IAVOM ~ 'I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside'.

I picked a few flowers for a vase last Monday, took a photo and then for various reasons ran out of steam to post so here it is now.

In my vase are are :

• The very first of the sweet peas - sown under cover at the beginning of March. They are sadly struggling big time having now undergone three heatwaves since being planted in the garden. Note to self has been made to sow seeds this autumn instead.
• A bit of darkness from cornflower 'Witching Hour' - again from seed sown in March. I've not grown cornflowers since my allotment days and had forgotten how floppy they can be if not given support. I'll look for a shorter growing variety next year and will probably return to a shade of blue.
• A stem of the daucus carrota probably 'Dara'- seed sown but in September last year and overwintered in the greenhouse.

Probably the main reason I ran out of steam last Monday was that I was still recovering from a ten hour and half hour or so train journey returning home from Westward Ho! in Devon on what had been an extremely hot Saturday. It  certainly wasn't fun and I arrived home nearly three and half hours later than anticipated with a train cancellation, a late running train and then a trackside fire thrown in to the works. Still we had a most enjoyable and relaxing holiday in great accommodation directly overlooking the sea with just a row of beach huts in front of us. The pool you can see is a salt water pool which was visited by bathers throughout the day and to the right of it were rock pools, where there seemed to be regular activity attracting both little people and big people with buckets and nets. It was most heartwarming to see a well supervised party of Cubs and Brownies there casting their nets early one evening and having a great time by the sound of it.

The weather was most pleasant probably until mid week when it began to feel at little bit too hot for comfort. We still squeezed some garden visits to to Tapeley Park Gardens, Marwood Hill Gardens and RHS Rosemoor. There was much to admire and inspire, fabulous tea rooms in the first two gardens, three cooling lakes and a profusion of wildlife at Marwood Hill and as always much to see at an RHS garden, in fact too much on what was one of the hotter days of the week. I showed great restraint and came home with just one new plant purchase.    

Back home to a garden that is looking drier and crispier by the day and sadly with temperatures too hot for me to be active in the garden last week. The weather on Saturday afforded some relief with a slight fall in the temperature accompanied by some most welcome clouds so a chance to almost fill the green garden waste bin. I also made the exciting discovery that my outdoor tomatoes are on the turn 🥳

Thanks as ever to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for inviting us to share our vases each and every week of the year. I'm looking forward to catching up with other vases later notepad and pen to hand as usual. 

Wordless Wednesday - The Cottage Garden, RHS Rosemoor, Devon ~ July 2026.

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Sultry

 

IAVOM ~ "Sumer Is Icumen In"

 

I picked the contents of my vase yesterday evening - the evening of the summer solstice which turned out to be a most sultry one. In my holey vase this week are :

• Astrantia major 'Cerise Button'. This is a new astrantia to me having bought a plant last year after first encountering it in Holehird Gardens. This is a beautiful extremely well tended garden which is looked after by a dedicated team of volunteers who are members of the Lakeland Horticultural Society. The garden overlooks Lake Windermere in Cumbria and if you ever find yourself in the vicinity it's a must visit. 
• Pansy Nature Mulberry Shades - I sowed these in the greenhouse in March but they can be sown at other times over the year.
• Some fluff from Lagurus ovatus also known as Bunny Tail's grass. These were also sown in the greenhouse in March but I plan to follow Cathy our host's example and will try sowing some later this year in the hope of producing larger and sturdier plants in 2027.

"Sumer Is Icumen In" was a song written in the thirteenth century and is one of the oldest songs in the English language. You can read the lyrics and hear the song here.

My holey vase was a purchase over ten years or so ago now from a craft fair in Cumbria.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' and who kindly invites us each and every week to share our vases. It's always a delight and a source of inspiration to visit her blog as well as other garden bloggers to see what's in everyone's vases.

It's going to be unusually hot this week and I have a feeling that there will not be much in the way of gardening activities ahead for a few days yet other than some early morning watering. It's a case of the spirit is willing but the flesh is week. I hope that if the weather is the same with you that you manage to stay cool and if you have cooler weather that you can enjoy time in the garden. Off now to enjoy a cold drink whilst it's still not too hot to sit out in the garden.

Five Favourites, June 2026

 Today I'm joining in with Cathy's 'Five Favourites' and here are five of my favourite June flowers.

Astrantias - I hope that Cathy allows me two for the price of one in this instance. The pink one is of unknown variety whilst the deep red is probably my favourite astrantia in the garden. It's astrantia major 'Gill Richardson' which has a profusion of flowers this year.

Hardy Geranium - this is a self-seeder along with the neighbouring pulmonaria, both very welcome free gifts. I'm fairly sure that it is of geranium pratense origin. The foliage has a pleasing dark tinges.

Gladiolus byzantinus - if only the flowers lasted longer!

Philadelphus - also known as mock orange. I've never known what variety it is. This shrub has been in the garden for many years coming to me as a cutting from my parent's garden. It's become rather sprawly and I'm sure if my Dad could see it he would be itching to give it a good pruning.

Rosa 'Lady Emma Hamilton' - which has beautiful newly emerging foliage in spring and a deliciously scented flower.
 

Well that's my five and I apologise to all the contenders I left out and hope that I haven't hurt their feelings. With thanks to Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs' for her invitation to post five favourites each month. 

IAVOM ~ ''Star Light, Star Bright"

Just three stems of allium christophii in my Monday vase today. This allium also known by the enchanting name of Star of Persia probably needs no introduction. It can be counted on to make an appearance every year, seems to be untroubled by either pests or diseases in my garden and is also a magnet for pollinators. I think that this is my favourite allium and I have several clumps of it dotted about. These three stems were picked with a purpose in mind. I will be drying them for permanent display in a vase to replace the three present specimens which are looking a bit sad and past their sell by date. 

I recently read a little snippet that advised adding a tiny bit of bleach in the water when using alliums in a vase. It helps to keep the water from smelling rather unpleasant!

The vase was purchased from Etsy some time last year.

Thanks as ever to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who enables us to share our vases whether they contain flowers, foliage, vegetables or fruit every Monday. Do pay her blog a visit.

Gardening activities have been limited since the start of a most so far unseasonal June - it has been persistently cool, wet and windy. The first couple of consecutive dry days occurred this weekend and unfortunately I was away from home. Hopefully the coming week must improve and there will be time to get on with the growing list of jobs to be done as well as to just sit and stare 🤞

Wordless Wednesday ~ Late Spring Bling

 

IAVOM ~ The Heat Was On

 I'm joining in with 'An Vase On Monday' today with the following in my vase :

• Calendula 'Sunset Buff' - these were sown either last March or April under cover in the greenhouse before being planted out in the garden. Although they are annual all three plants came through the winter albeit looking rather scruffy and bedraggled come early spring. I nearly pulled them out. However they have all perked up and are in flower again. 
• A few chive or allium schoenoprasum flowers have joined them in the vase. The chive is one of the marigold's next door neighbours in a raised bed. We decided to take out the strawberry plants from this bed earlier this year so now it's a bed devoted to herbs and some flowers for cutting.
• Orlaya grandiflora also known  as White Lace Flower - a hardy annual sown last September.
• Finally some grassiness in the shape of briza maxima, also known as Greater Quaking Grass which self-seeds itself about perhaps a bit too vigorously. I've recently been busy pulling out some of last year's offspring which I should have done sooner.

Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting. Do pay her a visit to see what she is sharing this week as well along with other garden bloggers.

Last week was exceptionally hot here especially considering that it was May. We had temperatures in the late 20s and the thermometer went past 30c on a couple of days - unheard of for this time of year. Record highest May temperatures were recorded in all four U.K nations. Despite my Mediterranean genes I don't relish such hot weather and spent a lot of time indoors venturing out only early mornings and in the evenings. There was much watering to keep up with and some plants seem to be stressed especially some of my April sown seedlings. I'm hoping that this week's predicted cooler and damper weather will help them to rally. 

We had a tiny bit of rain last week with a in the middle of the night thunderstorm and then it rained yesterday fortunately very early in the day. It dried up in time to visit our first plant fair of the year which was a local event. I emerged with a ginger mint, an oxalis triangularis, a cosmos 'Cherry Chocolate', an agapanthus 'Poppin' Purple' and a very small cercidiphyllum japonica also known as a toffee apple tree. I also acquired a couple of epimediums, a geranium macrorrhizum 'White Ness' and an astrantia 'Cerise Buttons' from my recent trip to the Lake District. The astrantia and the geranium were on my wish list so I was paticulularly delighted to come across them. Time to pause on new plant purchases for a while methinks 🤣 Wishing everyone a productive week both in and out of the garden.

Five Favourites, May 2026

Before May goes slip slidin' out of the back door I'm joining in with Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs' and her 'Five Favourites' and a chance to share five favourite monthly blooms. My five May favourites included : 

The flowers of the horse chestnut tree - officially not in our garden but just the other side of the stream which forms one boundary of the garden. It's a delight every spring.

Chive flowers which are enjoyed not just by me but by the bees too.

This aquilegia which I'm fairly sure is aquilegia 'Hensol Harebell'. It self seeds but never enough to be considered a nuisance.

The very first rose of the year. This year rosa 'Bathsheba' was first past the post. Here she is on a rainy 13th May.

My final choice is a hardy geranium and this one is geranium maculatum 'Stormy Night' - the foliage provides interest long after the flowers have gone over.

Thanks for the invitation Cathy ❤️

IAVOM ~ Between The Showers

Finally there has been enough of a reprise in today's intermittent heavy showers for me to pick a few flowers for me to join in with today's 'In A Vase On Monday'. In my vase are :

• Some stems of orlaya grandiflora - this hardy annual was sown under cover in September. I've sown a second batch in April but as always the September sown ones always germinate better and make for larger plants.
• A couple of stems of aquilegia - this is the offspring of the one of the first flowers that I ever sowed in the garden. I obtained them from seed exchange of 'The Cottage Garden Society' and I think that they were aquilegia 'Hensol Harebell'. Other seedlings over the years have produced a mix of flowers including a double of this form, as well as a pale blue double, but these single ones are my favourites.
• Finally some dottings of the hardy milium effusum 'Aureum' also known as Bowles Golden Grass. it can I believe be a vigorous self- seeder but it's never caused problems here. This was also grown from seed many moons ago.

Thanks to Cathy for as always for being such an excellent host. Do visit 'Rambling In the Garden' and see what delights she and other bloggers are sharing this week.

Here the weather shows signs of perking up after what has so far been a cool, windy and wet May. I'm hoping that the worse is behind us. Last week a rather violent hailstorm came from nowhere battering plants including my potatoes which not only finished the experience with some broken stems but also with a smattering of holes on their foliage. It looks as if for once that the forthcoming bank holiday is going to bring sunshine and warmth so I'm hoping to catch up on some jobs that needed doing last week. I will enjoy being at home and pottering, especially as we've just had a couple of days away in the Lake District. Hopefully I can plant my new purchases from the nurseries we visited. Have you made any new plant purchases recently? Do tell.