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GARDEN GROW? How does your T ime almost stands still in June. I imagine a pendulum of Anna Taylor, owner of Anna’s Flower Farm in Audley End, shares what’s going on in the garden this month
This is the culmination of a spring’s work and full of hope. I water the plants well the evening before and plant, ideally on a cooler day, into watered holes. I’ll water again when I see fresh growth, knowing that the roots have stretched and explored into their new home. In the garden, the rising temperatures and longer days create rapid flourish, then as the year turns, annuals race to flower and set seed in earnest, so their offspring germinates before the winter – making hay while the sun shines. Remember to cut the flowers, or at least remove spent blooms to welcome the next set of stems to follow on. This way flowers will continue for many weeks. Stake plants too, individually with a couple of canes, or a metal support. If growing in beds, try jute netting stretched between stakes, about 18 inches high. It’s hard to believe these tiny plugs will grow several feet over the next few months, but they do. And there are always summer storms to test. Finally, do sow some biennials for your June
the year’s clock, pausing interminably on the apex of the swing and hanging, before the huge weight of the seasons causes a turn to the other direction on midsummer’s night. Just as the days are reliably warm and we realised it was so light outside, daylight hours peak. I find it so bittersweet. In the gardens, we had the brash spring opening act to the year. Easy-peasy to create with bulbs and masses of flowering shrubs and perennials. But then it gets a little sparse – a June gap. A tricky one to traverse. If a garden looks great in June, the months either side will be more
challenging. You see, June plants like iris, delphiniums, lupins,
PLUG THE GAP Be prepared for a post- June lull by getting plants ready to drop straight into your beds
peonies and foxtail lilies take up a huge amount of room in a border. Emerging in late winter and swelling
MAIN IMAGE © ANNA TAYLOR PORTRAIT © CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
over the months, they explode now. These are some of the superstars of the garden, and with good reason. But soon after, they’re in retreat, leaving huge gaps which are difficult to plug in a perennial planting design. My solution? Drop in pots of ready- grown plants! The ultimate Blue Peter ‘here’s one I started earlier’. Ideally, you’d have begun these from seed undercover a few months ago, otherwise buy small plug plants (from the market or check your local flower grower), pot on into a larger one and literally drop in to the border. You can leave these sitting on top of the soil or cut
It’s hard to believe these tiny plugs will grow several feet
garden next year. Honesty, sweet rocket and wallflowers are good gap fillers, but utterly lovely in their own right. They take a full year to grow and flower from seed, and are often even better the following year. There’s a ‘stop-and-stare’ quality to June. On the cusp of a descent into summer; emerald-green leaves before the hot sun bleaches them. Busy birdsong and a warm breeze all combine to make it utterly magical in the garden.
the bottom out and sink the base in. Good plants for this are dahlias, nasturtiums and cosmos. All will rise up over the June bed and blur all the edges – it’s a great trick. When the days might be shortening already, there are still a good 12 weeks of summer garden to enjoy. This is the great plant out. If you didn’t do it before, gardeners and growers all over are bringing precious trays of seedlings out after the last frost date to get in the ground.
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