Garden notes, end July - early August 2019

Over the past two or three weeks the garden has moved from being full of scents and colour, to a minimal palette of mauve, with a few pops of yellow as the rudbeckia starts to appear.  The glorious Regale lilies have all gone now.  They were quite spectacular this year, doubling in number from last. I think I will have to re-pot the bulbs, in the hope that they double again, in which case they will definitely need a bigger pot!

The weather has been hot and humid during July, and so far early August has brought thunderstorms and torrential downpours of rain.  In July, I was doing my best to protect the Gentle Hermione roses from occasional heavy rain, but the blooms have all gone now so there hasn't been too much damage in the last few days. The sweet peas survived last night's onslaught from the skies, and they are flowering and smelling delicious this morning.  The runner beans and climbing purple French bean, Cosse Violette, are beginning to fruit.  Hooray!

We have been enjoying some of the Painted Lady butterflies which have arrived in the UK this summer, in their millions.  They have been dancing around the lavenders in the outer garden, the fennel and Verbena bonariensis. Glorious!

The raised bed has been completely swamped by the nasturtiums!  There are a few small yellow and green courgettes.  The tomato plants are a law unto themselves this year!  Not doing that well, but it's fine.  Last year's haul is still sitting in margherita pizza sauce form in the freezer, so I am not too worried about those!