Days getting shorter already. Here spring seems to have sped past, lucky for us when for so many confinement dragged interminably. The weather is more summery as well, after a cold spell in June we have had heat and a coupe of tremendous overnight thunderstorms, and today it has settled to cloudy and not too hot.

The Prairie now is a blaze of colour. Most of the height comes from the Grasses, but the Perovskia seems to grow taller each year despite assiduous pruning(!) and there are tall pale lilac spikes of Veronicastrum as well.

The Echinacea continue to hold their flowers well

Last to flower of the Prairie Salvias, salvia Sclarea Vatican White, also a good self seeder!

After a tentative start in the Gravel Garden, the Hemerocallis are now abundantly in flower everywhere.

Gentle Shepherd, with its creamy flowers in the Gravel garden and by the gate

Vibrant orange in the “hot” bed above the fosse

and a fantastic range of shades in the Prairie, yellow through peach to pink and darkest burgundy.

I guess it is principally shade from the Miscanthus, now taller than I and threatening to sprawl over, that results in later flowering in the Gravel garden. The fruit trees to the east, shading it from the morning sun, and garage to the west, probably impact as well. At any event, by the second week in June, Gravel garden flowers are suddenly abundant.

Most striking among them, tall spikes of Yucca

All 3 of the Yucca planted originally have survived, but 1 of them is struggling and only a rosette of leaves remains. The other two are both superb this year.

The flowering shrubs are looking good too. Buddelia was out last week, but has been joined now by delicate Indigofera gerardiana

and Lepedeza thunbergii

which after a couple of years is now holding its own in competition with the Gaura, but certainly needs to be staked if it is fully to be enjoyed.

Perennials are flowering too, in shades of blue, tradescantia and geranium

and pink, Lychnis Rose Campion, doing better where self seeded than originally planted, and Hemerocallis. There seems to be a rogue burgundy shade among the pinks, which I will leave as the contrast is not displeasing.

Meanwhile back on the prairie Pennisetum Tall Tails is in full flower

and other Grasses are also looking at their best, notably the Panicums, this one virgatum Kupferhirse.

At a lower level there are a few surviving Eupatorium cannibum plenum

The Monarda, which I thought had been strangled by weeds, are doing well in places

and Penstemon Blackbird is looking great this year.

Last but not least of this weeks flowering shrubs the Punica in the Stone Circle.

The hottest May on record may rapidly be being followed by the coldest June! Or perhaps we were just getting acclimatised. The garden, at any rate, has enjoyed a good soaking over the past few days, as have we on the occasions we ventured out, and it is a good deal cooler. While frustrated that at times it is too wet to work in the garden, I am also glad that we chose this moment to trim the box, since it can get sadly scorched if pruned in hot, dry weather.

I have now weeded once round the prairie, that has taken 12 weeks, and of course there are now plenty of new weeds back at the start point. I have also taken a fairly ruthless line with some plants in the Gravel Garden that I rather suspected of being weeds, scabious and daisies, it is sometimes difficult to know whether these are invaders or cultivated forms that have reverted. I have likewise removed several white achilleas growing among the red ones in the Prairie. In the Gravel Garden I will replace with Echinacea and Hemerocallis, both of which do well there, although as yet they have not broken bud.

In contrast some of the smaller Hemerocallis in the Prairie are already in flower, this is Corky, contrasting nicely with Penstemon barbatus coccineus

which is doing well this year with large clumps in several of the massifs. The flower spikes seem to lie somewhat horizontally in places, I’m not sure if this is wind damage or a struggle to support the weight of flowers.

Taller perennials are flowering now too, competing with the grasses for height. Notable among these at present are Achillea Cloth of Gold, with the Dianthus still in flower alongside, it has held its flowers well and more than earned its keep.

Also, inevitably Verbena bonariensis.

I am happy to have it, in limited quantity! I have removed a fair amount this year, including a clump which was alongside a deep orange Echinacea, an unfortunate combination, but they will be back, almost as good a Gaura and Scabious at self-seeding.

There are flowers away from the Prairie now as well. The Buddleias are out in The Gravel Garden, although not on the lower terraces.

The white Oleander, which I must have moved 3 times and finally homed adjacent to the swimming pool overflow, is spectacular, so spectacular indeed that it is now difficult to squeeze past, although I am reluctant to prune it.

The Lavender beds which Phillipe created for me down by the lower cave are well established now. Sadly the white lavender has not done as well as the blue, but there isn’t really space at present to replace it. Perhaps when these bushes reach the end of their natural life.

The salvias in Walnut Terrace are beginning to go over, but some at least of the Gladioli have survived

and even a few Potentillas on the lowest terrace have made it, although in reality I think it is probably too dry for them here.

The sun will be back soon, bringing out more varieties of Echinacea and Hemerocallis for next week.

Late May and the hot dry weather continues, high 20s at least so it is uncomfortable to work on the prairie in the afternoons. The gardening team have started turning up at 8.00 rather than 9.00, last year we were in late June if not July before they decided, wisely, that working in the afternoons was better avoided. This has not been a local phenomenon, the UK and indeed much of the rest of the world is reported as having had the hottest May on record. There has however been some very localised weather around here, flooding in Beynac at the beginning of the week although we have seen only a few drops of rain.

The focus in the garden now is the Prairie. The shrubs by the gate are almost over, and the hemerocallis not quite out, although amazingly the aquilegia is still holding on to a few last flowers. In the Gravel Garden and on Walnut Terrace likewise there is plenty of growth but little flower as yet, although the first lavender are flowering in the Mediterranean Garden

where the last Iris have not quite faded.

The deep purple, and occasional surviving rose, salvia nemerosa in the Prairie

have been joined by white Schneehugel

and salvia verticillata Purple Rain is also flowering now in Gravel Garden and Prairie, so nearly 4 weeks after the first salvia, praetensis, flowered.

Dianthus cathusarianorum blossomed in the middle of the month, and has held its flowers well for several weeks, heralding other pinks to come

First among these Echinacea pallida, a few tentative flowers towards the end of the month, and then a mass by early June

and pink flowers among the grasses too, Penisetum Karley Rose, pale at first but deepening in colour with time

Other Penisetums have begun to flower too, notably Red Buttons.

Penstemon Huskers Red, white flowered but with red foliage which will continue into summer, was out in late May.

By the end of the month there were flashes of red as well. Aptly named Echinacea Hot Papaya

and Achillea Red Beauty.

The smaller achilleas do not do as well here as their tall relations, barely holding their own. I do not know whether this reflects the variety, whether they have to battle harder against the weeds, or whether, planted as they are towards the front of the massifs, where the soil tends to dry out more quickly, they just suffer more in dry weather, perhaps worth asking Dan to spare them some mulch!

More colour to come in June, and perhaps some rain as well!