Spring is the loveliest season in the garden, everything new and fresh green. But in July it really breaks loose in the garden and that's when we think Summer is the most beautiful season! Then all the roses are in bloom and in our garden you find different varieties and colours. We have velvet red roses, double white climbing roses, large salmon pink roses, pastel pink roses and pink climbing roses. All Rosa, (of the Rosaceae family) and all equally beautiful!
The Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) are in the front of our house, also very pretty with their long stems. The Christmas roses (Helleborus) have just finished and by the end of june the Peonies (Paeonia) are at their best, so it's almost all roses that bloom!
Peonies we have in three varieties: light pink (Paeonia Sarah Bernard), pastel pink / yellowish (Catharina Fontijn) and dark pink (Karl Rosenfield). They are planted in equal numbers but with the passage of time the light pink colours have been greatly outnumbered.
The dark pink variety has almost overrun the two pink colours. But the pale pink peonies continue to do their best. After the heavy showers with strong gusts of wind in the last couple of days sadly there is now nothing left of our peonies. We could quickly rescue a few, for in a vase and... we stil have the pictures ;))
Of course we are not complaining because the dark pink 'Karl Rosenfield' peonies were really stunning and we are very happy with their exuberant burst of flowers.
We still have the little pastel pink Climbing roses (Blush Noisette), they grow in bunches and they are climbing rapidly above the roof of the shed.
So far everything is going very well in the vegetable garden! The Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) bloom and grow. The slugs don't seem to like cucumbers so they leave them alone!
Nice for us, because already we can pick a few mini cucumbers every day. They taste so much better, fresh, unsprayed and from our own garden!
The garden inhabitants are having a good time here! After a summery shower a horrible fat slug reclines in the chives, ugh!
A few posh, black beetles live in the Raspberry bush. Completely yellow from the pollen, they crawl over the leaves and occasionally take a bite. But they don't like the raspberries, so we don't mind them staying there, they are harmless and don't get in our way ;)
Also a large caterpillar is crawling against the wall, it is on its way up. What does he hope to find there? No idea!
Cute bumblebees buzz noisily back and forth in any shrub or plant that has a flower. They especially like peonies, those bees are very busy! Every flower, even the tiniest, gets a visit :D
The first raspberries (Rubus idaeus) are colouring red and the bush grows bigger by the day, it is brimming with raspberries, soon we can harvest.
Luckily our herb, veg, fruit corner is doing well! The Cherry vine tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) are replanted into a much larger pot. Now we see the first tiny yellow flowers appear. We started sewing a bit late but now the tomatoes are finaly on their way too.
The strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa) are already turning a pretty red and many grow on one plant. The organic strawberries from the cold soil are smaller and more fragile than greenhouse strawberries. But when they have been hanging in the sun they also taste nice and sweet and the mini monsters love to pickand eat them! So nice to have strawberries in the garden!
The Sugar Plum or June Berry (Amelanchier) hangs full with currants (berries) and the birds are celebrating! Every morning we are awakened around dawn by busy chattering. It does make a lot of noise when magpies and starlings ravish the berries in the Sugar PlumTree.
We even spotted a big fat Pigeon in the tree. The branch it sat on was bending under it's weight, the bird was swaying to and fro but still hanging on. Too funny! ><
Against the shed we also see the second bloom of the Old man's beard (Clematis Vitalba). We once started with a white Clematis on one side, a pink one on the other side but the pink has completely taken over.
The Dog Rose (Rosa canina) is a naturally occurring Wild Rose in the Benelux, which blooms white or pink. Our Wild Rose just wandered into our garden and blooms with immaculate sweet heart-shaped petals. There is only one rose between the small leaves, but it is magnificent to see. So a very welcome guest!
With so many exuberant summer bloomers, our Spruce or Christmas Tree (Picea) disappears a bit into the background. But under the Clematis and the climbing roses, next to and between the Lavender (Lavandula) our Christmas tree grows slow but steadily :))
The Foxgloves (Digitalis) are also very much frequented by lots of bumblebees and they are also one of our favorites :))
The Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) are starting to bloom and it's the same story, no white and yellow to be seen, only three shades of pink! What is up with pink that makes it such a dominant colour in the garden?
We cut off the last of the Christmas roses (Helleborus) which have almost finished blooming. No longer purple they are still beautiful and there are quite a few left! We place them in a bowl of water on the garden table, so that we can enjoy them a little longer.
To compare with June: 2 July glimpses into our garden. The parasol is put up almost every day and we read or work outside a lot. A disappointment for our little ones, no birds nestled in our bird house, in May and June. We bring the hard news carefully, but in July the birds really won't come anymore ;)
The little blue Bellflowers (Campanula) enjoy the shade equally to the sunshine. Everywhere in the garden (front and back) they bloom in abundance. They are the ground coverers in the garden.
Finally, four shrubs that we will keep an eye on in the near future because they are growing very quickly now: the Buddleja, the Hydrangea, St. John's wort (Hypericum calycinum) and the Wisteria Sinensis.
The flower buds in the Buddleja are already gently turning purple, the Hydrangea buds are getting bigger every day (it used to be blue but now it's pink too, it's a quiet revolution!!).
The abundance of yellow flowers on the St. John's wort promise many berries for later in the year and the Wisteria just started her second bloom.
We may cut off some spent, wilted flowers here and there and mow the grass now and then, but otherwise the garden is for reading and lounging in the summer. We will be outside very much again this summer and we would love to see you back in August!
Until then we wish you all a happy summer with lots of sunshine!