A quick scroll through last year’s early June posts brings back memories of warm and dry weather, and how we longed for some rain. A very different scenario this year - one of the borders in our Water Garden is still partially waterlogged and we’ve noticed a significant increase in slug and snail damage, even on plants rarely affected e.g. some of our asters have been decimated.
We rarely stake our plants, preferring to ‘Chelsea Chop’ instead. Having been too busy in May, we finally got round to trimming Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen' and a handful of the taller symphyotrichum. Our hylotelephium received the same treatment, cutting them back by half as they’ve grown quite leggy due to the wet weather.
Weeding the borders in early summer involves pulling out armfuls of cleavers (Gallium aparine) and we’ve also spent time digging out creeping buttercup, nettles and alkanet where they threaten to smother other plants. Along the garden boundary we have adopted a far more relaxed approach, supporting natural biodiversity. This time of year, it always feels like we’re firefighting, having to prioritise the most urgent jobs in the garden, which usually involves deadheading or removing anything that’s about to seed. We’ve continued to remove the spent flower stems of Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii, giving the new shoots, which will flower next year, more light, helping to keep the plants neat.
We’ve also managed to finish off a few odd jobs, such as deadheading bearded irises and backfilled a trench in front of a clump of bamboo (Fargesia scabrida), which was reduced earlier this spring.
Now that we’ve finally managed to pull up most of the forget-me-nots and can see where the gaps are, we’ve been adding a few more perennials. A welcome benefit of the wet weather is that we’re still able to plant in June.
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