Redcroft in Early June

It is nearly three weeks since we had the garden open. We were very lucky that in the middle of a very wet period we had a lovely afternoon in spite of gloomy forecasts from the weather buffs. About 400 people came and about 300 had tea. We were very pleased to hand over £2,476 to the St Salvador’s food bank.

I think the garden just hit that early Spring moment when the green is almost luminous and the early rhododendrons (mostly Yakushimanums) are in full flower. Not much is over and there is plenty of promise for the future. The tulips in pots, mostly May tulips, were looking good too.

The garden has moved on since then.

Pyracantha ‘Red Column’

This Pyracantha ‘Red Column’ should be the first thing you see when you come in through the gates, but probably you will be looking elsewhere. I like to think people coming up our busy road notice it. It had an incredible number of buds this year, and now they are turning into flowers. I snip away at it frequently so that it retains this linear form.

Angelica

I haven’t grown Angelica for a long time. It is quite exciting watching the shiny green leaves in the hope that they produce a flower, rather like waiting for a giant lily. I bought this last year at Larch Cottage Nurseries, a wonderful nursery and worth the journey to Penrith. It has a huge selection of plants and you can have a good lunch there too.

Golden fuchsia, Buddleja loricata, purple Alliums, Indigofera and box hedging

The purple flowering shrub in this photo is Indigofera. It is a member of the pea family, and although I don’t know which type it is, I see that several have the RHS Award of Garden Merit. In Hilliers Colour Dictionary it notes that it is excellent on dry sites. It is flowering better than ever but still looks a bit flimsy and needs to mature a bit. In front of it is the box hedge which seems to have fallen prey to woolly aphid or maybe something worse, and the purple Alliums and a golden fuchsia and beside it is grey Buddleja loricata with its flowers just coming out which makes a good, rounded shape if you keep it trimmed.

Abutilon x suntense

Abutilon x suntense grows into a small tree. A friend gave me this one as it had outgrown its space. It was transplanted in the winter with great care and has been conscientiously watered since then. I am pleased to see the beautiful blue flowers but not totally confident about its future.

Weigela

Weigela is often used as a filler rather than a keynote plant. With its dark red flowers and more or less golden leaves it is usefully filling a space here with its flowers at a good height. For the rest of the year it takes a back seat and it doesn’t even need trimming.

Camassia leichtlinii Alba

The blue Camassias have flowered already and were over rather quickly. I have been trying to establish these cream coloured leichtlinii Alba which flower later than the blue ones, for a while. I am pleased to see so many of them and they seem happy to grow in the long grass of the orchard which is otherwise now full of old leaves from the autumn crocuses and seeding bluebells.

Day lily

This day lily is a path finder for the herbaceous border, an eye catching yellow which contrasts with the plants around it. Bit by bit this border will come in to flower, but it is only just on its way.

Anna Buxton

2nd June 2026

All photos taken recently at Redcroft