Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Started summer pruning of the apples yesterday PM, but failed to complete due to back starting to twitch, at least I've made a decent start

watering the beans just now and the heavens opened, so here I am indoor gardening

My snails like crocosmia leaves even if deer & sheep don't

RAS

And I'm not sure whether it was deer or rabbits but one of them eats rhubarb leaves quite happily.

Love the photos. Dave, that crocosmia looks more like a freesia..

Farway, have a random batch of mixed lilies, One red, two white with a pink throat and three whites. The pinker ones are in shreds.

twopenny

Well the cut and come again salad i tried didn't make it through the heatwav, the rain the cold and the slugs so that's been'planted' in the garden in case there's a miracle.

I've dead headed and mown but it needs doing again. The rain has rotted the hidcote lavender flowers which is odd as it bloomed all winter but it should throw up new spikes.
The next to tackle is the rose climbing over the arch with 2 gates so I can open the one going outwards. It's a fingers crossed job to keep the abundance up the side while not intruding onto the neighbours garden and yet thin enough to openn the gate and keeping the long growth growing over the top.
You can see why I've been putting it off 

Davesnave

RAS said:

Dave, that crocosmia looks more like a freesia..

Yes, I wasn't very happy when DB said she'd bought a yellow one, but it turned out to be a cracker. There are some good ones around that multiply up quickly and aren't as fussy as some of the older fancy sorts that could vanish after a cold winter.

Not much gardening news, so I will give you a picture of last Saturday's fish & chip stop, complete with wedding celebrations and not enough sunshine....or wildlife. We have had stoats here and rabbits + a sparrowhawk, but the grass is too new and short.

Farway

Woke to more drizzle when I had hoped to get out apple pruning, maybe later if it brightens up but the radar & forecast are not looking good

However one bright bit of news, the first tomato of the year is ripening in the conservatory, it's unknown & mixed parentage found self sown from last year's crop, looks like a red cherry type anyway, and it's beaten my carefully nurtured Shirley to the finish line

Eldi_Dos

Davesnave said:

There's lots of deer-resistant plants on the RHS web site and crocosmia is in there.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=185

We don't have problems with deer, rabbits or even pigeons here.

Thanks,read that link with interest, who would have thought deer prefer Holly to Crocosmia.

phoebe1989seb

We've had deer in our - main - garden. Last year (iirc) DH spotted two standing in one of the rose beds when he was out there very early. They took the tops off a few things - can't actually recall what - but don't seem to have returned since we inadvertently blocked their entrance when a huge tree came down 😮

I can sympathise with those whose gardens are getting out of control - the weeds are taking over in said rose beds as I've been otherwise engaged (aka weather not conducive 😉) and the jungley area is, well, jungley, lol!

It doesn't take long for nature to take over - when we owned our house in the Nadder Valley, a neighbour whose main home was a flat off the King's Road in Chelsea, left his weekend abode (a rambling thatched cottage) to fend for itself for eighteen months once. No gardeners came in and when they eventually returned, the garden was completely inaccessible 🙄

Here was a very similar story as no-one had tended what the EAs referred to as a "magical" garden (!!) for years, although to be fair there weren't many garden plants here anyway. I'm determined not to let that happen again 😉

Prepping for building work is progressing and that includes some removal of huge weed clumps, so I've kind of been gardening today!

Davesnave

Spent almost 4 hours in Rosemoor yesterday trying to find suitable plants for my friend's empty re-landscaped garden, especially those with a strong colour palette. I knew it wouldn't be simple though, since anyone with an appreciation of detail and form is bound to be swayed by the attractions of general structure and leaf form too.

We had a dry, if sometimes slightly chilly afternoon, but the car radio suggested those 100 miles east of here were having severe downpours.

Anyway, the Hot Garden was still somewhat lacking the arrival of some colours, notably the asters, now called something unpronounceable, but there were many jolly bits too:

 Spotted this Fritillary that posed obligingly on a nice, strong coloured Buddleia, though one of those was not on our shopping list:

Farway

Cracking pic of the butterfly there Dave, my buddlia seem a butterfly free zone at the moment but with the rain we had, yes we come under you 100 miles east they've probably drowned

Sun's out for now and I've taken the opportunity to finish off the apple & pear tree pruning, all done for now, so just sit back and listen to the snails munching & weeds creaking upwards

phoebe1989seb

Another sunny day today, so I'm making the most of being able to get more building site prep done 😎 Also need to paint the second coat on a door before the forecast rain hits on Thursday. Fortunately it's in a shady spot. 

I'm putting off rockery dismantling - other than the bottom 'row' of rocks themselves because I'm nervous about moving the perennials planted there. Will have to be done though 🙄

I have the first flower on my white peacock orchid gladiolus in the *not actually very white* bed 😂 Considering I planted about 120, and there aren't many other buds in evidence, it's a pretty poor show so far!

Elsewhere in the garden the hydrangeas (particularly Little Lime and what might be Annabelle) are full of blooms. Also, my potted eucomis (three bulbs gifted last year) have - a single - flower and the Japanese anemone Honorine Jobert in the white bed has buds too.

Am envious of your visit to Rosemoor, Dave - it feels like ages since we got out to a garden (think it was Aberglasney in 2019!!!) - we really need to try to squeeze in an NGS visit or two...or even the Botanic gardens which are also very close to us so no excuse really, other than lack of time!

Here's the eucomis....
And a daucus - one of the few things I grew from seed last year to have survived. These are dotted throughout the four rose beds....