My weekly look at one part of my garden is helping me focus on planting errors and successes. One thing I noticed this week is how the view is slowly being obstructed by the taller plants in the foreground… some more of that Lysimachia will have to go after it has flowered…
In fact, I think we need to look at the view from the opposite direction…
Now you can see all the weeds! 😉
The Aquilegia and Siberian iris are going over very quickly in the heat. But there are lots of Campanulas and Lychnis to come. And at the moment there are other plants to focus on here. Peony Festiva maxima started opening yesterday afternoon – it is my favourite of all, as it smells so lovely and I have plenty of them for cutting.
The other stars are the poppies, popping up in all sorts of new spots this year!
In the picture below you can also see how tall the Aruncus is growing, bottom right.
The greenery in the foreground here is the Golden Rod. Usually there would also be two very tall and lovely Fennel plants here too, but they were a casualty of our very cold winter with several weeks of permafrost. (I also lost two of my Buddleias and my lovely Gaura lindheimeri).
Finally, here is a long-shot from below the Aruncus bed…
The ferns have put on a lot of growth, but if it’s a hot summer they will need cutting down by the end of June and will hopefully send out new growth a few weeks later. They were here – in the full sun – when we came to the house, and only last until autumn if the summer is cool and wet, like last year.
If you would like to join me with a weekly look at one particular view of your garden, just leave a link below in the comments.
Have a great gardening week!
Words and Herbs 
Cathy, your garden views are stunning. Where you see weeds, I simply see greens and oranges and lovely purples and a swath of garden I’m longing to walk through. I love your peonies! They’re such a cheerful flowers. It is interesting to see our garden through a photo rather than trusted your brain alone. I think after we’ve looked at something so long, it’s hard to scrutinize the space with new eyes. Have a terrific week. It’s always a little disconcerting when we start the week on a Tuesday. I’m thrown off for the rest of the week. That said, four-day work weeks have great appeal.
I actually sat and enjoyed the garden this evening as my doggie wanted to lie in the cool grass. I rarely sit out there as there is always something to do! The mosquitoes are here too, but as it is so dry I am hoping they won’t be as persistent as last year. I know what you mean about holidays – I am still confused by a Thursday holiday last week! (Ascension Day). And next week Monday is a holiday for Whitsun/Pentecost! And the week after that it’s Corpus.Christi… the Bavarians are Catholic and like in Italy we get all the religious days as bank holidays! 🙂
Cathy, you do get a lot of holidays! What fun to have so many bank days/working days off of work. I’m glad you had some time to sit and enjoy your garden with your doggie. Funny how we get so busy indoors, or as is the case here, it’s either been too hot or too cool. Mosquitoes are breeding like crazy here this year thanks to all the rain. They’re mostly out at dusk, though, so if I watch the time, I can generally avoid them.
The mosquitoes are out here already too! 😦 Living next to the woods doesn’t help. As long as it stays dry and breezy they are only out at night here too though.
Ooh, poppies AND peonies – how wonderful! Love your header photo close-up.
Thanks Eliza. Yes, the white peonies are out at last and the Elderflowers in the woods are coming out too. It smells wonderful out there! 🙂
Weed? What weeds? I think this is why you should always have a few blooming plants in a flower bed. One’s eye always goes to the blooms so you ignore the weeds. Buddelia is an invasive plant here. Everyone loves them because the butterflies, bees etc like them and they are so colorful but they pop up everywhere now. Our winters have taken care of the ones I have tried to grow so I don’t bother any more. Poppies, oh be still my heart. They are gorgeous.
You are too kind Lisa! I have battled with ground elder this year, but it looks like the dry weather will help me win after all! I won’t try Buddleia again – I have lost a few over the years, but still have a dwarf one near the house which seems to be quite sheltered and has survived so far. I have other invasives in the garden for which I am grateful as they fill spots where nothing else will grow – Lysimachia and Golden Rod for example!
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I can see you are having some very bright sunshine too. I never mind having some tall plants in the foreground as it can add mystery and interest to a planting scheme. My view this week has changed so much from just two weeks ago. https://myhesperidesgarden.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/tuesday-view-30th-may-2017/
That is also a good point. But the Lysimachia tends to smother so many other plants and the Golden Rod will get so tall! I think that is why I want to plant more grasses, as you can see through or beyond them better.
Yes grasses are a good choice and you should be able to find a good selection in Germany.
I agree with the others, I see no weeds…just a lovely garden. 😀
Aww, how kind of you Karen. Thank you! 🙂
I love the poppies. Wish I could grow them, but have never had success.
I had pink ones too once, but they didn’t reseed as well and seem short-lived.
Cathy did not see weeds just beautiful plants and flowers in her garden. The Peony with that pure white and its perfume is wonderful. The Poppies I love. Greetings from Margarita.
Thanks Margarita! The weeds at least make it all look greener, despite the dry ground!
Looks wonderful, getting the scale in the layering of plants is always difficult.
Thank you – the plot is smaller than it looks, although I have crammed it full as I hate seeing bare soil. 😉
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So much growth and development so quickly! Some of my favorite plants can be considered weeds depending on where they want to live! I have self seeding poppies that come up in the darndest places. My view is here. https://hilltopflowers.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/tuesday-view-5-30-17/
I agree some of the prettiest flowers are classified as ‘weeds’! Can’t believe May has been and gone! Happy gardening!
I take note of your strategy to really look at the garden with a critical eye! I think I need to better consider which plants may be overwhelmed by some that have grown so large. I have noticed but didn’t think about perhaps reshaping a bit for full advantage. And I always love the bright orange poppies. Somehow with so much gorgeous green they are the perfect pop of color! Beautiful, Cathy!
Looking through the camera lens does certainly give me a different perspective and makes me very critical. I could never open my garden to the public, like some of British blogging friends are doing! LOL!
Pingback: Tuesday’s View; May 30, 2017: Desperately Seeking Sunshine! | Cosmos and Cleome
What pretty peonies! And poppies, too! I think our gardening philosophies are rather similar–we want some semblance of a plan and organization, but we want it all to look full, natural and organic too! (Organic in the sense that it’s developing naturally out of itself, not in the healthy food sense!) And with that strategy, weeds and self-seeders that pop up in the most unexpected of places are inevitable! I tried to grow Guara in my garden, and it’s never managed to winter over. On the other hand, I have some very hardy Buddleias that power through our bitter winters and come back every year! It even seeds itself and I find it growing between the blocks of the walls supporting the Terrace garden! Anyway, here’s my contribution on this gray, misty day: https://cosmosandcleome.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/tuesdays-view-may-30-2017-desperately-seeking-sunshine/
(If nothing else, our recent spate of icky weather is forcing me to learn to use my camera better!)
Yes, the idea is to have as much beauty and food for the bees as possible without too much chaos! There are some shoots at the base of my Gaura, but I am only cautiously optimistic, as it could just be another weed! LOL!I think the true buddleias that grow wild are hardier than the hybrids we buy from garden centres, and also they set their seed in a nice sheltered spot whereas I planted mine on a dry exposed area with poor soil, open to harsh wind and all the elements. No wonder it died!
Hope you get that yearned for sunshine soon Kimberley! 🙂
Your garden is looking lovely and it is such a good idea to focus on one bed on a regular basis – it must really help you to make plans for improvements/replacements next year. I too have lost some lovely fennel plants although our winter was not too bad. Your ferns are spectacular – there is nothing like them for adding a cool freshness to a hot day.
Thanks Julie. These weekly views really do make me critical and I analyse things maybe a bit too much. I think fennel are perhaps short-lived as I often hear people have lost them suddenly for no apparent reason. The lime green of the ferns does refresh me and reminds me to come in and drink something cool regularly in this heat!
Ah, peonies and poppies at once! Life is grand, and growing flowers is certainly the best enterprise! I am a day late with my contribution and hope I don’t get marked down for it… 😉 https://gardensatcoppertop.com/2017/05/31/the-belated-tuesday-view-may-31/
I agree, growing flowers is an excellent pastime! 🙂
You will be more used to which plants won’t last as long in the heat, not a problem we often have in the UK – although I had to move my Winter Sunshine sweet peas out of the greenhouse as it was too hot and I am not sure they are going to do much this year now, which is a shame.
That is a shame… I have never had luck with sweet peas as even earlier in the year we inevitably get some really hot days and they just don’t like it. The advantage of the heat, however, is that I can grow Abutilons from seed without a greenhouse… hopefully they will be flowering soon! 🙂
Good luck with the abutilons
Here I finally get to peek at your Tuesday View again 🙂 It looks lovely and lush! Your Festiva Maxima peonies are magnificent; I was always disappointed they didn’t grow well for me in my earlier garden where they certainly should have, as our neighbor had a wonderful bed of heirloom peonies! A quick note on your comment above: have you tried heirloom sweet pea varieties, such as Matucana or Old Spice? I’ve used the latter; though they haven’t done much this year, they do seem fairly heat-tolerant! Mine are just stopping, but we have had temps well over 30 C for weeks now.
And at last, a veeery late post: https://www.smallsunnygarden.com/2017/06/02/the-south-border-early-summer/
I can certainly look out for those Sweet Pea sorts Amy. Thanks for the tip. The garden is drying up and we are desperate for rain. I even watered part of the rockery one evening, which I rarely do. I shall bring lots of peony flowers indoors tomorrow before the thunderstorms which are forecast. 🙂
The garden is loving the warmth, it looks opulent! Amelia
It is slowly shrivelling up now Amelia! We deserately need rain!