Roses, Clematis and Cosmos and a visitor

 We are bracing ourselves for another heatwave.  I do not like the heat, so am not looking forward to the next week.  So far, the garden appears to be coping although I will need to be very careful with my watering.

The rest of the roses have now started to flower.  Above is Ferdinand Pichard who has a lovely perfume.

Emily Bronte, with her pink and creamy yellow flower.

Blush Noisette, with its sprays of smaller flowers.

The clematis are also doing well.  I used to have many more but over the years, they have come and gone.  Above is Venosa Violacea, whch is sprawling over the winter flowering honeysuckle.

This is Prince Charles, making his way over the trellis.

Arabella is a herbaceaous clematis who doesn't cling.  She is tied in to an obelisk.

Blue Angel is draping itself along the fence and wall.

Neptune is a smaller variety in a pot.

I have been growing different varieties of cosmos and this one is Cosmos sulphureus Polidor.  I haven't seen an orange cosmos before, but I like it!  I need to get these into larger pots.

Finally, I saw this amazing dragonfly (edited to add: a female Emperor, we think) in the garden.  These are not usual visitors and luckily, this one posed for me beautifully while I rushed to get my camera. Isn't it wonderful?

A Clematis post

Seeing as the roses have had their turn, I now bring you my Clematis selection.  Despite the continuing hot weather (for the UK in June), the clematis are flowering and looking lovely.  May I introduce:

 

Clematis New Love - a non-clinging herbaceous variety.

Venosa Violacea which is coping with the sun by curling its petals up.

Perle D'Azur growing over the arch.

My newest one, from the smaller Boulevard series, called Poseidon.   I need to get this one into a bigger pot and given it something to climb up.

The elegant Princess Kate.

Prince Charles.

Another non-clinging herbaceous variety, Arabella.

Finally, Blue Angel.

Most are blue/purple in colour (although this wasn't an intention when I bought them) and manage to drape themselves gracefully over trellis or up obelisks. They are very obliging plants.  Of course, there are also the Spring flowering varieties, but they have been featured previously.

Late summer sunshine

We have been lucky to have some late summer sunshine this last week, accompanied by some blue skies and it has been lovely.  

The perennial sunflower Helianthus Lemon Queen is certainly enjoying it...

...as are the bees.  Spot the action shot bee flying to the next flower!

There haven't been that many bees or butterflies this summer, due to the wet and cold Spring, but they were out in the sun busily gathering pollen and nectar.

I stood watching and photographing them for quite a while.  They seem to be mainly buff tailed bumble bees from what I can make out.  (Even today, on a very grey and cloudy morning, the bees are still drawn to the helianthus.)

Other flowers enjoying the weather are the Asters.  They have another name now, but will always be asters to me.  Here are September Ruby (I think) and Little Carlow.

A couple of clematis are flowering again too.  Above is Prince Charles...

...and here is Blue Angel.

Finally, in other news, I may have seen a Japanese Anemone, 'Ruffled Swan', on another blog and instantly fallen in love with it.  I have since bought one for myself and it is above.  I particularly like the pale blue/purple backs to the flowers.  The photo is an interesting one as the plant is on the little north facing patio in a big pot, and it was a sunny day when I took this photo, but as you know, my camera doesn't like low light levels, so produced this shot.  The darkness around the plant does make the flowers really sing out though!

Clematis

My clematis are enjoying the somewhat changeable weather this month and I love to see them flowering happily.  Above is Clematis Venosa Violacea which is sprawling over the winter flowering honeysuckle.

Clematis Perle D'Azur mingled with Rose New Dawn on the arch.

It's a pretty combination.

Clematis Princess Kate is romping up a tripod. 

Whereas Clematis Prince Charles is attempting to dominate the trellis.

Herbaceous Clematis Arabella is adding the the colour in the north facing border.

Clematis Blue Angel is hidden at the back of the north facing border, but is growing alongside Rose William Shakespeare 2000.

I seem to have a collection of blue/purple clematis now (with the exception of Princess Kate).  In the past, I have had many others with redder flowers, but these are the ones which have stayed with me.  I also have some herbaceous clematis which are just starting to flower, so they will get a mention in a future post. 

Roses, clematis and an exotic-looking visitor

The garden continues to provide delights.  The final few roses are now in flower.  Above is a climbing rose, New Dawn.

This is Susan Williams-Ellis who is my latest addition (replacing Winchester Cathedral).

Another climber, Blush Noisette.

William Shakespeare 2000, who is making an attempt at garden domination.  It has grown really tall this year.

The clematis are now joining in.  Here is Venosa Violacea, twining around rose Ferdinand Pichard.

This is the lovely flower.

Clematis Frankie.  I bought this as a young plant and then planted it out. However, on the TV,  a clematis grower said you should pot them on and leave them for a year to develop a bigger root system.  I dug it up and potted it into a bigger pot and it has rewarded me by flowering again.

This is clematis Prince Charles, putting on a lovely show.

Here is Princess Kate who was potted on into a large tub and has rewarded me by being incredibly floriferous this year.

I couldn't resist a photo of this self seeded foxglove which planted itself in a pot by the shed.

The hydrangeas are also starting to flower.  Here is Endless Summer, the Bride (I think).

A mix of rose Jacques Cartier, a foxglove, and clematis Arabella.

This hydrangea is at the front of the house, in a large tub.  It provides a much needed splash of colour there.

Here is the flower - this is Endless Summer (Pink), I think.

The final flower (for now!) is Clematis Blue Angel.  I potted this one into a large tub this Spring and it obviously likes it!

The exotic-looking visitor is the vapourer moth caterpillar. It was busily munching away on a rose leaf, when I spotted it.  I brought it inside for identification.

It is quite an amazing looking creature with the long tail and antennae hairs.

I haven't seen one before, but apparently they are reasonably common. I put it back on the rose, but woe betide it if it tries to eat too much!