flower pictures, plant pictures, summer

Plant Pictures - Summer

I change the pictures and caption at the top of the home page every month - they're mostly taken in my garden or near where I live. Here's an archive of those pictures. They're all taken by myself with digital cameras - various types.

Plants pictures to buy

Summer - White Lilies - An absolute summer favourite and must-have. What's the point of having a garden, or even just a window box, if you don't take the opportunity to grow pure white wonderfully scented blooms that are often up to 6 inches or more across? What's that? Lily beetle? yes I know, but I'd rather struggle with them and risk it than not bother at all. Plant them somewhere near the house so you can easily see and smell them whenever you walk past. Lilies to buy

Summer - Mullein - Verbascum olympicum - a large biennial plant that grows to about 3-4 feet to the top of the leaves and then another 3-4 feet of flower spike above this, so not easy to ignore in the border. The flowers come out in order along the spike so the whole inflorescence is long-lasting. Easy to grow and unfussy about soil, sow seed one year and they will flower the next, will self-seed if it's happy where you put it. Verbascum to buy

Summer - Morning Glory - Heavenly Blue. One of my favourite flowers and a must-have annual every year. Sow the seed in March and by late May to June, they're ready to go outside. They do great in large containers, make sure you give them plenty of space and you'll have a endless succession of perfect flowers every day as long as you dead-head them in the evening. Ipomoea to buy

Summer - Rosa felipes Kiftsgate - the rose that wants to be a tree. This bunch of flowers is about a foot across and is part of a display some 12 feet wide and 10 feet high, and this is just a teenager! A very vigorous rambling rose, only flowers the once in a year - but it does so magnificently, filling the garden with perfume in the process.
Kiftsgate to buy

Summer - Variegated plant reverting to plain green.
Many plants with variegated leaves, especially shrubs and trees will produce all green leaves in the spring and summer, if left, these plain shoots will overtake the plant entirely. Cut them back as far as possible to the trunk, main stem or roots leaving only the variegated parts.
Eunoymus to buy

Summer - Wisteria sinensis at Hinchingbrooke House, Huntingdon. This is one of my favourite plants and settings, growing up a spectacular old manor house, this plant goes almost un-noticed as it's off the beaten track. This small open courtyard garden is paved with millstones and the scent on a warm spring day from the Wisteria is amazing. Something to aspire to for gardener and homeowner alike!
Wisteria to buy

Summer - Nigella, Love-in-a-mist or Devil-in-a-bush. Delicate flowers in shades of blue, the flower is surrounded by a "ruff" of finely divided foliage which when there are many flowers together give the impression of them all being in the "mist". After flowering a large (similar diameter to the petals) seed pod forms which is decorative in its own right. The best thing though is that you can let them self-seed and you have them every year for no effort.
Nigella to buy

Summer - Foxglove - Digitalis
I love foxgloves, they are one of my favourite flowers. They are woodland edge plants and so are good for the right "difficult" position, though can seem difficult themselves as they do need the woodland edge position. Life is not complete unless you have spent some time time watching bees visit foxgloves and have taken 5 flowers off to place on each finger. Foxglove to buy

Summer - Pheasant's Tail Grass, Stipa arundinacea
A statue surrounded by a wonderful mass planting of Pheasants Tail Grass - Stipa arundinacea. This is at Anglesey Abbey Gardens near Cambridge, a few years ago now so I guess the planting has been changed by now.

Summer - Hollyhocks, Alcea rosea - these are a classic cottage garden plant for the back of the border. This is an example of the original plant type, a large plant, 6 to 8 feet tall with simple single flowers in a pastel shade. There are a large number of modern cultivars available that may be shorter, have double flowers and with a wider range of flower colours. Hollyhocks to buy