Sustainable summer colour ...

Is there a better place to be than in a garden in midsummer ? I don't think so. When I am not actually in it, I am thinking about being in it, and my first thoughts on waking are often about what I will be doing in it, later on in the day.My last thoughts at night are often about what I have accomplished in throughout the day. Obsessed ? Moi ? No, all perfectly natural ...

One of the many joys of gardening is that eternal struggle for something better, that striving for improvement and enhancement which is an ongoing process. I am currently trying to be more sustainable and to minimise the amount of bedding used by us,  this summer. It just seems so wasteful of so many resources - energy to heat greenhouses, peat based compost to pot on, fuel for delivery and so on.

So, in the quest for permanent colourful planting for pots and beds, I am trying Bedding Roses, this year. Some of you with amazingly good recall and memory skills may remember a previous post,   when I had just taken delivery of 72 rooted cuttings of the Bedding Rose 'Garden Party'. I potted them up and grew them on, and I have just finished planting them out in the garden as edging for beds. My husband (aka'The Exotic Gardener' - because he likes sub-tropicals!) is going to use them in tubs and hanging baskets this week. They have grown very quickly and developed good root systems. The first ones are beginning to flower, and the single flower is an attractive pale pink.

The shade of pink fades gently as the flower ages, and ends up a pale sugar pink ...

The flowers are very delicate.

 The buds are a strong scarlet colour.

The plants are still very small, but you can maybe just make them out, they are in a line, close to the path. I am still watering them regularly as they are not big enough, or tough enough, to make it alone.

They should grow to about 25cm high and spread to about 35 cms, flowering in 'flurries' from midsummer to September. I am very excited about them as, if they do what it says on the can, they should be a fantastic alternative to edging geraniums in beds, and replace a variety of annuals in pots and hanging baskets. Watch this space ...

This post also includes photos of some of the stars of the midsummer garden...

Sinetti flower constantly abundantly throughout the summer.

Chive flowers just opening.

Allium

The first of the seed-grown cosmos flowers.

Clematis Montana.

Heuchera

Dicentra Specatbilis against a background of Sinetta.

A Water Iris in the pond. It is a marginal plant which flourishes in the shallows.