
When is this weather going to cheer up?! I know we all moan like crazy when it gets too hot, but more than two sunny days together would be welcome at the moment. The grey, damp skies may be dismal for us, but there are hundreds of plants revelling in it. And that means there’s plenty of work to be done like sowing biennials, feeding azaleas and tidying up tree trunks…
Beautiful biennials
The wild foxgloves in the hedgerows have been fabulous round here this spring! They’ve loved the soggy winter and spring, and many are only just now beginning to lose all their last touches of colour and turn to seedheads. If you’ve got foxgloves in your garden, or indeed other biennials like sweet williams, or Brompton stocks, it is simplicity itself to make sure of a continuity of these beautiful flowers next year and beyond.

The point about biennial plants is that the seed germinates one year, and then the plants flower, set seed and die in the following year. Yes, they will self-seed, but that is always a little random – you never know where they are going to pop up! Or you can buy seeds to be sown now, but it’s cheaper and much more satisfying fun if you can gather your own.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Carefully cut off an old flower stem and turn it upside down over a piece of newspaper, and the ripe seed should fall out. Or you can hold the stem over the filled seed-tray and shake it gently.

2. Fill a seed tray with peat-free compost, tamp it down to squeeze out any air pockets, then sprinkle the seeds over the surface.

3. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of horticultural grit or vermiculite, and then sit the tray in shallow water to soak the compost.
4. Put the tray in a warm and sheltered place – it won’t take long for your seeds to germinate.
5. Once the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick them out into individual pots or modules to grow on. They’ll be ready to plant out into the garden early next spring, for a gorgeous show of flowers, loaded with nectar during the summer.

How to grow lavender
You may be wondering why I’m writing about a Mediterranean plant like lavender while the rain teems down but the fact is that if it is given the right position and soil then lavender will give as fine a show as you’d like. It’s all about the old adage of ‘right plant, right place.’
My friend down the road grows the most fabulous lavender – much better than mine – in gravelly, dry and free-draining soil and full sun. They are the most wonderful sight in July and August thronging with bees and butterflies and the scent is incredible on warm days.

And then at the end of the summer, she just cuts them hard back with a hedgetrimmer! So if you can offer those kind of conditions, then I would heartily recommend lavender (a piece of cake to grow from cuttings taken now).

There are three main types of lavender – L. angustifolia which is our familiar English lavender (this is the hardiest of the lot); L. x intermedia which can get pretty big (often over 4 feet/1.5m) and are also generally hardy and very robust; and L. stoechas which is not quite as hardy or long-lived, but it does flower a little earlier. You’ll recognise the last one by the small endearing tufts on the top of the flowers!

Gardening shorts
- Sometimes, you see shoots coming out of tree trunks. These are called ‘epicormic shoots’, and they can be triggered if you have been pruning further up the tree, or light levels have changed because another tree has been removed, for instance. They actually won’t harm the tree, but they can spoil the look of a well-shaped tree, so cut them off tightly to the trunk when you see them.

- Now is a good time to give rhododendrons and azaleas a feed of acidic fertiliser. Something like Miracid or Sequestrene will give them a good boost to start producing buds for next year’s flowering. While we are on the subject of acid-lovers, help camellias to form more buds by making sure they don’t run short of water in the summer.

- Try to keep the watering of tomatoes consistent, or you run the risk of the skins splitting as the fruits swell.
- Houseplants on windowsills can quickly get scorched by the sun in summer. Move them to a cooler spot during hot spells or put a bit of net curtain up to shield them from the hot rays. While the nights are warmer, they may well enjoy a spell outside as long as they’re not in blazing sun or drying winds.

- I want to finish with a little plea: don’t forget to stop and just enjoy your garden whatever size it is. It’s high summer, and the need for frantic horticultural activity is receding a little. So make sure you have a little wander from time to time, perhaps glass in hand, or just sit down and watch and listen for a while. We are so lucky to be able to grow plants, even if it’s only in a windowbox; make time in your busy life to appreciate this priceless chance.
Are you prepared to spend a lot on a plant that you really, REALLY want? Our columnist Louise explains how this can happen in her Great Plant for this Month post.

We all love getting more plants for free! In this short video Elaine demonstates how to take cuttings from both shrub hydrangeas and the lovely climbing variety – Hydrangea petiolaris:

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