"The hum of the bees is the voice of the garden." Elizabeth Lawrence
Gardens with plenty of flowers naturally draw in the honey bees. We need their help as pollinators and they need as much help as we can give them. They sometimes suffer from a drought of pollen from June into July.By deadheading bedding plants and repeat-flowering perennials we can enjoy a continuous display of colour and provide the nectar the bees need. Planting hardy geraniums like the native geranium pratense, helenium, Veronica, cat mint and the perennial cornflower, Centaurea montana, is all to the good.
Removing the flower spikes from delphiniums and lupins when they go over helps them to come again. Leave some flowers to go to seed though if you want to collect the seed and sow for next year.
Poppies and pot marigolds are easy and make colourful borders. Now is the time for taking cuttings and propagating your own plants. It’s rewarding seeing them grow and saving you money at the same time. Patio and container plants, pinks, carnations and hydrangeas can all be multiplied for a great display. Other jobs around the garden may be sowing herbaceous plant seed, thinning out perennials, biennials and winter flowering seedlings and dividing flag irises. Oh, and watering.
- Deadhead Achilleas, scabious, gaillardias
- Cut Kniphofia (red hot pokers) and Agapanthus (African lilies) down to the base
- Plant autumn-flowering bulbs: Amaryllis, crocus, nerines
- Dig up spring flowering bulbs: tulips, hyacinths, to store and plant in autumn
- Keep hanging baskets and planted containers fed and well watered
- Use rainwater for watering if you can
- Look out for caterpillars, vine weevils, lily beetle, capsid bug, greenfly and blackfly
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