July in the Northern Hemisphere 2020

[ArnoldT]

Could go in Wildlife as well.

Eastern carpenter bee on a blooming Tetradium daniellii.  (Formerly known as Evodia daniellii)

We don't see many honey bees around here now.

[Maggi Young]

Eastern carpenter bee on a blooming Tetradium daniellii.  (Formerly known as Evodia daniellii)

My  goodness- it  looks  like the  head  is  only  very tenuously attached !! Great  photos, Arnold.

[Maggi Young]

Cohan, I see  in your garden photos  the  same  thing  I sense  in Leena's - a  peaceful, sustaining  space. Of  course, a  spot  of  sunshine  helps  with  that!
 Enjoy!

[Andre Schuiteman]

1. Silene regia, the royal catchfly. One of the brightest red flowers in the garden, this species is at home in the prairies of the USA, where it is apparently an endangered species.

2. Chamaebatiaria millefolium, the fern bush. Also from the USA, but from considerably drier areas in the Southwest. I have had it for some years growing among my Salvia bushes but this is the first time it flowered. I would have had to wait even longer had I not spotted the caterpillar that was making a meal of the only inflorescence. I was just in time to dispose of the scoundrel, and a few buds were still left.

3. Coptis quinquefolia. Normally, this is an early spring flower, but for some reason my plant decided to produce a single flower in the height of summer.

4. Anemonopsis macrophylla. Like the Coptis, this is a Japanese woodlander of the family Ranunculaceae. It is best kept out of the sun at all times, certainly in summer, as the leaves scorch quickly.

5. Pterocephalus spathulatus. In contrast, this species from the Spanish Sierra Nevada can take all the sun it can get in the UK. Between November and February I cover it with a pane of glass, as I suspect it will dislike winter wet.

[Leena]

so all that means weeds are way out of control in most beds and I have to be selective in my photos...lol-- I'm taking pleasure from the many flowers that don't seem to mind the crowding of neighbours and weeds, and sometimes enjoying the weeds too

Cohan, that is an attitude I'm trying to achieve.
Also I have to be selective in my photos. In previous years I have never had enough time for the garden in the summer (because of work), and I have been trying to make the garden smaller (with no luck, I'm too easily tempted by new plants/seeds). This summer there has been more time, and for once I have a feeling that even though I'm not even close to being on top of things (or ground elder), there is hope that some day I am, maybe not this year, or next, but someday.  I do enjoy the garden even in it's semiwild state.
The woodland beds are in better condition than sunny part of the garden, but everything looks always better after the "lawn" has been mowed .

Every time I open these pages there are so many nice looking plants which are new to me. I have learned so much here, more than from any book, and appreciate all the work Maggi and others do to keep this going.

[Rick R.]

So that's what Tetradium daniellii flowers are supposed to look like. LOL  Here in the colder north it dies back 1-2ft every winter, but still flowers about every 5 years.  Except this is what I get:


I still get some bees, though.

[hamparstum]

Cohan, that is an attitude I'm trying to achieve.
< some day I am, maybe not this year, or next, but someday.  I do enjoy the garden even in it's semiwild state.
The woodland beds are in better condition than sunny part of the garden, but everything looks always better after the "lawn" has been mowed .

Every time I open these pages there are so many nice looking plants which are new to me. I have learned so much here, more than from any book, and appreciate all the work Maggi and others do to keep this going.

You have magnificently expressed what I feel! With the beauty of your 'wild' garden; this site with the never-ending stimulus, friendliness offering all sorts of possibilities.The Seedex is really part of its jewels. Hopefully at one point in time it will become active again. I specially thank Maggie and all the hidden volunteers that make this happen.

With rain, cold, snow laid outside in my garden, its my southern pleasure to watch the wonders northerners are achieving. Thank you everyone for your pictures.

Arturo

[ArnoldT]

Rick:

I guess your clod is deeper than ours.  The Tetradium is from nothern  China and Korea.  I thought it was more cold tolerant.

[Leena]

You have magnificently expressed what I feel! With the beauty of your 'wild' garden; this site with the never-ending stimulus, friendliness offering all sorts of possibilities.The Seedex is really part of its jewels. Hopefully at one point in time it will become active again.

Thanks Arturo. I really admire tidy rock gardens of others, and all small wonderful plants in them. That is the beauty of this forum, there are so many different kinds of gardens, and seedex is the best.

[cohan]

Cohan, I see  in your garden photos  the  same  thing  I sense  in Leena's - a  peaceful, sustaining  space. Of  course, a  spot  of  sunshine  helps  with  that!
 Enjoy!

thanks, Maggi it's lovely when wet also, but very sunny at the moment-- our first week with a string of days over 25C-- 30 yesterday, and a couple of nights around 14-15, which only happens a couple of times a year, for us...lol of course this brings risk of severe thunderstorms, but none here yesterday... I'm happy for a little drying though, part of the driveway has remained mud all year-- I noticed a thriving Petasites seedling there and the whole section smells like swamp...lol only 4 chances of rain so far in the 7 days...lol
I have my water bottles and spiced green tea chilling in the freezer in case the weather holds for me to go out a little later, enjoying some chilled coffee right now-- these are measures I don't have to take often (usually even on the warm days, mornings are still chilly in the house) so I just enjoy it when it does (oh-- first hint of cloud just came over! maybe storms are coming..)
Two pics from yesterday afternoon-- with the wet summer, mosquitoes have been crazy, their foes the dragonflies have been around, but finally hatched out in truly huge numbers! You might easily see a dozen or more in one patch in front of you... *helps* keep the mozzies at bay, and even warm enough that the dragons are venturing into the shade for the first time this year... these small golds are in especially high numbers right now.
Shepherdia canadensis has also enjoyed the wet, with a bumper crop of berries-- weirdly, the waxwings have been around, but not so much as usual, so lots of berries for me to feast on outside (deliciously bitter, just a few small handfuls at a time)-- leaving me with sticky fingers I need to wipe on dandelion and clover leaves

[cohan]

Could go in Wildlife as well.

Eastern carpenter bee on a blooming Tetradium daniellii.  (Formerly known as Evodia daniellii)

We don't see many honey bees around here now.

Cool one I don't see  huge numbers of honeybees here either-- more in spring, this time of year there are whole fields full of clover, alfalfa etc, near the hives... I'm more interested in the many many native bees, anyway, and hoverflies, huge numbers of varieities of wasps, beetles etc

[cohan]

Andre-- that Silene! Chamae is very cool looking...
Leena-- this is one of the reasons for mowing (which I am still very behind on, in some areas, but have more wildflowers than ever-- all the same species I normally have in some spots, but more of them)-- it highlights the *cultivated* beds and also the patches left wild.. I also have to do it anyway, or the whole place would be a poplar grove in one season...lol-- then mixed forest in a few years...
Arturo-- there are many many of my favourite plants which were gained from seed exchange with forum members, often the connections continuing on to other platforms

[shelagh]

What wonderful pictures from everyone. I can't believe we are at the end of July, the year is flashing by. Just a few pics here from Bury.
Anaphalis margaritacea
Astilbe Willie Buchanan
Beesia calthifolia, not much of a flower but nice shiny leaves
Campanula Blue Pearl flowering for the second time this year
Clematis jackmannii, we took down the obelisk it used to run up and it has travelled over 6ft of garden to climb this Viburnum.

[shelagh]

This Correopsis is new this year and I love the way it moves in the breeze.
Crassula
Lobelia cardinalis has taken age to come out.
Prunella laciniata came from seed from Gothenburg Botanic.
Sax. stolonifera brightens up a dark patch at the end of the garden.

[shelagh]

Scutellaria Texas Rose, one of my favourites.
Stachys minima.
This last one is lost label? Great ground cover the Geranium seedheads poking through do not belong to it. It's very low growing only a couple of inches high. Anybody any ideas?