THE WEATHER -

What a month for weather!! A pleasant if slightly cool start to the month, with mostly sunshine and the odd light shower. The 6th was a very sunny day, and not too warm, with a light breeze. However, the 7th started off quite pleasant, but as the day progressed, the wind strengthened and became almost gale force, with heavy rain overnight. The gales continued into the 8th, together with the rain, and this was the coldest July day on record!! Remaining wet and windy on the 9th, with sunshine and showers for the next few days. The 12th and 13th were dry and sunny, but showers developed on the morning of the 14th. More sunshine and showers continued until the 22nd, when it rained heavily for much of the day. By the 28th, the weather had become much more like summer at last, with warm sunshine and high temperatures, and showers overnight on the 29th, and the warm sunny weather continued until the end of the month. Maximum temperature 30°C (86°F). Minimum temperature 7°C (44°F).

I grow a number of shrubs in the garden as I use them a lot for my flower arranging. One of the loveliest is Cotinus coggygria (syn. Rhus cotinus) 'Royal Purple'. This is a deciduous shrub, with beautiful oval purple leaves. These are at their most spectacular when the sun shines through them from behind, as in the picture on the right, which was taken early one lovely sunny morning after a shower of rain. The leaves seem to light up and are suffused with a fiery pink and orange. Stunning! The plant is also known as the smoke bush, because of the flowers, which are borne on wispy stems at the ends of the branches. As the flowers die, the stems remain all over the shrub, looking like puffs of smoke!! As an extra bonus, the leaves turn beautiful colours in the autumn, making this one of the shrubs you just HAVE to have in the garden.

I love Clematis, and this is one which I bought last year, called Clematis florida sieboldiana. It was a very spindly-looking plant when I bought it, but it produced a few good flowers. However, this year, it has trebled in size, and is now busy climbing its way to the top of a Cytissus battandieri which grows on the patio. It is such a lovely Clematis, with beautiful creamy-white flowers which have a wonderful boss of narrow deep purple petals in the centre of each flower. As the flower ages, the white petals fall away, leaving the centre, which looks like another flower altogether - double value!

I'm often a bit sceptical about all the hype surrounding "new" plants, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, called Spigelia marilandica 'Wisley Jester'. It has been written about in the gardening press, and seen on TV, so I thought I'd give it a go. I was pleased to see from the label that it likes shade, so I found a shady spot for it by the pond. Often, plants don't do too well in a shady position, but I have to say that this has done splendidly!! It has been covered in lovely red and yellow flowers, just like the Jester's hat of its namesake. It began to flower at the beginning of the month, and is still in flower at the end, with plenty of flowers still to come. This gets the thumbs-up from me!

Passion Flowers are a passion of mine! Their intricate flowers are fascinating to examine, and this is a beautiful white variety, called Passiflora 'Constance Elliott'. I have planted this in a large pot, together with two deciduous Clematis and one evergreen one, and yellow-leaved Hosta 'Zounds', blue Festuca glauca and two trailing Fuchsias. The pot is looking its best now, with everything in flower and looking wonderful. The Hosta, Fuchsias and Festuca will ensure that the pot still looks attractive, even when the Clematis and Passiflora have finished flowering.

I grow a lot of Hemerocallis, as they are such beautiful plants, and so easy to grow. I bought this one last year, and it was labelled as 'Alaqua', which is pink, with a dark eye. However, when it flowered for the first time this year, it was plain to see that it was certainly not Alaqua! This is just another instance of plants being wrongly labelled, which is maddening! However, after all that, it is a beautiful strong plant, with large, soft yellow flowers which have an almost translucent bright yellow edge to them, and a deep maroon ring in the centre. I have since been able to identify it as 'Custard Candy', so I'm pleased about that, as I just hate to have a plant which is un-named.........

Ligularias are amongst my favourite plants. I love them not only for their beautiful foliage, which varies in shape from the deeply cut leaves of Ligularia przewalski (pronounced Jevalski), to the huge rounded deep purple leaves of Ligularia dentata 'Brit-Marie Crawford', but also for the variation in form of their lovely yellow or orange daisy flowers. Some Ligularias have almost black flower stems, which only adds to their desireability. They are herbaceous perennials which enjoy damp shady conditions, where they will often grow to architectural proportions. The three pictured above all flower this month, although some Ligularias flower in early June, and some not until mid-August. On the left is the lovely L. stenocephala 'The Rocket'. This has heart-shaped finely toothed green leaves, with spires of bright yellow flowers on almost black stems. It is a strong grower which never needs staking, even in gale-force winds (which we experienced earlier this month!) and in my garden grows to around 4ft tall. In the centre is L. palmatiloba, and this has curiously shaped toothed green leaves, and its deep yellow large daisy flowers are borne in loose corymbs, not at all like L. stenocephala. This grows to 5ft in my garden. On the right is L. dentata 'Gregynog Gold', which has huge green leaves and tall spikes of deep yellow flowers thickly packed along the stem. This is a tall plant, at around 6ft when in flower. All Ligularias are attractive to bees, hoverflies and other beneficial insects.

That's all for this month...... Happy Gardening!!

Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Crow, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Rook, Seagull, Starling, Swallow, Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

RAINBOWS
Patience Strong

A shaft of sunlight pierced the clouds and lit the rain-washed world,
Each leaf and twig was hung with jewels and crystal drops impearled.
The Earth gave off a fragrant scent that hung upon the breeze,
And diamonds trembled on the dripping blossoms of the trees.......

And suddenly, above the roofs I saw a flaming bow -
That made an arch cross the world and set the sky aglow,
As if an artist with a brush moved with divine desire
Had stained the dome of heaven with a hoop of coloured fire.......

An then my heart remembered what this thing of beauty meant,
And why, when sun and showers blend, this lovely thing is sent
To tell His doubting children that the word of God is true,
And lest men should forget - He paints a rainbow in the blue.