July 7th, 2018 - Pots and containers, Wildlife gardening

In this weather I’ve had to sacrifice the look of some plants to protect them and I have some plants that are surviving quite well.  I’ll show you both.

Re: watering, I give pots a gallon or two each every few days and I don’t water the rest of the garden.

I’ve cut to the ground anything that has already flowered and anything that had lush green growth now shrivelled to a crisp.  No amount of watering will revive spent hardy geraniums for example so it’s time to shear them off at ground level and let them put on new green growth when it rains.  New leaves will appear within days

These drumstick alliums (Sphaerocephalon)) are a huge success in that they look marvellous but I had just popped the bulbs into my pots and that was a mistake!  They are now 4 ft tall and leaning precariously. Next year I will plant them in the middle of the borders where other plants can hold them up. They’re a bee magnet and a splash of colour.

You can also see the dead allium heads (Purple Sensation)  which I think look lovely. This year I have left them rather than pulling them out.  The huge heads of allium Christophii are even more dramatic.

Most of the garden is green now – just dots of colour here and there.   Strangely the Japanese anemone is flowering – it’s not supposed to come out till September.

A new success from rosybee.com are these yellow daisies. (Anthemis tinctoria). I love yellow and will be getting some more of these next year.  It says they are perfect for solitary bees.  Sounds a bit sad to be a solitary bee.

 

Pots in shade containing grasses, ferns and epimediums are all surviving well, looking cool and lush.

Also the sunny pots I planted with advice from Harriet Rycroft’s course on container gardening are looking lovely and have looked good all winter.  I love the grasses in there which are coping with heat.

Have a look at other people’s Six on Saturday at  The Propagator blog and thankyou to him for hosting this meme.