In an English Garden - in June (II)

Above left Cornus canadensis, a suckering subshrub only a few inches tall. It favours damp acidic soils and won't grow in my dry soil.

I was going for an English Garden with no roses, but actually I have two. This one is single pale yellow one that grows rapidly. Despite it's wild look I believe it's a modern hybrd, it's called "Fruhlingsgold". I much prefer these simple roses or the old fashioned roses to the modern hybrid T and floribundas. The problem with the original old roses is that they only flower once, but lookalike strains are being developed that repeat flower.

Another joy in the garden for me is to grow from seed. It adds that extra bit of satisfaction, makes the plant that little bit more special when you have raised it yourself from seed. Apart from this satisfaction there are other good reasons to grow from seed. Plants are not always cheap and seed is usually relatively cheap. If you want to plant in drifts rather than just have single plants, or want to experiment with a tricky plant in several situations then seed gives you the required volume of plants. You can enjoy and study the variation when you are growing variable plants from seed and select you own favourites. I also find that self raised plants are more likely to survive, and here I am thinking of the rarer, more difficult ones, becuase there is no change in soils/composts, climate that they have to adapt to.  Finally seed is often the only source for some rarity. For all these reasons I grow as many plants, both rare and common, from seed.

Above left is Astrantia major, an easy umbellifer. I grow these from seed and now have a clump, some with white flowers, some white and green, and one white with a delightful raspberry pink centre. I am very fond of the Astrantias (see pictures in July section) and they seem to be very easy and beautiful additions to the garden.

On the left is an Aconitum, I think napellus which I thought I had seed of a cream form. Seed sometimes gives you a surprise too!

The Diasicas have become very popular in the UK. They are members of Scrophulacae, related to Foxgloves, Penstemons etc from South Africa. They come in apricot, pink, and lilac shades. They can be a little frost tender, and this is the only one that I can grow in the open garden.