Another completely dry week here in the North West but the forecast is showing the start of a wet spell coming next week. The garden desperately needs it. We haven’t cut our grass this year yet, unlike our neighbours who are now sporting a lovely straw coloured lawn! We’ll probably cut it on Wednesday, just before the rain is due in an effort to reduce the risk of hay bales. So here are my six things from my garden this week. Thanks to our blogging host Jim who can be found here. If you fancy joining in with us you can check out the particpants’ guide too.
Number One. More foxglove pictures as they are still the best thing in the garden right now. I’ve noticed a new colour variant emerging this week. They looked white when they first started to open but today they have a very light apricot tinge to them. I’ll be keeping an eye on them this week to see where this colour ends up. The bees are absolutely loving them.
Number Two. I planted these violas a couple of months ago and they really seem to be enjoying the hot, dry weather. I love this colour combination, with the little flash of purple in the gold petals.
Number Three. The lupins are getting better and better. Almost fully opened now. Still only two flower stems across the six plants but they’re beauties.
Number Four. My delphinium is going to flower I think. I have a love/hate relationship with this plant. The first couple of years it refused stubbornly to flower. Then I had one good year of flowers. Last year it succumbed to slugs very early on and didn’t recover. This year, it seems determined to flower again. Though I’m a little worried about the yellowing on the leaves. Not sure if it’s the lack of rain or I am over watering to compensate for the lack of rain? It has a smaller companion that is showing no signs of the yellow leaves, or a flower for that matter.
Number Five. One of my favourites – a hardy little scabious that seems to flourish under a lack of attention. It has been moved up onto the patio where it gets daily dead heading and hopefully I’ll remember to water it but it gives off the impression of not caring whether I remember it or not!
Number Six. I know this isn’t the most beautiful plant I could have included but I love the way the sun shines through the leaves. It’s a lovage plant that I left in the raised bed last year when I covered the beds over to protect them from the copious sycamore seedlings that always fall on our garden. It grew through a slight cut in the fabric and is enormous now. We don’t eat it (didn’t realise it tasted like celery when I planted it) but its leaves are really attractive so it gets to stay.
Thanks to Jim for hosting our trips through our gardens every week. Come and join us, post a link on Jim’s blog and take a look at the blogs of the other participants while you’re there. See you next week!
The Garrett Garden 
Foxgloves, Lupins, Scabius, tick, tick, tick, all favourites in my garden too.
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Have your foxgloves flowered yet?
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Just started this week.
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This week people are feeding my foxglove envy! I don’t know that they would take the high winds my garden is subject to, but I love them!
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Well done for getting your delphinium to flowering size, mine always gets eaten by the demon slugs and snails before then. Love the colour of the foxglove, beautiful!
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I cross my fingers every time I walk past the delphinium 😂
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It’s bound to rain the week of the Bank Holiday, the children (and the teachers – my other half is one!) are off school – and there’s a Bank Holiday! Need I say more?
Your plants are looking lovely, especially the foxglove and the lupin.
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Great photos, I particularly like the foxglove and little violas.
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A great selection, and I’m familiar with growing most of them. I haven’t grown Lupines for a while, but I do enjoy them. The Foxglove is fun, too. 🙂
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