With a blink of an eye we are back from Spain to the Somerset garden. There are obviously lots of differences but the biggest change this time ~ The temperature. It’s a massive 21* difference. I’ll be honest. We lit the fire. Fred the geriatric cat was very happy. I’m not sure if it was because we were back or the fire.

In Spain we had ceiling fans and open windows ~ apparently the last few days in May were the hottest on record for Spain for that time of year. For me it felt like a Mediterranean August. Which for me, August 2,000ft up the mountain is almost impossible. Back in one of the lockdowns I was stranded at Casa Verano. Trust me I’m happy to be stranded there. Just not in August. Early morning coffee in the pueblo blanco. Then home to shut the shutters, put on the aircon and watch Netflix in my pants until late evening when it was cooler to venture into the garden. Avoiding the mozzies.

I digress ~ as usual.

The garden in Spain was better than I’d hoped. We had had plenty of spring rain. The garden was looking great. But with the rain comes growth. So the roundabout that’s not a roundabout had gone bonkers so we have arranged for it to be cut.

The big worry is fire ~ the grass is so tall and so dry and it’s only the beginning of June.

Back to Somerset. Ten days away and the grass has grown. Obviously but like grown a lot. I didn’t mow most of it in May ~ a little bit of no mow ~ but I have mixed feelings about that. Second day back the grass was mown.

The one thing we don’t get in Spain as bad as Somerset are weeds. No ground elder. No bindweed. No major back ache.

Another difference in the gardens is that at this time of year there is plenty of colour in the Somerset garden. In Spain it’s kind of in between colours. The next big flush of colour will be the agapanthus of which there are many and the many oleanders dotted here and there.

In Somerset we are awash with colour. Roses, salvia, poppies, geraniums and geum. Annuals like calendula and lobelia. Coleus and cosmos in the front pots.

This border was full of aster. I’ve wanted to take them all out for ages as they weren’t particularly attractive , but hadn’t got around to it. With more time this last year it happened. Not my decision but Ian’s. He dug them all out and we had a new border to fill. A great opportunity for new purchases, although I don’t need an excuse. Six new climbing roses, 3 new steel obelisks with two on order and salvia and annuals planted.

Another new border

We have a small pond in the garden which was here when Ian bought the first cottage 30 odd years ago. It is due to be replaced but it’s on one of the lists. It has newts and the occasional frog. We’ve sorted the borders at the front and the back of the pond. Last year the front border was great, lots of daucus carota, some grasses and some sweet peas . This year it’s slightly different, but equally lovely

There are odd chairs and things dotted about the garden, which looks a bit odd when the plants are growing but look so much better when largely covered in plant growth

There have been new roses this year. Growing up my parents garden was full of them and I have bought some of the ones I remember from their garden. I also remember a lovely row of pink floribunda at the library opposite where they lived. So I have bought 3 Queen Elizabeth floribunda. They are yet to flower.

The above is Piccadilly which is just opening and is one I bought locally.

I planted this rose decades ago and typically didn’t label or remember its name, but known as the pinky rose with rose hips. It needed a good old tidy up which I did last year ~ but wasn’t sure it would survive. It did and flowers like crazy. I reached out on Instagram to see if anyone could identify it and luckily I was told it was Rosa Bonica. So another was bought and this year has also gone mad. A thank you to Michael Marriott for helping me out. The King of roses to the rescue.

I looked and looked for superstar ~ it was always a favourite in my parents garden. It’s pretty but not a great disease resistant rose. But I love the colour and it reminds me of my parents.

The roses so far have been pretty spectacular this year. A mix of the weather. Hard pruning and a good old feed. I’ve also turned into my mother ~ she was a prolific dead header. Didn’t matter if it wasn’t her garden ~ she couldn’t stop herself. She would walk up any path and deadhead. I’m not that bad. Honest. I won’t do it in your rose garden Siobhan.

The rector is having a good old ramble in an old largely dead apple tree. Another rose hugely cut back hard – and almost all ~ dead wood cut out. It’s certainly a prolific flowerer. Shame it’s not a repeat flowering rose. I’m greedy I know. I want colour. Scent. And repeat flowering. Throw in thornless and I’ll be happy. Hard to please~ me ?

There are a number of roses which are unnamed. Not actually unnamed just not labelled! If I admit to one bad gardening habit it’s labelling. Or the lack of. Siobhan my tulip partner in crime will ask ‘ what’s the name of that Astrantia. That rose’. She really knows what the answer will be. 🤷‍♂️

This year’s new ones will be written in a diary. and will be documented in a blog I’m sure. Ask me next year.

It’s been a good year so far for Geum. Geum Totally Tangerine has been a firm favourite and flower continuously. First seen on my favourite stand at any flower show ~ Hardys plants ~ always beautiful plants and such helpful and informative growers. But whilst deadheading helps ~ on small flowered plants it’s a pain in the butt. Which I can do without as I have a massive flare up of sciatic pain ~ so I need no more pain.

I left most of the canna in the ground over winter. Heavily mulched. Whilst slow to get going this year and sometimes hidden by the wild growth of the other plants they have been fed well and are now on their way.

This is one I brought from London. I now wish I had brought them all. But I have been buying new from my regular supplier Todd’s Botanics.

Ignore the background in the canna annei photograph. It will be sorted. But I love this one. It’s two added to the annei collection It’s one of my favourites and one I grew in pots in London.

This is a new one bought a few weeks ago and is on the terrace. There is one which is a bit behind this in the terrace border.

Some new canna have gone in as well to add to the ones we have ~ and I’m sure that they will be on their way too. I just need to make sure they are well fed.

You know when you plant something and kind of ignore the prospect of how large it may get. This was one of them. We have one clump of a red persicaria in the garden which was here 30 years ago and it has grown huge. Always reliable and also great for a bit of a cut flower to add to whatever is available at the time.

This one I bought 2 or 3 years ago. Its a great structural plant but make sure you have the room. A glorious bit of brightness but can be overwhelming.

Another plant that grows well in this garden are Astrantia. There are a number of them dotted around the borders.

You will notice that they are all called Astrantia. See what I mean about labelling.

The tulips have all gone replaced by summer bedding. Last year I grew dahlia for the pots. It was a nightmare ~ slugs slugs slugs. With this year’s dry weather I’m sure it would have been better. But I have only two dahlia. Both Octopus sparkle. Quite where they go is another question.

The planting is colourful although a bit municipal ~ but it works in the space available and will get even more colourful as it develops.

At long last ~ the new shed is going up. Placed on old railway sleepers to let some of any flood water go under it’s a long overdue addition.

When we first had the cottage there was a bit of a decrepit summer house there which was taken down decades ago. We desperately need storage for garden stuff. There are windows on both sides which will give light through it and I can see the greenhouse still from the house.

Next year’s project will maybe be the new greenhouse. That’s been on the list for the last 10 years. Each year there’s a bit more sticky back plastic holding it up. But every year some other expense crops up.

The veg is coming along nicely. Runner beans and climbing French are doing their thing. Ians planted onions, leeks and kale. The tomatoes and cucumbers are in the greenhouse and Ian’s herb bed is already full of parsley coriander and chives.

So they say we may be in for a dry summer. Which will mean it is likely that Jacks shute the spring at the front of the cottages may dry up. It’s already running slowly, and I have only known it stop once in 30 years. Which is a disaster for me as I use it for watering the plants.

There is still plenty of flowers to come ~ the funky sanguisorbia lilac squirell which I love. The canna, although for now the leaves are interesting enough, gladioli, pink and white phlox, red persicaria with others.

Now it’s time to get back to ordering tulips.

My partner in crime has already shared some of her wants for this year so it’s started !

Have I said I like tulips ?