Nicotiana affinis, penstemon, scabious and salvias. 

Our raised vegetable bed is now producing lettuce, rocket and spinach and our herb garden is offering us Rosemary, oregano, parsley, mint, basil, chives and hissop. I love being able to go outside when I am cooking just to collect the herbs we need. 

I ordered a few plants from Sarah Raven including Heliotrope Cherry Pie and a lovely mauve Nemesia. 

A close up view of the Red Admiral butterfly on the Vilmorinii blossom

Mike spotted this tiny mint moth in our herb garden this week.

Bluetit 

Sending our best wishes to you all

Sarah and Mike

Rhona's Garden and Weather Watch

I visited Rhona's garden last week, maintaining social distance and took these photos which I hope you will enjoy.   

The garden was it usual colourful self and Rhona has been busy clearing areas and replanting during the lockdown.   

One of  the clematis which pre-dates Rhona and Simon's arrival is this glorious purple specimen;  it is a really strong, striking colour and glorious with the sun on it; 

 

it blends in well with a verbascum - this has overwintered in a pot and I initially thought it was a larkspur or similar. I am hoping Rhona will collect some seed at the end of its flowering season.   

Jane's recent post mentioned a perennial antirhinum which had come from Rhona's garden and I was delighted to come away with a pot of this as well.  

Rhona's roses are doing well (the first is For Your Eyes Only and the second unknown)  as is  a shrub version of an underrated plant (in my view) - the yellow phlomis.     I have one plant of the pink variety which appears to be much less easy to grow.   

As anyone who has visited Rhona's garden  knows, pots abound and there was one lovely pot which Rhona had planted up only that morning although my photographic skills do not do it justice.  

Also in pots are a lovely yellow and white iris, striking delphinium and a coat of many colours osteospermum. 

 

Water Watch

We had 2.7ml of rain yesterday which Peter described as a "useful amount" although  found some of  the soil still very dry this morning.  This compares with 0.1 ml in the same month last year.    

So, keep watering the pots.   

Best wishes

Rosemary