Battling borders

We have only just dipped our toes into the early days of June but already plants are beginning to burst into bloom. Many are spreading at such a fast speed that they have covered whole areas of the soil and it is sometimes difficult to see where one plant has ended and another begins. It is time to start to tidy the battling borders before the smaller plants get swamped by either the larger ones or the smaller busier ones. Below is the early wild pink perennial geranium. It flowers and spreads year after year and if I don't watch out it also showers its seeds into most unlikely places! The yellow iris or flag is the wild version that grows readily all over Britain especially near to water or in ditches. This also readily spreads and is easily grown from the seeds that it throws off at the end of the flowering season.

Wild yellow iris or flag

Wild pink geraniums

Little note: with climate change affecting weather conditions more people are planting wild strains of plants in their gardens. On the whole, these are more hardy and many are readily available in garden centres. It is a good idea to have local plant swaps - most of the wild varieties grow so rapidly they need dividing up at the end of the flowering season creating too many young plants to keep.