Woo Hoo! Summer’s here!
Here’s my first full buckets of summer blooms from my garden this year.
Most of my flowers are a good 3 weeks later than usual but they are certainly making up for lost time now.
Growing a range of annuals, perennials, shrubs and herbs means that there’s always a good mix of textures, colours and scent.
That’s typical of an English country garden.
I wish you could smell these… they’re gorgeous.
If you grow your own flowers you can select your favourite colours, choose scented varieties and if you garden organically like me then you’ll know there are no harmful chemical residues on the plants.
My friendly ‘Pest Controllers’ are never far away when I’m in the garden. Thanks to the wild ducks most of the slugs never get a chance to nibble on my beautiful flowers.
I hope the sun is shining where you are today. Happy Gardening!
Gillian 🙂
What a lovely profusion of summer flowers. We are a bit late here too, but not as much as three weeks I don’t think. Well done to have so many lovely flowers to cut, I must try more annuals. I grow poppies from seed every year but they don’t do that well. Nasturtiums do better. I think our growing season is a bit short. However I now have a grow tent so will be able to start off more things under cover. What would your top recommendation be for annuals that don’t need to be sown directly and would be good grown amongst other plants?
I grow a big batch of annuals under cover starting mid February (when there are at least 10 hours of daylight) because I can’t wait any longer to get growing! Annuals are really fast and you could sow them a couple of months later if it’s not warm enough in Aberdeen then. Most annuals need 15-18C to germinate in the dark (boiler room/airing cupboard- no need for expensive equipment) then you can move them to a much cooler place to grow on such as a frost free greenhouse. My current favourites are Clary Sage (short) Dahlias (mid) and Cosmos. (tall) They all need a sunny spot and you can grow them in big pots (say 3 Cosmos to a 3L pot) to act as infillers in your borders where you have gaps.
Thanks for the really useful information Gillian. I am certainly going to try more seeds next spring. I had already chosen cosmos, as at the moment I am spending a fortune buying large plants as annuals. I am also going to try a lot more cuttings this year and will maybe try to overwinter some geraniums and cosmos in my growhouse. I might need to give it a bit more insulation though!