One good thing about having a garden is that every year the slate is wiped clean and we get to do it all again: ideally we don’t make the same mistakes twice and our triumphs still make us happy. Meantime, smile as you are forced to listen to Mariah Carey (again) and when someone insists on watching Love Actually for the seven thousandth time. Soon you will be back in the garden with a heart full of joy and a barrow full of promise. WORDS JAMES ALEXANDER-SINCLAIR
STAR OF THE MONTH
Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’
You will remember this plant with fondness. Back in about July, the sun shone down and it was a picture of pink perfection with petals draped like silken scarves on the golden shoulders of princesses. Those petals have now long since returned to compost but we are left with these delicious central bosses: as firm as doorknobs and knubbled with frost.
Here, in one picture, is the reason why we should let our perennials stand for as long as possible. I have a golden rule: if it looks horrible, cut it down. If it still looks good, leave it be. This one can stay.
Purple coneflower. Attracts bees, birds, butterflies and moths. Take root cuttings in autumn or spring. Height x Spread 75cm x 50cm
MYRTLES, NOT TURTLES
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July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
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