Six on a Sunny Saturday

Isn’t it amazing how the sunshine just makes everything in the garden look brighter? It’s the beginning of July and the colours are more intense, if only we could freeze the garden just as it is right now! Here are my six on a sunny Saturday in July!

The Peony Festiva Maxima is one delicious bloom which seemed to take ages to come out this year. In fairness, I did dig up and move it earlier in the year so I half expected that it wouldn’t bloom this year at all so I am absolutely delighted that it has bloomed with such beauty and elegance in the new spot. Doesn’t that white bloom with just delicate touches of raspberry look soft enough to fall into?

Always a firm favourite is a fabulous foxglove and having had them for a few years now, I love the variety of whites, pinks and purples that are self-seeding across the garden, with a little help from me manoeuvring them around into prime positions! If you have foxgloves in your garden, take time to look inside the tubular flowers, aren’t they just amazing and so loved by bees?

Talking of foxgloves, I bought two perennial foxgloves at Gardening Scotland and have finally got them in the ground. The variety is Digitalis Foxlight Ruby Glow and I’m so interested to see how well they do in comparison to regular biennial foxgloves. The two-tone coloured florets are supposed to flower into September so here’s hoping!

Clematis Piilu is blooming its head off just now with two-toned single and double flowers. They are really stunning and are climbing a little further and a little wider every year. I’ve just planted two more so that in a few years they will rise and fill the deck with a riot of splendid colour!

Regular readers might remember the compact Hebe Little Red Rum which featured in a Six on Saturday back in January. This gorgeous wee gap filler is an evergreen which is tinged with the most striking burgundy all winter but come the summer and we have these stunning purple tips.

My Six on Saturday would not be complete at this time of year without featuring more of my luscious Lupins! This variety called Persian Slipper, is just blooming like there is no tomorrow, at one point I counted almost twenty flower spikes and with more waiting in the wings, there is hopefully loads more Lupin loveliness to come!

Do feel free to me leave a comment on these six and enjoy reading other #SixonSaturday blogs for information and inspiration from gardeners around the world sharing six things from their garden on a Saturday. #SixonSaturday is hosted by The Propagator, and you’ll find lots of links on Twitter on the #SixonSaturday hashtag. You can find The Pink Wheelbarrow on Twitter at @PinkWheelbarrow.