Rain drenched, bee buzzing, colour clashing,

Autumn flowers

kaffir lily

 We've passed the equinox so there's no denying that it's now autumn but for the past few days the sun has been out and the days almost as warm as in summer, so, along with 'proper' autumnal flowers - michaelmas daisies and kaffir lilies, some summer ones are having an extended flowering season

michaelmas daisies + verbena

hardy fuchsia

 hollyhock

one last rose

sweetpea buds

welsh poppy

nasturtiums

another hardy fuchsia

montbretia

nasturtium

lavender

winterjasmine

but along with all these, the winter jasmine is starting to flower! Almost four seasons at once.

First of the month - August

 the day - and the month - started off sunny, so we briefly went to the allotment and came back with a box of goodies - potatoes, rhubarb, a few raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and even blackberries,

 tomatoes (probably the first of a glut)



french and runner beans

 a handful of peas

 courgettes (definitely well into a glut of these)








Back home for lunch - and the rain came down soaking everything and making the flowers look most bedraggled

 It may only be the first day of August but with blackberries ripening and Michaelmas daisies flowering Autumn seems only just round the corner

Coming up roses

 My rambling rose which used to twine along a fence dividing the flower beds from veg patch is being re-trained. When we first got an allotment, I decided to cut down on the vegetables grown at home so removed the fence which had split the garden in two. I tried to move the roses but the roots were too deep. A small root lifted and I planted this on an outer fence where it's getting established and has a couple of flowers this year. But the main plant stayed put and I'm trying to shape it to form a pyramid clump.

 As a rambler, it wants to carry on growing forever - and has managed to sneak out of the 'pyramid' and round the other side of the birch tree....

...and even up into the leaves! It's maybe 10 ft high and growing faster than the tree.
I rather like this weirdly-flowering tree look so for now at least the rose can stay.

August in the garden - flowers

August is the time for montbretia flopping over the path,

 for hollyhocks reaching up past the hanging basket

 This year I've a variety of new pinks and carnations - mostly rescue plants from the clearance section at the garden centre. They're looking well so far but I was disappointed to find out that the smaller ones aren't very hardy. I'll need to take some of them inside the greenhouse for winter.

















 This massive blue flower is a platycodon or balloon flower - one of thoe no-effort required plants that I love.

I grew new antirrhinums this year, most of which have turned out a pale lemon with just one red so far.

 The old straggly white rose has had a second flush of flowers.

 Sweet peas are flowering regularly at last. Only two shades on them this year - deep red and lilac. They're grown from last year's seed and it rather seems like only one pod of seeds germinated.















 Dry weather has helped the rudbeckias along - one of the few annual flowers I grow,mainly for their bright high-impact colours.



A lot of veg seems early this year - and so do Michaelmas Daisies! Here's the first of them.

July in the Garden - flowers

 I don't 'do' bedding plants so at this time of year my garden tends to looks a bit dull with lots of floppy greenery hiding the flowers.


They're still peeping through here and there though

  and the lavenders are still trying to take over the path!

lovely scented roses

red hot pokers

path? what path?

sweet william

feverfew

sunflowers reaching for the sky

hardy fuchsia

'rescued' lobelia starting to flower