Diary of a weekend gardener

Between spring and summer

The late spring flowering plants are on their way out. The tulips have gone, as have the pulmonarias and erythroniums. The peonies are just going over, losing their brightness and flopping heavily on the lawn. The big acid-loving shrubs, the rhodendendrons and azaleas, are at their peak, but too showy now, gaudy and gaping and smattered with dying flowers, dulling their earlier brilliance.

And summer is on its way but not here yet - the hemerocallis buds are still tight shut but now held high above the leaves. The rose buds are opening slowly - except The Times which as ever is first out in May and last to go in October. The colour is much better than in the picture below - a rich red, only just on the pink side. The leaves are a reddish dark green and glossy and the whole plant is completely trouble-free. All I do is cut it back in winter. This plant broke my long-held aversion to roses (brought on by years of walking to school past hard pruned rose stumps in circular holes in bungalow front lawns). I always associated them with strict rules and harsh chemicals, both of which I have a strong aversion to. But not this one. I grow it in a mixed border with Spirea 'Limelight', Viburnum 'Davidii' and a hardy fuchsia that I can't remember the name of.

posted by Sue Beesley @ 5:07 pm