The garden is still relatively green despite our higher than average temperatures and lack of rain.
I have managed to have sweet peas for the second year, much to my surprise. They are the perennial variety and have self seeded and caught me unaware, so I will just have to sort things out after they have finished flowering. Perhaps next year I will be able to help them put on a better show.
The Wisteria is flowering for the second time and has had a sever trimming since this photograph was taken.
The mophead Hydrangea has supported the heat, up till now, although it looks a little sad in the evenings.
Although the flowers of the Lacecap Hydrangea are pretty close-up, I think they are more difficult to appreciate from a distance as the flowers face skyward. The mophead Hydrangea may be more common but I feel our mophead has more impact.
The Foxgloves are mainly over but I will be collecting the seed and trying to increase them as they seem very happy in the garden and have put up a fine show this year.
The other star of our June/July garden is the Larkspur (Delphinium consolida). I have found these grow best here if left to self-seed or sown in the autumn straight into the soil.
They attract all sorts of pollinators and require no special care. I get beautiful pale shades of pink and lilac but I have found that I must select the seeds of the white and the pale flowers or else it is mainly the dark blue flowers that take over.
My geraniums have made themselves at home all over the garden and are quite happy in drier, shadier areas. They are also a big favourite of the bumble bees.
The lavender is growing well and enjoying the hot sun we are experiencing at the moment.
The hummingbird hawk moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) has been around for a while now and he visits the garden from early in the morning until the light is going.
It is good to see the season visitors in the garden like the Anthidium manicatum bee on the Stachys. Growing Stachys is a sure method to attract this bee to the garden.
On the other hand the bottle brush (a Callistimon species) has not been the bee magnet that we had expected.
At the moment it is the Magnolia grandiflora that is the star of the garden. It looks beautiful and smells divine.
…and of course the bees love it! Have a look at this short video (30 seconds) to see the bees collecting pollen from the flowers.
a french garden 
What a lovely post, Wonderful garden. Wow you guys have seriously green fingers. But the best bit is the video of bees on the Grandiflora. I have one that produces about 3 flowers a year that last about 2/3 days. How do I get more flowers on it?
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Transplant the the tree to the Charente Maritime? Amelia
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Amelia, oh no! Is that the only solution? How are your bees doing? Mine are in a great state after a most odd spring but with a reasonable amount of rain. I think I am going to have to start harvesting honey in the next couple of weeks. Michael. I just posted photos of some of my hives at Coursegoules on Instagram My ID. MtheClick
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Our bees are doing well. We caught a lot of swarms this year but all have now been re-homed and we are back to our five hives. We do not usually harvest until the end of August. The sunflower will be starting here in about a week. I have never used Instagram but I will try.
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I am pleased your bees are doing well. We think that the very strange spring with a quite a hot period before a cold and wet May might have caused a lot more swarming than usual. I have tended to harvest at several different times to help the back pains but also in an attempt to get different flavours. It also pSpreads the work load. Any good luck.
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We harvest after the Colza but do not put in comb. The natural honeycomb is delicious and we strain any odd bits to give a very nice liquid honey that sets quickly. The flavour is very good as it is not all Colza. However, this year we did not get a lot as we had divided our hives and also some had swarmed. Our main harvest is the end of August.
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I adore sweet peas – what stunning plants you have.
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I have to get them climbing up something nest year and not over the other plants. Amelia
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Glad to know that the garden is coping with the heat. How about you?
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We have no rain forecast for the foreseeable future. The temperatures are not to be much over 30 degrees, so I will be alright but with not rain for the garden??? Amelia
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Lovely! Here in the Piedmont of North Carolina perennial sweet pea (Lathyrus latifolius) is so aggressive you can cut it to the ground I often cut it to the ground in mid summer to clean up a prevent the seeds from maturing.
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Thanks for the tip. Now they have started to re-seed I will try to do that. Amelia
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Magnolia grandiflora is a favourite of mine but I don’t have room for it. Lovely
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We never thought it would grow as big as it has when we first planted it. Amelia
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Lovely – and standing up to the heat very well. 🙂
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It coped quite well with that very hot spell but I have to water the vegetable garden daily now and some other plants are needing to be watered as there is no rain in sight. Amelia
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Did the perennial pea just show up uninvited? Did you sow normal sweet pea and get that instead? I know they show up uninvited because they do exactly that all over here. I have not sown normal sweet pea in decades because it does not do well for us. Your perennial pea has a distinct color. I just recently featured ours just because it happens to be blooming so nicely.
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I had tried sweet peas for years and they never thrived here (heat?). Then someone on the blog suggested I tried perennial sweet peas and success! Once I get over the shock of them surviving here I will try and look after them better. Amelia
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