Recently, we might have experienced unseasonably cool weather across East Anglia, but there’s still been plenty of blooming flowers in the garden to brighten the first weekend of June.
Some of the irises, aquilegias and early summer roses are in full glory.
A few stragglers from May are graciously fading away.
But, wait a minute, there’s all this potential just about to burst forth!
June in an English country garden (well, actually a suburban back garden with cottage style planting) can be a quietly charming moment – weather permitting!
This is one tough and beautiful rose which I bought from Peter Beales Roses when I returned to Norfolk 10 years ago. I think it might be my favourite rose. It is Rosa Anemone, a Hybrid Laevigata. From June onwards it has large, single silver-pink flowers and according to the catalogue has ‘a touch of mauve giving it a vaguely oriental look’. It is quite a thorny rose, but as each open flower is so charming and delicate it’s worth putting up with a few prickles, plus, the single blooms are very popular with bees and other insects.
You can place an order for bare root roses throughout the year, but the rose growers start digging them up and despatching them from this month until March. I like to buy bare root roses because I’ve always received roses with a much better root system than those grown as container specimens. But the main reason I buy bare root from a specialist grower is you get an enormous and varied selection to choose from.
Classic plant combination, roses and clematis. Rosa Mme. Isaac Pereire and Clematis Proteus.
Having recently taken down an overgrown peach tree I’m looking for a small climbing rose, pale to mid-pink that will cope with poor, stony soil and tolerate a little shade. Haven’t made my mind up yet, but it’s always important to remember what else will be flowering near it at the same time. These pink Shirley poppies were out in late June this year so a handful of seeds in the vicinity of a new rose just might be a combination to work towards.
Recently, we might have experienced unseasonably cool weather across East Anglia, but there’s still been plenty of blooming flowers in the garden to brighten the first weekend of June.
Agnes Ashe 