It’s raining again! I have a list of jobs to do in the garden, some of them quite urgent and involving power tools, which will have to wait. However, I did manage to pop out between the showers to photograph six things for this morning’s post. First up is Verbena ‘Bampton’ which popped up all by itself between two Alstroemerias. So, does this make it a weed? A plant in the wrong place? It certainly seeds itself about in my garden and I am constantly pulling up seedlings alongside those ‘true’ weeds like Bittercress and Sun Spurge. I allowed this one to grow to maturity as I thought the colour combo might work. The wiry mauve flower spikes certainly make an interesting contrast.

My unusual hanging basket by the front door has certainly prompted a few comments this year! However, it is certainly eye-catching and colourful, if you like yellow and green, and soon it will be covered in tiny bright red fruits of Tomato ‘Tumbling Tom Red’. Which?Gardening magazine want to know whether it grows well in a basket or pot and whether we get a good crop of tasty tomatoes. It all looks promising at the moment but it certainly takes some watering and feeding to keep it going.

The little Japanese aster, Kalimeris incisa ‘Charlotte’ is just starting to flower and, although a little swamped by the surrounding plants, it is holding its own at the moment. A clump-forming perennial to about 60cm tall producing a mound of dark green foliage topped with pale purple daisies with gold centres, produced over a long period from mid-summer to mid-autumn. I have a few Chrysanths too but these Kalimeris flower earlier and for longer, don’t succumb to mildew and, so far, are not eaten by slugs and snails.

Every year, visitors to my garden ask what this is. I am amazed it is not grown in more gardens and sold by more nurseries and garden centres, for it is a superb easy-to-grow plant. Diascia personata is a semi-evergreen perennial with upright stems producing racemes of small pink flowers with darker pink centres from late spring into autumn. I have had it for several years and take cuttings in late summer in case of winter losses. It needs a bit of support so it grows happily in amongst other plants. I grow it with Hesperis matronalis which is over by the time the Diascia flowers.

Possibly the oldest shrub in the garden is this Spiraea japonica which was grown from a cutting 16 years ago when we moved here. A neighbour was digging it out and disposing of it as he thought it was ‘ugly’, and decided to replace it with a Cornus kousa which is now a thing of great beauty in every season. Ugly or not, it is an undemanding shrub which flowers briefly in early summer, gets pruned hard in winter and is forgotten about until the following July.

Salvia forskaohlei or Indigo Woodland Sage, has huge leaves and enormous spikes of indigo flowers, very different from the usual shrubby or nemerosa types. In fact, Salvia is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with nearly 1000 species of shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and annuals. This one is totally hardy and great for poor, dry soils where it will spread and cover the ground in no time. In my garden it is in the ‘difficult’ border where little else thrives in the almost impenetrable clay. It is a magnet for bees and other pollinators too.

Finally, I am looking for some help identifying this pretty cluster-flowered floribunda rose which is rambling over my archway. It was inherited with the garden and is reliable, very healthy and flowers for several weeks in July and August. A friend has suggested it might be ‘Dorothy Perkins’. Has anyone got a similar or alternative suggestion please? I would love to know its name.

Have a great weekend

David