Garden update

This Summer has been famously wet.   The Tomatoes are suffering, but other plants are rejoicing.  Here's a short update on plant status from the throbbing metropolis of St Pierre sur Erve.  (French for throbbing metropolis: une fourmilière; i.e. an ants' nest.  They use it ironically too)

The damp days make for early morning mist, but at least it's not raining, so I can work in the garden.  I brought this plant of Ophiopogon Planiscapus Nigrescens from England, for no other reason than I think that black grass is cool.  I broke it up and spread it about the garden and this is the only place where it succeeds, so I'm leaving it there.

The Hydrangeas are against a North-East-facing wall.   This helps to keep them cool in hot Summers, but even then, they do wilt a bit in the dry months.  This year they have bloomed really well, growing enthusiastically in the wet conditions.   We are finding it easy to propagate them from cuttings taken from Autumn prunings,  just pushed into the ground. We maybe get a 30% hit rate, but we're slowly filling up the whole space available.

I love the strange symmetry of Crocosmia, and happily, they seem to thrive here in this dry and sunny spot, though I had always imagined they prefer moist.    There are two different types in the garden, the other is more orange in colour and is not out yet.

Both these Heuchera plants were freebies, picked up in plant swaps or donations.  I like the delicacy of the flowers, and the one with dark red foliage offsets its beige flowers beautifully.