The View That Cost a Small Fortune

A June Terrace Garden update, featuring heatwaves, containers, dahlias, and one zinc-dipped dream of a water feature

The Terrace Garden is in full summer swing, with roses, dahlias, agapanthus, and a few punchy surprises. I’ve been tough with the watering, ruthless with underperformers, and quietly reassessing the view. Here’s a behind-the-scenes update from the sun-baked terrace, with plant highlights, practical tips, and a glimpse of the Flower Garden that prompted a rather big change.

Flaming June on the Terrace

This year, it’s lived up to its name. Gosh it’s been hot! Over 30°C (mid-80s°F). For my gardening chums across the pond, that’s probably easy going. But here, in old England, it’s stifling. Humid. Horribly sweaty. We’re simply not used to it.

Even though we do love to moan about the weather (obsessively), it really has been an extraordinary year. A record-breaker for sunshine hours, heat, and rainfall (or lack thereof).

I’m currently hiding indoors, feeling hotter than freshly toasted pitta, sitting on the sofa, fan on full blast, swigging iced ginger cordial, and catching up on Glastonbury highlights. It’s proving a little tricky to concentrate on gardening thoughts while the Scissor Sisters gyrate their way around the room.

Do I feel like dancing? No. But I did just spit out my tea after seeing Sir Ian McKellen on stage riffing with the Sisters. Seriously. Gandalf sexing it up!

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Hardy Plants and Seasonal Shift

Despite the fierce heat (seriously, it’s only June, we shouldn’t be sweltering for weeks yet), the garden is looking fabulous, if I do say so myself. Burgeoning, blousy, surprisingly floofy, and utterly romantic.

Plants in the ground are grown hard. They thrive, or they’re replaced. No coddling here. Container plants get slightly more attention, dare I say, minimal low-level mollycoddling?

They’re given bucket-sized pots as a minimum (smaller ones dry out far too quickly), high-quality SylvaGrow peat free compost, and a deep, saturating drink once a week. Twice if there’s a heatwave. But no more. I don’t have the time (or the inclination) to spoon-feed plants. And in a garden this size, a leaner regime makes life very much easier.

As late spring gives way to early summer, the pastel prettiness fades and the bold, punchy show-offs take the stage. Tulips, narcissus, and dainty violas? A distant memory, swept away during the Terrace Garden refresh. The paving got a quick blast with the pressure washer, mostly to shift the accumulated bird poop, crud around the pots, and brighten up the stone.

Now the roses are blooming, the agapanthus is rising, and the dahlias are flowering (very early). Salvias, lavender, and a new favourite, Heucherella ‘Pink Fizz’, are joining the party. The Fizz has been flowering for weeks and shows no sign of stopping. Great value. And it seems very happy in a pot too.

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Dolly Tubs and Dashing Dahlias

Amongst the acers, Japanese forest grass, and clipped box, five handsome vintage dolly tubs house repeat-flowering English shrub roses: two Lady Emma Hamiltons, Boscobel, Young Lycidas, and Eustacia Vye, all chosen for their blousy, ruffled blooms and exquisite perfume.

Adding height and a constant buzz of bumblebees are the single (daisy-like) dahlias, all grown from seed. A mix of Bishop’s Children and a packet from

Marlston Farmgirl

. The shear variety of colour never fails to surprise me.

Last year, I sowed the entire packet from the Farmgirl and raised dozens of dahlias for the cutting garden. A few were swiftly removed for being… let’s say “aesthetically challenging.” OK, horribly gaudy! The rest matured into healthy tubers with respectable hues. Some overwintered in the raised beds and were lifted in April once new growth appeared.

They’ve since been potted up for the Terrace, and while a few are still of questionable taste, mingled together they bring a sense of joyful abundance, and really, anything grown from seed always puts a huge smile on my face.

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A View Restored (and a Splurge)

One warm evening earlier in June, I was slouched on the garden sofa (because those upright garden chairs are, frankly, a punishment). Clogs off, drink in hand, lounging as one should. But my view was… well, blocked. Beautifully blocked, yes. with a curated wall of plants, but a wall nonetheless.

I said to Jacq, my long-suffering better half (now very used to my bright ideas), “How about we make a gap? Maybe add a water bowl or something?” Very precise, as ever. No ambiguity.

That very same week, I received an email from A Place in the Garden, selling off their Chelsea ex-displays. I’d chatted with the owners at the show and fully immersed myself in their display (probably drooled on it too). I passed the email on to Jacq with a casual, “How about this?” complete with a nonchalant emoji wink. 😉

(You’re already ahead of me, aren’t you?)

LEAF BALL WATER FEATURE - ROUND BASE

Yes, we bought one. An ex-display. At a monumental price. But come on… isn’t it utterly gobsmackingly gorgeous? The Leaf Ball is made from hundreds of individually cut leaves, layered and hand-welded onto a spherical frame, then hot-dipped in molten zinc. Absolutely lush.

And you know what? It’s made a huge difference. More beautiful babbling water. A gentle cooling of the air. But most of all, a gap to stare through, down to the Flower Garden and its unashamedly exuberant planting. Delphiniums, roses, salvias, hardy geraniums, knautia, peonies, all dancing in the summer breeze.

Glorious.

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Looking Ahead: What’s Still to Come

By the end of the month, the Hydrangea paniculata will be flexing their floral muscles, with those enormous cushioned cones adding weight and volume. The roses will be into their second flush (deadheaded diligently through June), and I’ll no doubt shuffle a few more plants from elsewhere... or go plant shopping.

Probably the latter. Definitely the latter, let’s be honest. I tell myself it’s important to keep sowing and plant shopping throughout the year, just so you don’t stack your garden with only early bloomers, leaving you with an irreversible fade to green through late summer.

Yes, I am officially giving you permission to go plant shopping. Seize it!

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The Maintenance Bit

A few timely tasks keep things ticking over on the Terrace:

• Deadheading faded flowers to keep things neat and blooming

• Weeding pots (a cursory glance over for those sneaky seedlings!)

• Snipping off any yellow or munched leaves, if I have a spare moment

• Feeding roses to help them re-bloom (a dedicated rose fertiliser or a regular seaweed tonic is great)

• Container grown dahlias, annuals, bedding, salvias, all love a dose of the good stuff too. Seaweed or Tomorite are great options.

And in this heat, do keep things well watered. If the water rushes out the bottom, the compost’s likely bone dry. Sit the pot in a tray of water overnight to let it drink slowly, from the roots up. Leave it there until the compost is saturated and you’re good to go.

You don’t need to do it all at once. A few weeds today, a splash of seaweed feed tomorrow, a spot of deadheading at the weekend. Your garden doesn’t need a superhero gardener, it just needs you. Slightly sweaty, dusty-kneed, definitely determined, and showing up with secateurs and watering can in hand. 🌿

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Coming up…

We’re back in the shade! If Part One of The Shady Garden helped you decode the mysteries of shade, then Part Two is where the fun really begins… the plants!

We’re diving into the stars of the show: perennials, groundcovers, and statement plants. Basically, my favourite shady stalwarts, those easy-going, reliable types that form the backbone of my Cottage Garden planting. All written and waiting to land gently in your inboxes this weekend.