The weather forecast is offering a reprieve  from the rainy conditions with some warm sunny days, ideal for relaxing in the garden. Heavy rain takes its toll on a garden, battering the flowers and flattening everything. Here are some ideas for the bank holiday weekend and gardening tips for August.

A clear up will help the garden pick up and encourage perennials to keep blooming. Dead head everything which has spent or weather damages flowers especially Roses, Geraniums, Sweet Peas and other annuals, trimming back Nepeta, Achillea Mollis and other tired looking perennials. Whilst many perennials will not flower again, they will grow new foliage which will be bright and cheerful.

This would be a good time to feed the garden to keep the flowers going into autumn.

This weekend I will be pruning the Wisteria, its a bit later than is ideal, but still in time. As a guide below are before and after images and there is additional information about  How to Summer Prune Wisteria and video.

Another result of all the wet and windy weather is that some plants have been flattered and suffered damage.

Don't compost prunings they make great free natural looking plant stakes and are often the perfect shape for propping up plants. 

Re stake plants using this years prunings. Although many of the perennials look a bit battered, we have still some summer to go and September is often mild and warm, so plenty of flowering still to come.

A lot of rain and windy weather batters hanging baskets and annuals. The basket on the left was looking lovely last week!

It maybe possible to salvage the basket by deadheading extensively, removing everything which has flowered or been damaged by the rain and then feeding. However, because bedding plants tend to be less robust and are getting towards the end of their flowering season, some bbaskets will be too far gone and will only limp along. In which case consider replacing them.

Illustrated below left is Pansy Coastal sunrise mix and right is Viola Sorbet Yellow which are just some of the Panseys on offer and at a great price of £19.99 for 40+ 20 free for a stunning autumn and winter display.

Click here for more information.

Dry weather also gives an oppotunity to lift up Onions and Garlic to dry ready for storage.

To be on the safe side after a couple of days on the ground drying out I usually bring into the greenhouse to rest on the slats for a few days. If you have no greenhouse you can store in a string net in a dry place such as a warm garden shed or conservatory. 

 Info growing and storing onions and garlic

June is definitely Allium time, they make a great statement in the border with their tall large flowers, some like fluffy pom poms others architectural and spiky.

There are so many to chose from and a good number are illustrated at How to Grow Alliums. There is a gallery of images to help you chose the right Allium for your garden together with planting and growing advice. That said, however, Allium are a fairly self sufficient type of plant not requiring a great deal of attention. 

This is Clematis ' Crystal fountain' and I  love these patio style Clematis . 

This is a compact variety, less rampant than many clematis and so easier to grow, maintain and prune.

There is also a chance it will repeat flower, especially if a good good summer weather wise, if it is deadheaded during this first flowering. Fingers crossed but it is making a fabulous showing now.

Rosa Rugosa starts to flower in June and will flower for at least a month or so. It is a tough rose, will still flower if neglected and is much loved by bees.

It will produce lovely hips later on in the year and is tolerant of most conditions including salt leaded winds making it ideal for a sea side garden.

There are lots of different types of Iris, about 300 species in the genus with different types of flowers, and with beards, or not beards ; this is the semi wild variety the Yellow flag Irish latin name Iris pseudacorus. 

It is a woodland plant which likes damp areas and streamsides. It flowers best in the sun but will tolerate dappled shade. It makes a lovely addition to a wild area, which is where I grow it or alongside a pond.

 Tall graceful stems with the delicate flowers of mauve and white illustrated is Thalictrum delavayi, a stunning plant which is just irresistable.

Easy to grow it adds height and colour the borders, mixed well with cottage plants such as Delphinium and Achillea but also looks good with grasses as its seed heads are attractive and I always leave them on the plant for as long as possible . Growing Tips.

Image Thorncroft

A lovely new Clematis was launched at Chelsea by Thorncroft and the good news, it's scented.

Clematis SUGAR SWEET™ BLUE 'Scented Clem' is early flowering in April and May. It has pretty violet blue flowers and said to have an almond scent, more pronounced early morning and evening.

Given its flowering time, I am assuming it is a group 1 which means little or no pruning and so one of the easier Clematis to grow.

If you want to try something new for next year take a look details on Thorncroft website.