Colour In July

In 2013 I followed the late Geoff Hamilton's advice and visited a garden centre or nursery each month of the year with a view to buying a plant in flower. This should ensure that there's something flowering in my garden every month of the year.

Lewisia - Special Mix was the plant I chose for July. The pretty pink flowers were the thing which attracted me to this plant which I'd never heard of before. I planted it in my border and it gave a lovely show of flowers again last year. In hindsight, I'd have been better planting it on a tilt in a container as these plants don't like moisture at the crown as it encourages them to rot. As you can see, it isn't doing so well this year and isn't providing any colour at the moment. It's a tiny specimen, much smaller than it was when I bought it.

I'm not going to give up on it. I think the best course of action now will be to dig it up and pop it in to a pot where I can nurture it back to health. Let's hope I haven't left it too late.