Certainly a wetter month than July last year we have even had enough rain to allow us to work on the beds on the sunny terrace which normally resemble concrete at this time of year. Inspired by Gwynfor Growers plant stall at St. Dogmaels Market I have now cleared a corner of the top right hand bed of the Phlomis russeliana to make way for an apricot and blue theme. Gorgeous long flowering Kniphofia ‘Tawny King’ with Potentilla x tonguei and Hemerocallis ‘Pretty Maid in shades of apricot to orange. With an unusual blue Salvia (lets hope for another mildish winter) and Campanula ‘Pritchards Variety.’ More planting to follow as funds allow so please keep donating to the garden! The workable soil has also allowed us to stop the perennial sweet peas on the terrace from rambling everywhere and train them up bamboo wigwams where they will make more impact.

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The new Daylilies and (apricot) hot pokers!

Sadly we have had a bit of vandalism, the lovely stone man in the round pond has been decapitated. We are working to get him fixed and returned to his rightful place guarding the entrance to the garden.

The veg garden is coming on with a bit of watering, we now have some fine cabbage, rainbow chard and distinctive nero di toscano kale. The nasturtiums and marigolds have returned from the early season losses to the frosts and the dahlias and sweet peas are coming.

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We also have some gorgeous paeony flowered lilac opium poppies springing up around the garden and looking particularly good with the bright blue Borage in the veg garden.

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The bed on the right hand side of the terrace which was kindly replanted by staff from HSBC this time last year is coming on in leaps and bounds with some judicious thinning of self-set plants. We have a haze of Verbena bonariensis softening bright red Crocosmiia ‘Lucifer’ and large flowered Penstemon ‘Charlotte Louise’ with white, pink spotted Campanula takesimana ‘ Alba’ in full flower now.

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The cottage peeps through a cloud of Verbena bonariensis.

The roses are in full bloom and scent of course joined by the honeysuckles. We are hoping to plant for more scent throughout the year in the future which could be enjoyed by groups such as Aber Actif who came to see us last week. Many of their members are visually impaired, but the visitor which seemed to most enjoy the scented planting has to be the lovely guide dog with a particular interest in scented flowers.

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Sniff sniff!

If you would like to bring a group to the garden please get in touch, we are getting to be more popular and given our limited parking we are keen to avoid a clash of dates!

The rain has certainly kept us busy with a weekend of rain generating growth that feels like it should have taken a fortnight to produce. We have been trimming back flopping growth, staking perennials and hacking back the brambles to keep the woodland walk passable. We have also been giving perennials which have finished flowering a haircut in the hope of generating a second flush of growth ready for our National Gardens Scheme open day on the 2nd of August. The Chelsea chop we trialled on some geraniums appears to have worked for us too.

It is difficult to get any garden to look great every month of the year, but the heat generated in a smallish walled garden like ours can significantly shorten the flowering periods of our planting and bring them forwards. Because of this we have been trying to replant those beds towards the bottom of the walled garden (which have gaps from the removed Buddleja) with plants which flower in late summer – autumn too. A recent visit to Penlan Perennials brought us amongst other things 4 more varieties of hardy geranium in softer colours for the lower garden and a vibrant pink for the terrace beds. I always feel that if your garden lacks interest at as particular time of year that is the time to drag yourself out to your nearby nurseries and open gardens for inspiration. Too many of us fall into the trap of buying in spring only and then ending up with a garden largely interesting in April and May – though after a gloomy wet Welsh winter our desperation for colour could be forgiven!

Finally with the summer holidays looming we are trying to finish some more of the much needed maintenance work on the garden, we have now patched our disabled entrance ramp and we hope depending on donations to keep chipping away at our maintenance list. We also hope to have installed more much needed benches in time for the holiday season.

For anyone wishing to enquire about our holiday centre for people with special needs or disabilities please note that our telephone number has now changed.