The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Season for making a splash
As summer really hits its stride, the garden is alive with all the colours of the rainbow. Sit back and enjoy the show
Given the mild winter, pleasant spring and warm summer it’s no surprise that our gardens have been a riot of colour month after month.
I thought it couldn’t get better than the spectacular show from the tulips but that was followed by a display of dazzling azaleas, then the bearded iris and now the summer roses are climbing up my walls and delighting everyone who passes by.
In fact, every time we walk around the garden it seems another plant is having its moment to shine. Let’s just hope it continues through summer and into the autumn.
At the moment it is the climbing roses that are really catching the eye, as well as my two shrub roses Ispahan and Rosa mundi.
Over the years I have grown numerous bush and shrub roses – only to have to dig them out again after a few years due to the ravishes of mildew, rust and blackspot.
I am now down to about 20, which all seem to have reasonably strong foliage and should be able to withstand diseases.
My red climbing rose Dublin Bay. grown on a south wall, is a showstopper year after year. It never fails to impress, although I am fussy when it comes to winter pruning, even tackling those shoots that stretch beyond the top of my 12ft ladder.
Another very tall shrub enjoying a particularly good summer is my Philadelphus virginal.
Catching those long arching sprays of pure white flowers against a deep blue sky make for a brilliant picture and the scent is unforgettable.
Coming down in scale to my dry border I have a few shrubs that are well adapted to a south-facing bank with good soil. With a 4ft retaining wall to hold it back it has always suffered from lack of moisture but a selection of plants adapted to maritime conditions seems to work well here.
Right now, my large Senecio greyii is a mass of yellow flowers and growing alongside it, clambering over the wall, is a Delosperma cooperi with purple flowers.
The pair are perfectly matched by my pink Erigeron ground cover and the taller evergreen shrub Cistus purpureus with its deep pink flowers.
This group was never planned but over the years I found plants to fill that gap that suited the dry conditions and it just so happened that they all decided
Every time we walk around the garden it seems another plant is having its moment to shine. Let’s just hope it continues
to flower at the same time. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Another piece of luck was our visit to the RHS gardens at Wisley last year when Anna picked up a packet of Sweet William seed. We had never grown them before but Anna recalled them from childhood days and wanted to try them out.
Without a special place for them, they went into every spare piece of soil in rose borders, herbaceous borders and our allotment flower border. They have been fantastic and added colour to the other plants around them.
Over on the herbaceous border, the latest star performer has been Peonia Doreen, one of Anna’s prize purchases from Gardening Scotland a few years ago. It gets bigger with more flowers every year and it now it really catches the eye.
Our massive group of deep blue delphiniums continue to perform every year but need serious staking due to their size and strength.
The tubs and hanging baskets are growing well and are already quite colourful, although we’re not expecting them to come into full flower until the end of July.
The pink and red geraniums have been outstanding. I had been pinching off all the flowers from winter until the end of spring to build up strong growth and it has paid off since they can’t wait to get their heads up into the sunshine.
The petunias alongside them are also enjoying the warmth and putting on plenty of colour.
It looks like this summer’s show is a long way from over. Enjoy every minute.