July Bloomday

Garden Bloggers Bloomday for July, in the Windywillow garden.
Below is the rose, Scintillation, backlit by the evening sun.

Most of these photos were taken over the last few days. This morning is so dark and windy, the flowers are moving too much for the camera to capture.

See what I mean? The weather has been dark, rainy and stormy since the day of summer solstice. It's as if summer had been turned off on that day, and has returned only in scarce moments. Once in a while, the sun peeks through the clouds, and I am immediately outside! But all in all, it's been a dreary few weeks.
Plus the slugs have been out in full force, chewing up everything I find pretty and delicious. My poor strawberries! I finally decided to wage war against them, and go out late in the evenings and early mornings and chop any I see in half. It freaks me out. *shivers* I need to get an animal here that eats the slimy things!

Anyway, on to the flowers. The philadelphus is just going out of bloom. This pic was a few days ago.

Celestial roses in a moment of rare sunshine. It seems to happen a lot late in the day, when the sun manages to get low enough to shine underneath the cloud cover. (I know that is illogical, but it does seem that way.)

Scintillation again, she is looking lovely this year. The shrub is growing bigger and there are loads of flowers.
Roses are still blooming intermittently, one or two blossoms opening this day and that. Please ignore the holes in the leaves. I've been picking sawfly caterpillars off by hand most every day, but there are a lot of leaves to do, so on and on the insects chew away.

Marinette

Graham Thomas


The Dark Lady

All my Roses have come form David Austin's Roses. I adore the English rose, and also very old or wild varieties.

Self seeded feverfew grows here and there. Pretty little daisy flowers make the garden a happy place.

Another type of daisy, a group of them alongside the stepping stones.

Another flower in the lawn is clover, covering a large patch near my clothesline.

Pea flowers. I'm growing several heritage varieties this year, peas of all different colors.

Borage growing behind the blond raspberries.


Godetia, my hubby brought home a pack of these seeds, they turned into some lovely bright flowers.

While I was writing this post, the sun has decided to show his face for moments, so I've rushed out and retaken several photos.

Lady's mantle, pinks and geraniums, a new photo just taken moments ago.

A brighter photo of fuchsia, glowing in the misty sunlight.

Meanwhile, the violas in the strawberry bed were seen gossiping about the chives blooming out of season.

As the sun does decide to peek through the clouds this morning, Sarah Viola bursts out with a song. (lyrics from "It's a Beautiful Day", Sarah Brightman)
You can visit Carol's blog "May Dreams Gardens" and see what's flowering in July all over the world.