It’s been a busy time for me here personally but not so much with the garden. We’ve all had to change according to the pandemic which, has put a strain on society as a whole. One thing I can say is that All Lives Matter.

So, we are nearing the end of June and the longest day is today. Should be sunny, better than recent days. Enjoy the summer solstice. The weather next week could be a scorcher. Don’t get sun burnt.

1) It’s that time of the year that the Hebe begins to flower. Bees have been all over the Hebe which has become a very large shrub. Overdue a trim, so will get to it once flowering is over. At the moment it’s sagging somewhat due to the rain all day on Thursday and the very heavy rain on Wednesday.

Hebe just beginning to break into bloom

2) Clematis (name or type not known). It’s trying to flower but the snails keep getting to the buds. Sadly this plant is mixed in with the horrendous bindweed.
In fact, I thought I had lost this for good but it’s been trying very hard to grow its best. It’s ten out of ten for its effort and nil point for my efforts to save it from being strangled and eaten. I must try harder.

Clematis in bud

3) Heuchera, Rio. This amazes me how it continues to give colour throughout the year. There are so many shades it turns into.

Heuchera Rio

4) Hydrangea, Vanille Fraise. This is a early stage of the buds of blooms to follow of which there are many on this shrub, in its second year of flowering. There could be be a brilliant show from this wonderful showy hydrangea. I noticed there’s both an insect and an arachnid in this photo too.

Vanille Fraise buds

5) A long shot of the rear garden with a much better looking lawn than it was a few weeks ago. Beginning to get a handle on things now, it’s still a long way to go but, hopefully things will get on the mend. Had things been better, for lots of reasons they haven’t, then I would’ve had more colour in the garden by now. Also have some major failures of seedlings that have succumbed to spider mite. Not just one lot of plants but the whole lot of four different types of plants oh well that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Long view of back garden

6) This is the Olive shrub that I have had for over 10 years. It wasn’t the healthiest of plants when I first got it really but in recent years it’s done very well. Possibly, because we’ve had good weather in the summer but also reasonable winters, albeit wet last year. This year it seems to be doing really really well lots of flower buds. It’s had a boost this year by the fact that it’s had its compost (home made) topped up, weeds and cleared as well beforehand. So it’s now being looked after as it should’ve been. Any pointers to its upkeep is very welcome.

Olive bush

So that’s the end of my Six on Saturday. It’s great seeing all the other Six on Saturdays from all around the world. I thank all of you who have viewed my blog. Along with a big thank you to our host from The Propagator who’s great idea was to begin the Six on Saturday, many more SoS blogs can be seen too, just pop over to The Propagator blog.
I’ll be back with another Six on Saturday next week for the last of June.

Advertisement