Six on Saturday - Through heat and thunderstorms

 What a week it has been for the garden and gardeners in Somerset and the south of England.  We had the most amazing storm on Monday and a lesser storm still with lightning last night, and in between severe heat with tropical night time temperatures. Apart for the early flowering plants such as the ladybird poppies which were going to seed anyway, being severely buffeted around, we had little damage.  I am sure the weather was an even greater challenge for gardeners with glasshouses.  Today Saturday, the morning is much cooler. I am joining others over at Jim's for this weekly meme.

Last week I posted a Teucrium in the gravel garden, and so this week I thought I would show you two of the others ones I have. 

1. Seedling itself gently around the garden and useful in its form and upright flower spikes is Teucrium hircanicum. I also find the leaves very attractive, this plant in the front 'Mediterranean Garden' and is completely unfazed by the sun and heat, unsurprising given its origins.  This is plant that I have also had growing in different parts of the garden, and  a plant worth leaving through the winter without trimming as it holds its form well.

Teucrium hircanicum

2. Another Teucrium that I like in all its stages is Teucrium scorodonia 'Crispum Marginatum'. It has the most charming leaf form with ruffled edges.  At this time of the year there are also some fine small flowers.  Again another plant completely unfazed by the heat and drought. Neither it nor me  had read the guides to planting and it does really well in my heavy clay soil, at least in this garden . 

Teucrium scorodonia 'Crispum Marginatum' flowers

Teucrium scorodonia 'Crispum Marginatum' leaves

3. First thing in the morning, it has been cooler in the garden than in the house by a few degrees, and spending an hour or two in the garden doing jobs in the shade before breakfast, is most probably something I shall continue to do.  I've trimmed the Golden Lonicera Balls in the front of the house, and also tackled the Topiary which I started a few years back just by the bird bath. The Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold' (Golden Box-leaved Honeysuckle) is perfect in place of box.

4. I have a little creeping thyme, which started off being planted in the gravel garden. By taking small pieces and just pushing them into the ground, it has now spread to different places, and I find that growing it at the edge of the gravel path, means than the soil is less likely to be dug over and therefore get mixed in the stone, by birds or visiting cats.  Again doing very well in the heat. It is very easy to reduce its size once flowering is over, and during the winter when the underlying bulbs are getting ready to emerge.

5. I have two types of Betonica officinalis along this bed, and looking at how they are coming along, I can definitely say that the dwarf form 'Ukkie' which was  divided and planted early this spring, is not quite in the right place.  It will be moved to somewhere closer the the path but probably not in this bed.

6. By the edge of that path is a clump of White Sea Campion. Silene Uniflora Alba.  I have a couple of other plants somewhat out of sight, and these will probably be moved as well to that edge. This is a wildflower of coastal areas, but is quite adaptable to the clay soil.

White Sea Campion. Silene Uniflora Alba 

I've just learnt that in Roman mythology the Goddess Minerva turned the young boy Campion into this plant after he fell asleep instead of catching flies for her owls, with the bladder representing the bag he should have filled.

Back to the weather this week, not mandatory of course for six on saturday, but I feel that the weather really affects the garden, so often mention it.  I also like to watch the skies for different clouds and try to foretell weather.  The first storm arrived and so much light cut off that it was as if we were in an eclipse and all the street lights came on.  Strong constant wind felt what I imagine like the wind on the edge of a tornado, and there was loads of thunder and lightning, with hail in the rain, though not large enough to cause damage.  We are at the top of a slope luckily we were not subject to flooding, and the rain soaked in well. Later in the week, but this time during the night we had a less severe repetition.  As it was so warm, the remarkable thing they did not clear the air or reduce temperatures.