July should see us entering high summer and one of the plants that evokes memories of long hot days is lavender. It provides a treat for the senses when in full flower.  First there is colour, the variety of blues, whites and pinks from the flowers and the glaucous leaves can work with most planting schemes. The powerful scents from both flowers and leaves are also complemented by the persistent drone of the many types of bee that are attracted to the nectar rich flowers.

A busy bee

Lavenders are relatively easy to care for. Although Mediterranean plants, they are adapted for fairly harsh conditions, in particular, they will thrive in both dry conditions and poor soils and most will survive cold winters without too much difficulty. They are less happy in prolonged cold, wet soil and if you have this over the winter then growing in containers, with free draining compost, may be a better option.

You can use lavender to create hedges or features such as mounds or stand alone specimen plants.

Lavender Hedge

Lavender mounds 0n a summer evening

Pruning is important to prevent older plants from becoming too woody, as new growth tends not to come from the older wood. To keep lavenders in prime condition they should be trimmed at least once a year. Usually this is after flowering and they can be cut back to a few centimetres below the flowering stems, while still exposing only new growth.

With the Wimbledon finals in July, the choice for an edible crop for high summer has to be strawberries. Strawberries are easy to grow in beds or containers. If grown in open ground it is best to use one spot for 3-4 years after which yields may decline, but as new plants are easy to propagate from runners after a couple of years you can prepare a new set of plants for a new position. In containers it is important to water and feed them as these are hungry and thirsty plants and with more limited root runs need a bit of extra love to fruit well.

Home grown strawberries for Wimbledon