Welcome back to our June edition of our Garden Blog.

 

We experienced a lovely spell of dry weather this June, our rainfall was just around 95 ml for the month. The heat in the recent two weeks made plants, especially in our double Herbaceous Border jump and is creating a lovely display along the 80 meters of the historic plant selection. One of the main Herbaceous flowering at the moment is Digitalis ambigua, the Yellow Foxglove. This perennial was introduced before 1900 and is the longest flowering Foxglove. In Germany they are called Thimbles ('Fingerhut') due to the shape of the flowers. Just keep in mind that all parts of the plants are poisonous. 

 

 

Pic1 Digitalis ambigua - Yellow Foxglove (A snail found a home under the bottom left flower head!) 

 

The Yellow Foxglove looks particularly nice in combination with the purple Iris kaempferi as a backdrop. 

 

 

Pic2 Yellow Foxgloves and purple Irises  

 

 

Pic3 Northside of the Herbaceous Border end of June  

 

 

Pic4 A mixture of Verbascum, Tanacetum and Acanthus in the Border 

 

The crops in the Vegetable Garden are filling the plots nicely and  a few things such as Mangetouts are ready for harvesting.

 

Our Cabbages have also made a healthy growth within the last few weeks. Seaweed fertilizer played a big part  in this. Cabbages are very hungry crops and need a good feed. They will be ready for the coming Vegetable Sale in a couple of days. 

 

 

Pic5 Cabbage 'Greyhound' in our Brassica plot 

 

Our potatoes are also doing great so far. The Queens will probably be ready for harvesting in about four weeks time. 

 

 

Pic6 Potatoes 'British Queens' with Diamond Hill in the back ground 

 

It is lovely to see our Globe Artichokes doing so well this season. We had years when we hardly had any. I love the architectural look of them and rather have them flowering then eating!  

 

 

Pic7 Globe Artichokes! 

 

The warm spell we are experiencing at the moment is also great for the melons. We were very unlucky in growing these fruit in recent years. Lets hope it works out better this summer. They are kept in the coldframe which is developing a lot of heat under the low glass frames. Back in Victorian times they had a special glasshouse for Melons alone here in Kylemore. 

 

 

Pic8 Melons 'Ananas' and 'Zatto', two Italien varieties 

 

The weather is also an advantage for tender plants like succulents. I researched few different old seed varieties of Echeverias last winter which we propagated successfully in spring. They developed quite well and are planted out in a typical Victorian urn planter now. 

 

 

Pic9 Echeverias and scented Pelargonium 

 

We were a bit behind with our flower display in the Formal Gardens but most summer bedding plants are  in bloom finally. The later season can also mean that we will have a longer display, going right into autumn hopefully. 

 

 

Pic10 Calendulas, Lobelias, Tropaeolums and Cannas in our formal Flower Garden; restored Vinery in background 

 

We are also expanding our 'Animal display'. Hannah and Heidi, a Connemara mare and her foal found a new home in the meadow behind the Teahouse. They are already very popular with the visitors and the backdrop with the Diamond Hill gives a lovely  picture opportunity. 

 

 

Please join me again for more news from the Victorian Walled Garden here in Kylemore next month. 

 

Your Head Gardener

 

Anja Gohlke