wendyswonderlandgarden

My passion in life is gardening and specifically growing flowers from seed

Category: summer

Summer 2026

This summer in northwest England has been one of trying to keep myself cool and the garden watered. We collect a lot of water here and have properly more than 6 water butts and have still struggled to not use the tap. We also have a lot of garden so not everything can be watered every night. It’s definitely got me thinking what flowers I can grow in future that can cope with the dry summers. However, in previous years we’ve only had extremes of all weathers. Extreme heat, extreme dry, extreme cold and extreme rain so what flowers like this I ask and what’s more do I like them!

I have noticed many things starting earlier and finishing earlier meaning my autumn tidy up is already underway. You never know it might get finished this year.

I am glad I’ve decided to grow less from seed and have less pots because that would have been even more water. I’ve also hardly bought any new plants in months as our clay soil is very hard to dig in this weather.

However, we’ve had some lovely roses and a pot of pansies that I planted last October are doing better than ever. Here are some highlights.

Wordless Wednesday- Arum lily

Cosmos Double Click Cranberry

It’s been lovely to sow some seeds today for the summer. I don’t really like winter as it’s a time I can’t really garden too much as the cold doesn’t really agree with me.

I have grown cosmos from seed for many years with varying degrees of success. Many times they germinated easily but woodland necessarily flower. The last few years they haven’t even germinated so I’m doing things a little different this time. We’ve put the seeds in compost that has been warmed up for a few days in a propagator on the windowsill in the kitchen. I love the colour of these so really hoping for good results this time. I’ll keep you posted

September 2025

Every post I seem to write starts with an apology for the silence. This summer I’ve had very little time to do any gardening except a quick bit of tidying up here and there as I’ve had very little free time. It’s bern very dry here and so my little free time has been spent watering. Despite the neglect and dry weather my garden has done pretty well.

My sweetpeas finished early although they did look and smell lovely when flowering.

I didn’t sow many seeds this year and probably a good job as they would have needed watering. I sowed an annual poppy which was a bit disappointing when it flowered.

The one that got left in the greenhouse has done the best. I also sowed some Daucas (wild carrot), they germinated very well and some have flowered and some appear to be waiting for next year.

Daucas

It has, however, been a great year for roses. They don’t look very healthy with lots of blackspot and the caterpillars have been busy munching too but they have flowered amazingly.

Dahlia Cafe Au Lait

June 2025 in my garden

After a good few months of very dry weather and our many water butts emptying rapidly the rain seems to have started and forgotten to stop. The garden is grateful though and has been growing away although I have to say my foxgloves seem to have stunted growth this year and aren’t as tall as expected which is a shame as I plant them at the back of the border. I have lots of things flowering and here are some pictures – a lot of white and also pink.

Canterbury Bells

Wordless Wednesday- new rose – Champagne Moment

Wordless Wednesday- Dahlia Moonfire

Wordless Wednesday- Clematis – The President