June 2019
Summer is just around the corner.
“The longest day of the year is just around the corner”. When you say it out load it’s scary. It sounds like that’s it for the summer and it’s all downhill from here on.
Fortunately, we gardeners know that’s not the case. The equinox may bring the peak of day length but it’s just the beginning of summer in every other sense.
Many annual plants and hanging baskets have only just gone out and their displays will be at their best towards the end of the summer. This goes for many veg too.
So, don’t forget there’s plenty of time to get your garden looking beautiful for our gardening competition which will be judged in August. We will be giving out Gold, Silver and Bronze awards much like Chelsea flower show so it is not just a prize for first, second and third place. We will be awarding as many certificates as we think fit and it is the standard of love and care you have shown your garden that will determine, a Gold, Silver or Bronze. (details on how to enter will be on My Loftus shortly).
This month’s main job is cutting front garden hedges. Luckily, we have not been stopped by any nesting birds, but if we do that section of hedge will be left until the chicks have fledged. It’s against the law to disturb nesting birds so always check deep inside bushes before you give them a trim during the nesting season. (April – October).
The Escallonia hedge in Loftus lane is looking gorgeous right now and obviously will not be trimmed until it has finished flowering.
On a less cheery note, and I have mentioned this before, we do have a problem of too many bugs and not enough hungry birds at Loftus. An extreme example of this can be seen this year on our Viburnum bushes. The lavae off the Viburnum beetle have caused devastation to a point of making a whole section of shrubs appear dead. They may recover if we leave them but they will be weakened by the defoliation and could have the same thing happen to them next year. As much as we want to encourage biodiversity, we need to achieve the right balance.
Shrubs have to also look good to earn their place at loftus so we have decided these troublesome plants have to go. They will of course be replaced, but with something a bit more ornamental, and more resistant to insect damage.
Fortunately, along with the bad comes the good and not all is so harsh on the eye. The Californian Poppies in the car park of Bevin house are magnificent, as are the Oriental Poppies on Loftus Lane.
The usual hot weather for this time of year is a bit late arriving, but I’m really not complaining. This time last year we were running around with hose pipes trying to keep everything alive and despite all our efforts we still lost plants. So, I’m hoping for a nice warm but wet summer this year.
Given the choice of a good sun tan or thriving plants, it’s a no brainer for me