“If the first of July be rainy weather,It will rain, more of less, for four weeks together.”- John Ray, English Proverbs
Here in the more Northerly part of England we experienced another wet week at the start of July and so the above proverb has proved to be a fairly accurate prediction.
Looking on the bright side though that has meant less watering can and hosepipe in the potted garden. And as any gardener knows, plants in pots need lots!
Without recourse to ant and slug bait, there have been a few fails. Not least the two Saxifrages were literally unearthed by nesting ants and died in situ. A pot of French marigolds was feast for gastropods and the fragrant Nemesia ‘Wisley Vanilla’ has died after months of flowering. Fortunately I had planted the ‘Berries n cream’ variety alongside which now fills the space.
One thing I inherited in this garden was one of those round BBQs on long legs that resemble a space ship. Since I no longer eat meat, I’ve converted it into an elegant planter, lined with coir matting. A ‘Happy Day’s dark leaved dahlia, pale yellow alpine poppies and the variegated ‘Dragon’s blood’ trifollium now fill the space.
My education taught me to question everything and having purchased some Zinfandel ‘Volanic’ sorrel plugs, I read that in sunnier spots the leaves are more burgundy. Since this is a shade to sun tolerant plant, I put some in individual pots to move around and test the theory. And yes its true – -slide to compare the sun vs shade Oxalis
My Japanesque Garden 
Not only plants in pots need lots – we’ve been having very high temps over here, and the earth is so dry it’s cracked, which means having to throw on the power unit that feeds water from the well through a hose (but that can not be handled by one person, unfortunately) for the lower garden and at least 20 watering cans for the upper half… What counts though is everything growing, so I’ll put up with it 🙂 Plus good workout for the legs and arms…
not sure how I missed this Kiki – must be more vigilant. Our weather patterns seem to have been rather different with only systems that come up from the Azores bringing us closer together in temperature across Europe!