June

"The swallows are chattering

around the house.  All night

you sweat it out waiting for a breeze

to collapse you to sleep."

- Jo Shapcott

Fields and vines in early June, before the heatwave!

By the end of May it was becoming apparent that this had the makings of a hot summer, with several hay fields already cut and baled. Foxgloves and aquilegias were soon went over in our garden; heleniums were in full-flower by the middle of June.

Ripe for the picking

Still, it's been one of the best years we can remember for cherries - even birds and foxes would have enjoyed their fill without depriving the rest of us.

Our neighbour came by with his little grand-daughter one humid evening to present us with a bowl full of ripe red cerises that she had enthusiastically picked from their tree.

They looked so delicious that I put some on a plate to photograph with a few David Austin roses, culled before the rain and wind could come and ruin their perfection.

A jug of 'Shropshire Lad' roses

Flaming June

Although we've had a couple of rainstorms to provide much-needed moisture, the afternoon temperature has been steadily rising to 30'C - and beyond - which makes it hard to do more than a bit of dead-heading in the garden.

Now our rain-water butt is empty again and we hide indoors during the hottest part of the day, venturing out at sundown to fill watering cans and slake the thirst of our most vulnerable plants.

I still have seedlings waiting to be planted out, so these have been potted on and kept partly in the shade, getting watered twice a day and developing rather too quickly!

Oenothera speciosa 'Siskyou'
and Hummingbird Hawkmoth
with trapped proboscis

Hummingbird hawkmoths are frequent visitors to the garden, drawn by early flowers like aubretia and then to the wide blooms of evening primrose which beckon invitingly.

This variety 'Siskyou' is a small rockery plant we found at Beth Chatto's in England, recommended for well-drained soil in full sun, and it's been flowering profusely for the past month.

On a couple of occasions I've had to rescue the poor moths when their proboscis apparently gets stuck inside the pistil, as shown in this photo, and they almost exhaust themselves trying to escape.

I'm not sure if it's the sticky nectar which traps them so firmly but it does give me the opportunity to snatch a photograph when they pause their desperate fluttering.  Happily they fly off immediately once extricated!

Anchusa azurea 'Dropmore'
with hovering dragonfly

Another popular plant for visiting insects is anchusa, whose bright blue flowers attract butterflies like the swallowtail or, occasionally, a passing dragonfly like this one.

These are very welcome in the garden as they devour mosquitoes, amongst other things, and often arrive with damselflies when our plants have enjoyed a good drench from the watering system. 

By midday the borders are positively dancing with butterflies, mainly drawn to the twenty or so lavenders in full bloom.

Echium vulgare
- plenty of flowers to keep the
insects happy

Plant supports

Back in April Christina used our neighbour's willow offcuts to make some useful supports for taller plants - like this echium which has a habit of spreadeagling over its neighbours.

These willow wands were bright yellow when we first stuck them in the ground but have since matured to a less eye-catching brown.

She also put one around our peony, which was similarly successful in helping the plant to stay upright - although it didn't help the plant to flower, maybe because we'd carefully mulched it in spring and covered up too much of the crown which needs to be kept exposed.

Either that, or there was a dry spell at the point when buds should have been forming.

Delphinium consolida
- a colourful trio of larkspurs

Larkspur

Like foxgloves and pinks, this is one cottage-garden favourite that I wouldn't be without because it's so adaptable and easy to grow in this climate. Also, by and large, it doesn't require any staking.

By the end of June I'll have collected seed from all three colours, to be distributed in various corners of the garden in autumn.

It's hard to predict exactly where they'll come up of course, which is part of the fun, but what are the chances of finding pink, white and blue growing together in what looks like a single plant?

Striped stink bugs or
Graphosoma lineatum

More insects ...

Umbellifers like this giant hogweed (Heracleum sphondyleum) have been growing tall along the waysides and had already set seed by the beginning of June.

Every season we come across unusual creatures which we've never really noticed before: these striped stink bugs were observed partying atop the seed heads and made an interesting pattern for the camera.

A fat grasshopper hanging out on a Coreopsis flower

and feathered friends!

Readers of previous blogs this year may have wondered what happened to the eight cygnets which hatched out beside our neighbour's lake in early May ...

Swans mingling happily with ducks and goats

Although the whole family disappeared upriver for a while, they've now started spending time beside Robert's lake once more - douobtless tempted by the fact that he feeds stale bread to his ducks every morning!

All eight cygnets appear to be thriving and, oddly enough, the adults seem less territorial than before, calmly sharing their turf with ducks and goats.

Robert says that he's even observed a swan nibbling the wool of one of his rare-breed sheep as if it's helping to remove parasites - odd indeed!

Catanache caerulea - a sun worshipper
which seeds itself over our gravelled driveway

Catanache

This is a plant which apparently relishes lots of heat and sun, although its blue petals close up during the hottest part of the day, hiding behind papery bracts that reflect - and deflect - the strong light. A clever strategy.

Their petals look a darker blue-mauve when closed, as in this picture, but by morning they open up again, a clear cerulean blue.

Scabious atropurpurea 'Fata Morgana'
available from Chiltern Seeds

By way of contrast to all those azure flowers in our garden, I've started looking for plants with orange or apricot tinted blooms.  Scabious is easy to grow in our chalky soil, so I picked this tall variety which stands out well against the larkspur behind.

Unfortunately, its leaves are rather scappy and call out to be camouflaged by other plants which will grow to at least 80cm.  Larkspur, too, looks very dishevelled after a week in the baking sun and many will have to be pulled up even though there are still a few flowers to come.

A cool spot for late afternoon

Good at gliding, but can they fly ... ?