Garden Diary June 2022
June past by unsurprisingly fast and unfortunately quite wet. The constant drizzle, very often more than only a drizzle, made gardening here in the Walled Garden of Kylemore more challenging than usual. That didn’t stop the growth, though.
Lawns, bedding, vegetables, and weeds grew at a constant speed and kept us busy. The blossom of our old-time heritage favourite Calendula ‘Orange King’ seems to be twice as big this season, the heavy flower heads bending over in the rain sometimes. A weekly dead heading is on the garden priority list for the coming few months.
Pic1 Calendula ‘Orange King’ in our Parterre beds
Our so-called Diamond beds, named after the ornamental bed shapes, are also in full bloom and even glimmer like diamonds, just in a stronger shade of yellow. Chrysanthemum multicaule, another annual heritage bedding plant, has many small flower heads on short stems which gives it a very compact growth. Multicaule means in botanical terms many-stemmed. The botanical names indicate very often the look and growth habit of the plants.
Pic2 Our Diamond beds in the formal lawns
Pic3 A close-up of Chrysanthemum multicaule in combination with blue Lobelia ‘Chrystal Palace’
In contrast to the strong yellows and blues we have orange tones from Tagetes and Tropaeolums. They are growing in our Kidney and Snake beds this year. White flowers like the ones from Alyssum or Lobelia ‘White Lady’ break strong colours and are sometimes mixed in between these.
Pic4 Tropaeolum ‘Empress of India’ and Lobelia’ Chrystal Palace’ with the Vinery I the background
The Fernery looks very lush at the moment, these moist-loving plants do really well in our current weather conditions. Different types of ferns like the Royal Ferns or the European Chain Ferns fill this part of the garden between the ornamental Flower Garden and the Vegetable Garden in a very natural setting along our stream. Arum lilies and Rodgersian are mingling in between these and brighten up the area underneath old Horse chestnuts.
Pic5 The Royal Fern – Osmunda regalis growing alongside the stream
Pic6 Rosé flowering Rodgersia and Arum lilies in the background
The Vegetable Garden is in full swing, too. The first potatoes will be harvested in around three weeks’ time. The first fruits like white currants are ripening and the bee meadows in between the plots are attracting lots of insects, even so less then last year it seems which I put down to the cooler conditions.
Pic7 Lovely blossom on the Crown Peas
Pic8 Globe Artichokes, great for ornamental displays
Pic9 White Currants ‘White Versaille’ has a good crop this year
Pic10 A mixed green manure with bee loving plants like Borage and Phacelia
Let’s hope the weather is improving within the coming few days, it would be great to get few warmer days. Saying this, rain is still better then drought, something many European countries are experiencing at the moment!
Until next time, best garden greetings!
Your Head Gardener
Anja Gohlke