The cold spring has delayed the roses which is generally a good thing. The first to flower of the new plantings are Variegata di Bologna, Kazanlik and Vick’s Caprice. Kazanlik doesn’t look much but is heavily scented, I should perhaps have gone for Ispahan which has a stronger form. The very first in flower was (as usual) the dark red Louis XIV who (as usual) is now starting to succumb to blackspot.
The sweetpeas have started flowering finally, and the Zaluzianskya. The starry white flowers from maroon buds of the Zaluzianskya open in the evening. I grew it from seed for the scent, the flowers smell a bit like AutoGlym car polish, not unpleasant but not what I expected.
The hedgerows are thick with elder still in full bloom and cascades of Dog Roses, its now early July.
The rather pretty umbellifer flowering by the stream is (I think) Hemlock Water Dropwort (Conium maculatum) one of the most poisonous plants around, and its not just in my garden, it grows in a number of watercourses around here. Luckily there isn’t much of it and it’s being treated with herbicide as even cutting and disposing of it can be a bit tricky.
This is Stemmacantha, I haven’t grown it before. I thought the bees would love it and they do. Similar to the yellow Centaurea macrocephla in flower shape which bees also love, rolling about gleefully amongst the filaments.
The chickens have been temporarily thwarted from dust bathing in the main flower beds and general tearing up newly planted areas with a low string barrier. They took it out on a corner of the squash bed yesterday instead. Horrible chickens, they’ve also had every strawberry as they ripened.
I have tomatoes planted in the greenhouse in 2 different brands of growbag. In the first brand the growth is weedy and slightly yellowed, at the moment Tomorite growbags are definitely winning for greenness and lushness.