Whilst every month has its own particular splendours, June brings hedgerows bursting with colour from a wide variety of wildflowers. Tiny, shy little flowers like the speedwell nestle comfortably amongst larger showier specimen such as the tall, majestic foxgloves with their fascinating arrangement of spots within the tube.
The majestic foxglove
Umbellifers abound
All shades of pink are represented by the striking cerise coloured wild roses with their contrasting yellow stamen, the pink campion, the buds of the sea carrot and the wild mallows. Cool colours are displayed by the white ox-eye daisies, bindweed flowers, elderflowers and cow parsley.
On the two sided dry stone walls (or Cornish Hedges) the flat tops are thick with the rounded pale pink flowers of the thrift and the little slippers of the birdsfoot trefoil.
Along the coastal paths all these are joined by the gorse and the creamy, lemon or bright pink flowers of the mesembryanthemum.
Mesembryanthemum
Cultivated gardens are not to be outdone. Giant balls of purple flowers of the alliums stand proudly in herbaceous borders, amongst scabious, cosmos, and cranesbill; whilst rambling roses tumble over walls and fences. Cheerful marigolds give bright splashes of colour and cornflowers of an almost iridescent blue attract busy bees.
There are signs of future glories to come as the sweet peas continue the climb up and around their supporting obelisks and trellis. The agapanthus buds fatten and split, giving a hint of the showy flowers which will appear and last almost to September. The large flower heads appear on the statuesque cardoons again giving a hint of things to come.
Agapanthus in abundance in Cornwall
So whilst, as The Gardening Year poem suggests, “June ….. fills the children’s hands with posies”, there are plenty of glories to come later in the year.
A very big thank you to Christine – the author and photographer of this first guest blog post. We hope other guests may be inspired to follow suit and welcome any other submissions.
