Five Favourites, July 2026.

I'm joining in with Cathy's 'Five Favourites' meme just in the nick of time before we enter a new month so  here are five of my favourite July flowers. My first two are this combination rosa 'The Fairy' with what I think is clematis viticella 'Madame Julia Correvon'.

Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer' which as you can see from some of the crisped flowers I've been struggling to keep up with deadheading in this oh way too hot, cruel and dry July.

Some blue in the shape of the hardy geranium 'Rozanne who hopefully will continue to flower until early autumn. I love the colour but she is floppy and takes up a lot of room. The plan was to replace her with greanium 'Azure Rush' but I didn't do this in the spring. Maybe just as well as in view of the dry spring and summer. I'm reviewing my plan.

Finally and I hope Cathy will allow it a combination of flowers which we came across last week in the gardens at  Levens Hall in Cumbria, where they plant 15,000 plus annuals each spring! Here was a bright combination of the perennial verbena bonariensis the company of cleomes and cosmos. It made for a glorious patch of colour, which although you can't appreciate in this photo, was attracting a multitude of pollinators on one of the very few partly dull and grey July days we've experienced this month. I loved it ❤️ 

A BIG thanks to Cathy over at 'Words And Herbs' or inviting us to share our monthly favourites throughout the year. Do pay her a visit to see what beauties she was sharing earlier this month.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Levens Hall, Cumbria, July 2026.

 

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.

IAVOM ~ 'September In The Rain'

A borrowed vase from me this week. Having returned at the weekend from a holiday in the depths of rural Herefordshire, there have been a few jobs to catch up on including taking various cuttings as well as picking tomatoes, pears and apples from the garden. The pears are now ripening on a sunny windowsill (ie as and when the present weather pattern improves) whilst the first apples to be harvested have been peeled and stewed. With one batch in the freezer the second batch was on the jobs to do list this morning. As the day has unfolded it has turned increasingly windy and the odd shower has fallen. The green waste bin is empty and due for collection tomorrow but I have decided not to venture out with my secateurs this time.  I will no doubt feel guilty tomorrow.

My vase was in the 'Ladies' at Stocktonbury Gardens which I've wanted to visit for years. Despite the fact that all the gardens we visited had suffered from the long, hot and dry summer there was still much to hold our interest especially the garden's history. If you're in the area it's certainly well worth a visit. I'm not sure exactly what's in the vase but can identify the white flowered aster diveraticus, an eryngium and what I think is a sanguisorba. It's a garden that I would love to visit again especially in spring when their huge apple orchard is in blossom. This is just a small glimpse of it below on a September day: 

I also fell for rosa mutablis, a rose which I have read much about over the years but had never glimpsed in flower before now :

There were plants for sale in the plants sales area but I'm not sure where I could plant one so resisted. The little dragon perched on the roof was rather fetching too but not for sale.

Thanks as always to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who gets us together every week for a floral party. Do visit her if you haven't already!

IAVOM ~ 'September Morn'

 

What better way to start a new month than with a vase of flowers. Yes September has arrived - my favourite month of the year after May. In my vase today are :

• Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer - this is a hardy perennial which likes the sun but also moist soil. It usually does well in its allocated spot but has languished this long dry summer so along with the astrantias has received the odd drink from the watering can.
• Aster 'Little Carlow' - another hardy perennial and one of my favourites with clouds of small lavender blue small flowers.
• Some foliage from the climber 'Humulus Lupulus aureum' or golden hop. I've never seen this plant grow so much as it has done this year - it has turned into a veritable monster. It's looking most attractive now with all the dangly hops. 

Thanks as always to our lovely hostess Cathy who blogs at 'Rambling In the Garden'. A quick and early post from me today as I need to get ready to head out for a garden centre visiting marathon with a dear friend who loves plants too. We may be gone for some time but I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone's vases later. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Holker Hall, Cumbria ~ August 2025.

 

IAVOM ~ 'In The Pink'

 

Mondays seem to come round very quickly and it's time to celebrate the start of the week with a vase of flowers joining in with the 'In A Vase On Monday'. In my vase this week are :

• Flowers of what maybe 'Madame Julia Correvon' but I honestly don't know. Maybe Cathy our Clematis Queen might have some ideas. This is the second lot of flowers it has thrown out this summer.
• A sprig of astrantia 'Cerise Button'. This is a new to me astrantia which I fell for on a visit to the fabulous Holehird Gardens in Cumbria at the beginning of July this year. I was hoping to track it down at a nursery but was most surprised to see it for sale at a local garden centre last week. The flowers on my plant aren't either as big or as deep pink as the plant I saw in the garden (see photo below) but I will give it time to establish and confirm whether I've got the correct plant.
• Some foliage from pittisporum 'Silver Ball'

Thanks as always are due to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for her most excellent hosting. 

It's a Bank Holiday today and unusually warm and sunny - this looks like the end of what has been another long dry spell with rain predicated to arrive overnight and then feature daily for the next week or so! What a relief that will be especially to our farmers. I'm off out when I've posted this to collect some poppy seedheads before the change in weather - if anybody reading this would like some papaver orientale  'Lauren's Grape' seeds just let me know. I'm collecting some for the seeds and will dry the others for future use in a vase.

IAVOM ~ 'Set Fire To The Rain'

 

It's another dahlia on my rusty old grey table this Monday. This is dahlia 'Purple Flame' which is more of a deep rich pink to my eyes. This is the first time I've grown this variety and I have fallen in love with it. Unfortunately I was sent a rather puny specimen so have not had enough of the striking flowers. I hope that it successfully overwinters and bulks up next year but I will also purchase another. It's been a funny old year here for dahlias amongst other things. Not one of the dahlias planted in the garden came through and the one that I planted hasn't flourished at all. Dahlias in pots have done better but the flowers have still struggled and are perhaps not as abundant as usual in their flowering. Mind you it's been a funny old year for a lot of things. Today I was actually delighted to see a dull and cloudy sky when I opened the blinds and we've not seen the sun all day. Hopefully this extremely long hot and dry summer is on the way out. My thoughts are now turning to spring.

Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for her excellent hosting skills. Thanks also to those of you who expressed concern in your comments to my last post. Fortunately we escaped with no serious damage from Storm Floris. As for the on the blink internet connection it was eventually sorted by a BT Openreach engineer. We now have an amazingly much faster connection but found that after his visit that our phone landline isn't working. Not a major issue but one that needs following up very soon.

I may prick out some lunaria and hersperis seeds later but maybe not as there are lot of biting creatures about at the moment. I watched two bats flit about very close to the house last night so maybe there will be fewer creatures about today. I've been leaving this task until the weather cooled down a bit. I also need to get some thoughts together as to what bulbs to order for spring flowering. As usual I've left it until late. Have you ordered your spring bulbs yet? Please tell me that I'm not alone.

IAVOM - Blowin' In The Wind

 

I took this photo last weekend intending to post last Monday but time completely ran away with me that day so here a week later is my 'In A Vase On Monday'. It was quite breezy at the time and the contents of the vase swirled about and where not as I had originally placed them. In my vase are :

• A flower of dahlia 'Melissa Anna Marjike' - it's a new one to me. you can't see it but it has the bonus of having dark foliage. I like it.
• A couple of stems of what I think is physocarpus 'Diablo'.
• Some daucus carrota 'Dara' - a hardy annual which was sown in the greenhouse last September. it has dusky pink and/or burgundy flowers and is always most obliging.
• Thalictrum delavayi 'Splendide White'- it's a tall late delicate and airy flowering summer perennial which needs some support - in this case my plant is very conveniently supported by it's next door neighbour a rose. There is a lavender toned version of this thalictrum too which is on my wish list.

A short post today as we've been having intermittent problems with our internet connection over the last few days so I want to  hit publish as soon as possible. Many thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' as always for hosting. I hope to check in other vases later internet connection permitting but in the meantime domestic chores call. Although the rain has stopped and the sun is out we have a named storm today so it's been much too windy out there this afternoon to do anything in the garden. Oddly enough Storm Floris is the U.K's first named storm since January which goes to show just how gentle our late winter/ early spring weather was. I nipped out before and saw that there is quite a bit of debris and leaves waiting to be brushed up but that can wait until tomorrow. At least the green bin is filled and ready to roll in the morning. I hope that the weather is more clement wherever you are.

IAVOM ~ 'The Heat Is On'

 

Just a quick pick and plonk from me in this week's vase after an extremely hot day (the thermostat had steadily been creeping up for a few days) when the temperature soared to above 30°c. At this point I cease to function when it comes to outside activity and wonder just how my brother manages to live in a country where that is the year round norm. I was inside for the duration only venturing out to water a few pots about 7.00am, to snip the above and take photos before retreating indoors then venturing out again at 9.45pm to do some more watering. It is cooler but still warm today although thankfully less humid. In my vase are :

• Pansies - the little faces of 'Pansy Nature Mulberry Shades' and a couple of 'Pansy Nature Antique Shades'. They were grown from seed sown in the greenhouse during March. They have very short stems so are in the littlest of my vases. I plan to sow some more seed in September.
• A sprig of helichrysum petiolare 'Silver'. This snippet came from one of the cuttings that I took late last summer and overwintered in the greenhouse. It puts on amazing growth during one season and makes for an attractive foliage plant in containers. I shall take more cuttings again this year.
• A few bits of eminently strokable fluffiness in the shape of the annual lathyrus ovatus or 'Bunny Tails' grass which were sown in the greenhouse during March. 

Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In the Garden' for hosting such an enjoyable floral party every Monday. It's a degree or two cooler today albeit still warm. We have even cooler temperatures and rain forecast for tomorrow which will come as a blessing. The garden could definitely do with a good soak. Hopefully there will be a point in the day when I can venture out and potter in comfort and get on with some of the many tasks that wait out there. 

I forgot to mention that when I did venture out after watering them I picked the ripest and juciest of tomatoes and popped it straight into my mouth. The fruit was comfortably warm to the touch and tasted absolutely delicious 😋

IAVOM ~ First Pickings

Slightly earlier than last year methinks there is a vase of sweet peas on the kitchen windowsill. The first bunch of sweet peas is always a highlight of my gardening year. I'm sure that I've said before that they are the one hardy annual that I wouldn't be without. Starring in this year's cast are : 'Erewhon', 'Gwendoline', 'Kings Ransom', 'Eclipse', 'Almost Black', 'Indigo King', 'David Tostevin' and 'Suzy Z'. The last two are new to me this year and the jury is still out them. They leave something to be desired when it comes to scent and scent is an important factor for me when it comes to sweet peas. 

I could have picked a smaller bunch last week but as we were away for a few days I decided to remove the first flowers and jettison them which did cause me some heartbreak. I came home though to this burst of colour and there are just as many today waiting in the wings for their moment in a vase.

In other news the first homegrown tomatoes of the year were eaten yesterday, the green garden waste bin is filled ready for collection and I have been sowing biennials. Summer is definitely in full stride with another heatwave predicted for later this week. This time it's creeping up to the north west of England so I think that gardening jobs apart from watering will be done in the earlier part of the week. Still when the heat is on there are household chores to be done, reading to catch up on and I'm looking forward to listening to Carol Klein who was the guest on 'Desert Island Discs' on BBC Radio 4 yesterday. The episode is available to listen to via BBC Sounds here. 

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who gets us together every week thus providing a source of much pleasure, inspiration as well as an ever growing wish list. Do visit her blog if you haven't already!

Postscript - I've checked and the sweet peas are definitely earlier - a full two weeks! The 2024 and 2025 sweet pea seeds were sown in the middle of March. I noted though that once I planted them out last year that they made painfully slow progress as the weather was so cool and damp although we had plenty of rain. The complete opposite conditions this year which probably explains why they are earlier.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tatton Hall, Cheshire , September '24.

 

IAVOM ~ 'Last Of The Summer Wine'

 

It's good to be back with Cathy and other blogging friends today with a vase on Monday. It's been a few weeks since I last participated. It was a very wet day yesterday, misty and dripping this afternoon but the sky turned blue and the sun made an appearance this afternoon. In my vase this week are ;

• Sweet peas - still hanging on but probably for not much longer. They were sown in the middle of March and planted out at the back end of April. The foliage is now mildewed but the flowers and scent are still coming.
• A couple of sprigs of the dainty flowering perennial aster 'Little Carlow'.
• Some astrantia 'Gill Richardson' which featured in a vase at the start of July. These are from a second flush of flowers and one of my two plants is producing more flowering stems than first time around.

I remembered that this particular vase was loitering on the Welsh dresser when we recently spent a few days in our caravan in Cumbria. Whilst there we visited a craft fair that is held at regular intervals throughout the year and came across the potter that makes these vases. They are most useful as they come with holes all the way round to insert your flowers and foliage in. Here it is when I last used it in IAVOM back in 2016 :

I must bring it our more often! 

Thanks as always to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' and is the lovely custodian of 'In A Vase On Monday'. Do visit to see what everyone has in their vases this week.

Here the forecast is set for a few fair and warm for the time of year days so I'm looking forward to getting out into the garden as much as I can. My Wordpress marathon is nearly complete so I'm really looking forward having to a bit more spare time and hopefully some reasonable autumn weather to catch up on a lot of jobs. Top priority being to complete my late as usual spring bulb order.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Kellie Castle Gardens, Scotland, August 2024.

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Cambo Gardens, Fife

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Helianthus 'Astra Rose'

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Just Buzzing