In the garden: the first rose of summer

[callmemadam]

Yes, roses, honeysuckle and clematis mingle happily on the house walls and foxgloves get taller every day. Yet all is not well in the garden. Late frosts caught hydrangeas, fuchsias and jasmine. We’ve had no rain for about two months and a cold wind seems to have been blowing for weeks. This combination has made the soil rock hard or dry as dust, so it’s absolutely impossible to think of planting out.

I spent part of this morning slashing all the pulmonarias to the ground, leaves and all. This helps prevent mildew later on. I weeded as I went round and continued my ceaseless task of pulling nettles which grow from the field right through the fence. Then my poor old legs gave up.

Comments

[gghost.livejournal.com]

Such a beautiful rose!

After a very wet winter, I think that we may be due for a hot summer, so we'll see how the garden does. At least this year we can water more again.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Weather is so weird. We've had one of the driest winters for years. Luckily, we've never had a hosepipe ban here.

[(Anonymous)]

What a beautiful rose, I love the colour. Does it have a scent? These late frosts are causing a problem. My smaller plants seem okay but like you I think the hydrangea might have suffered. I'm not sure the Christmas tree likes it either, I almost lost it one year when the weather was strange.

H.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

The rose has a slight scent. The advantage of it is that, deadheaded, it flowers until Christmas if the weather is right. There's a beauty on another wall but it's not repeat flowering. The roses were here when I moved in. We can't have bush roses because of the deer.

We're still getting very cold mornings. I certainly wouldn't put anything tender outside yet.