THE LONG BORDER AND MORE

The Rose Garden has been hogging the Six on Saturday limelight the last two weeks, and yet there is more to explore in the garden.  So let's go have a look.

The Long Border is timed to come to life as the Rose Garden starts to wane.  Here's a few general shots to start us off and then we will delve into some plants in detail.  As you probably know by now, this border is based on the designs of Gertrude Jekyll.  She made just such a border at her house Munstead Wood and published a plan for it in 'Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden'.  

The border starts off at either end with pinks, blues and white before moving on to pale and deep yellow before crescendoing at the centre with orange and red. 

The Cool part of the Border at its North end

Moving from the Cool colours into the Warmer ones

The Central Hot Section

The South end of the Border, also in Cool colours

I'm going to pick out four plants for my Six on Saturday that are looking their best right now.  These candyfloss plumes belong to Filipendula rubra 'Venusta'.  Aren't they stunning?  It's a tall plant  (about 5ft) so sits towards the back of the border.  Having been in a few years it seems to be self seeding in a well behaved kind of way.

Monarda 'Cambridge Scarlet' is my choice in the hot section.  I love the bergamot scent of its leaves.  If I'm weeding early in the season and accidently pull up a sprig of this, I can tell straight away by the smell.

In a wider view, you can see how it mingles with the yellow Verbascum, Achillea, Coreopsis lanceolata and Kniphofia 'Traffic Lights'. 

It's lily time and I've been very pleased with how they've flowered.  I have used the grazers lily beetle spray, which deters but does not kill the pests.  I can't see whether it says what this spray contains, but I wonder whether a foliar feed might be part of it.   I have seen and squashed a few beetles but not as many as last year.  That may be down to the cold winter, which thankfully seems to kill off most of the lupin aphids (which are a real nuisance here).

But back to the lilies.   This one is African Queen and she is a show stopper.  There's also a Hemerocallis fulva flore pleno and Achillea 'Terracotta' and some Hollyhock 'Nigra' to keep it company.

Further along are the Lilium 'Regale'.  They may not last long in flower but they do look and smell gorgeous.  In this photo they are accompanied by Anthemis tinctoria E C Buxton and Eryngium alpinum.

While at the other end of the border Rue, chosen for its bluish leaves, grows alongside. 

I'm dragging myself away from the Long Border now as there is more to tell you about.  The Artichokes are ready to eat, and while I can't pretend they are up there with the best ones I've eaten (Venice - since you ask), they are fun to have at least once each year,

Sometimes I hold back from including too many plants in one post in case there is a dearth in future weeks.  I'm now throwing caution to the wind and showing three of my Pelargoniums in one fell swoop.  They are all new to me this year as I pretty much lost all mine in the sudden -10C of early December.  I restocked from Fibrex, which I am pleased to see has now managed to find someone to take on their business (the current owners were retiring).

These beauties are the pink scented leaf 'Lara Starshine', gorgeously dark Black Knight and the sweet rosebud 'Australian Pink Rambler' at the front.  The plants were quite small when they arrived but they established so quickly in the greenhouse.  

That's all I can cram in to this week's Six.  Thank you for reading, and don't forget all the Six on Saturday posts can be found on Garden Ruminations where Jim collates all our garden ramblings.  See you next week.