Hypericum Week

The eye-catcher around town is the rich white of Philadelphus in bloom. Our own plant is still only 2 metres tall and its flower display is modest, but at the start of week 2009/25 we take an evening walk and discover in Am Böhmerwald a mature specimen, about 5 metres, tall covered in these shining flowers in the dusk light. It almost reminds one of optically whitened clothes, which seem to glow when the light becomes low. The delicate pale pink flowers of Kalmia are also there to be admired by the attentive, and Cotoneaster x waterii is also in modest bloom. Throughout the week, Deutzia is at its peak, which is also an auditory experience, since it is full of bumblebees and honeybees. Rain brings clover up in a great rush of flower. The bees in the clover daisies are dangerous to children. My youngest son collects a sting in his bare foot. We quickly pull it out, but the swelling continues for nearly a week. Late in the week, Escallonia achieves pink perfection. But there is also a disappointment: the leaves on a 170-centimetre Idesia suddenly wilt, dry out and die. I suspect it is suffering from competition in the root zone, but a disease or even a predator attack might explain this strange demise. There is no sign yet of either Lavatera or of Hypericum in bloom.

Hypericum Week

2008/25: Hypericum is named in several European languages after St. John the Baptist, because it usually first flowers on about June 24, the saint's feast day, which is also close to the solstice that is variously celebrated as "midsummer" or as the start of summer. This warm year, Hypericum has shot out its first bloom 10 days before the established date, bringing a bright yellow accompaniment to the mauve of Lavatera and the cream of the towering perennial Aruncus dioicus. Another great perennial eye-catcher are the tall "red-hot poker" stems of Knifhofia