My rosemary bushes finally got the chop
I’VE finally taken the secateurs to a couple of very large rosemary bushes that have been enjoying the hot summer.
They had been sprawled over the path, catching unwary visitors. Now they’ve been reduced to a more manageable size and I have a pile of cuttings that’s so large I intend to store the branches for use as kindling in the wood burner.
Hopefully when ignited in the depths of winter, their volatile oils will fill the house with the scent of summer.
It’s strange to be thinking of cold, dark days when we are still in the grip of a heatwave, but if I don’t remind myself occasionally that the sunshine can’t last then I’ll give in to the temptation to plant hibiscus and jasmine and to turn the slope at the back of the house into an olive terrace.
One thing is for certain, next year’s bulb show promises to be a bright affair because lots of things, such as tulips, daffodils and alliums, love nothing better than to be baked during the summer months and it’s the sort of treatment that our climate seldom supplies.
The pelargoniums are also relishing the heat. They are one of the best plants I know for thriving in dry weather and if you forget to water them one day they always revive, whereas other bedding plants simply shrivel up and die.
Scented leaf varieties, like ‘Attar of Roses’ are among my favourites but I’ve also got a fondness for the ivy-leafed types that you see spilling from balconies in the hotter parts of Europe.
I grow mine in tall pots and let them tumble over the sides to add a touch of Mediterranean romance to the garden.
I do the same with verbenas, filling tubs with them and letting them sprawl, sending out an abundance of feathery foliage and pastel flowers.
This year I haven’t grown any tender fuchsias but I do have some fine hardy specimens.
These produce slim flowers in very pale pink, which last for months. This is the variety ‘Hawkshead’ and it does best when pinched out in spring so it makes a mound of foliage.
Mine hadn’t been pruned for some time, so this year I cut them down to the ground. They have sprung back vigorously and are now dripping with flowers.
The single hydrangea is now in flower. The heads are a bruised pink that deepens in colour as they age. I have space for lots more and top of my list is ‘Annabelle’ which produces white bracts, each the size of a football. My friend Jane grows these in pots and they are the stars of the summer show in her garden.
Every garden needs a showstopper and mine is Agapanthus ‘ White Heaven’, which is every bit as dazzling as its name suggests.
Meanwhile the blue agapanthus I planted in large numbers earlier in the year have produced few flower stems and I’m hoping that they’ll do better next year.