It is early June in The Fortnight Garden and it is raining, sort of. There is certainly no doubt about the wind! And no doubt that the temperature has plunged – I am wearing my winter jerseys again. The weather has been so erratic but somehow the plants seem to enjoy the swings between the highs and the lows, and I am certainly enjoying the increasing abundance and changing colours and sights. I am very grateful that I have the garden during this time and can escape into its beauty, and peacefulness.
1.The paeonies have been absolutely glorious over the past week, but Friday’s rain and hail, and Saturday’s wind have finished them, which is sad because it will be another year before I see them again. The red paeonies are being swamped in another part of the garden and I may move them later in the year.



2.I popped some salvias into the patio bed, near the nepeta, and they are just starting to raise their heads. I hope they will establish and spread so that I have a good splash of blues in this part of the garden in May and June.
3.The brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ are blissfully happy in a partly shaded bed which is also quite open. Japanese anemones are neighbours and I think I will just have to be careful that they are not swamped. These plants are already at 4 foot! I also planted ‘Jack Frost’ in the north side of the garden, but they are no longer flourishing. Perhaps I need to separate then, add fresh compost, and start new plants from cuttings.

4.Knautia ‘Macedonica’ are abundant and covered in buds. I had hoped to bring you an abundance of red flowers this weekend, but we have to wait another week for the show.
5.Stipa Gigantea is flowering and just gorgeous. Just look at the detail in the flowers!

6.And finally, some views to just enjoy the hard work of earlier in the year. I particularly enjoy the geraniums and petunias, where the lobelias are also starting to flower.
And that is early June in The Fortnight Garden. It was looking good this time last year as well! I see that I can look forward to the clematis, perhaps next week. Thank you to The Propagator and now to see what my fellow gardeners have done during the past week.
Looking wonderful
Thank you – I am pleased, particularly as the past weeks have been so difficult