Still hot today, but there are promises of a degree or two cooler than yesterday. And please, please, please can we have the breeze back. For now, the phlox paniculata are gently roasting, especially the large petalled magenta/purple varieties. Only Adessa ‘Pink Star’ is keeping her cool, here seen alongside the starry Neptune’s Gold Sea Holly which doesn’t appear to mind the heat.
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In the back garden, most of the border plants are fading fast, apart from the bergamot/bee balm/monarda. Over the last few days, it has burst into life and bees, although I’m sorry to see the individual flower parts are soon turning crispy round the edges. (But then aren’t we all!)
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The peripheries of the garden don’t suffer full-on sun until after mid-day, and this is where I have the beans – French climbing Violette, and a few Borlotti and Butter Beans, growing up canes and obelisks. The runner beans are growing alongside the compost bin, mostly Enorma but also a few St. George. They are now providing a pleasing seasonal screen along this short section of garden which overlooks the road.
Actually, I love bean flowers (almost as much as the beans):
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Behind the runners, in the old apple tree corner, is a raised bed with the butter bean obelisk, a courgette plant and a self-grown sunflower. Today, the courgette plant has a quartet of blooms, plus one courgette ready for picking.
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You can see this week’s number six in the photo above, on the right, beyond the courgette leaves. It just happens to feature in today’s newsletter from Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens. So here we have Aster x Frickatii Monch as it starts its season, and rather sooner than expected.
In the newsletter, granddaughter, Julia Boulton, who now runs Beth Chatto’s says of it:
“Absolutely the best Michaelmas daisy, for long display and sheer beauty: does not need staking, and is not affected by mildew. Deserves the best soil and position in the garden.” Its further statistics are: height and spread: 1m x 45cm; conditions: full sun, rich and fertile soil; flowering: Aug | Sep | Oct.
I’m not sure why I planted it in front of the apple tree. That spot does get dappled sun and then full-on glare at the end of the day, but there are much sunnier spots in the garden where it could show itself off to better effect. (Added to the re-do file).
Finally, a view of the a front garden bed, just to show it’s coping with 33 degree C plus days – the achillea ‘Moonshine’ drying on the stem, the allium drumsticks still doing their stuff, Artemisia Powys Castle, very much containing herself alongside a rather weedy apricot coloured Achillea, (Lachsshonheit) which I thought I’d lost, and a young Crocosmia Harlequin (bottom left) about to flower. Background support from Euphorbias, Santolina rosmarinifolia, Pheasant’s Tail grass, and crimson leaved heucheras :
Copyright 2026 Tish Farrell
Six on Saturday: For more views of Jim’s fabulous and mindfully curated plant collection.
We have a very welcome breeze in London today, though we’re still forecast to go above 30 degrees! Your garden seems to be coping OK for the most part. I love the shot of your front garden with so many complementary plants gathered together 🙂
Thanks, Sarah. Pleased you like the front garden compilation 🙂
Your garden is still beautiful Tish, even in the hot weather. We are supposed to get into triple digits this week. Most people in my community, including us, have opted for bark or rocks instead of lawn and drought resistant plants.
Bark/rocks instead of lawn sounds like a good strategy. Our bits of lawn are like old sack cloth now, but then I do know the grass will pop back at the first drop of rain. And even dried up, it’s been quite soothing to walk on barefoot in the early morning.
😍
Your garden thankfully just keeps coping….
It’s certainly being challenged though – a bit like me!
Well, this is super difficult heat is certainly a challenge
Tish, so glad to see your beautiful flowers are hanging in there despite the heat.
Thanks, Beth. Could do with some rain-making magic though 🙂
Aren’t white flowers so cooling in this weather? Your beans are looking amazing, I am rather jealous!
I’m impressed too. But proof of puddings and all that…
Love the beans, love the front garden and love Aster x Frickatii Monch. I must buy more asters as I have lost all of mine (except a very sorry looking plant – S&S made a meal of it last year and it hasn’t recovered). We had a breeze here yesterday but it was so warm that stepping outside was like being wrapped in a blanket! For my part of Cornwall it has been hotter than I have ever known it. Although some mornings there was a sea fret along the coast and it was rather chilly as my daughter discovered.
I’ve several new Michaelmas Daisies varieties from Great Dixter in the front garden beds (hopeful of extending interest well into the autumn). They went in as smallish plants last year, so I’m eager to see how they’ll look. All this heat, though, has been curbing their development. But at least they seem not to be attacked by S&S (fingers crossed).
Hope you have some cooler temps today. We have a more vigorous breeze this AM. And some clouds!
Very cloudy here too. First in a week. Still feeling hot though.
I will be glad to stop having a wet cloth round my neck!
Beautiful photos! I love your pictures of the bean flowers. I think we’re about to get some, too, as our largest beans have a few buds!
Good luck with your beans, Kathrin. Runners tend not to like being too hot. Mine have their roots shaded which I think helps a lot.
I feel cooler just looking at your photos, although it’s a toasty 104 Fahrenheit here. At that temperature, a breeze doesn’t even feel good. Hopefully it’ll be cooler there soon.
Gosh, Janet, that is v. hot. Glad to give you a touch of coolness.
I can’t believe how much good eating you cram into that garden of yours. All this and flowers too!
It does make for some confusion and unruliness though (especially the spuds which are dying back in a big way). Actually, the most successful veg item has been a big tub of repeat-picking lettuce. Easy to water and I can keep moving it into the shade!
Now that sounds like a plan!
Truly beautiful!
These are beautiful images. 😊
Many thanks.
You’re welcome. 😊