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.