A July garden diary: From blue hydrangeas to rose chafers

The garden is still looking really good, despite the intense heat we have been experiencing recently. The lilies, while almost finished now, have been quite spectacular, with a few of the white and red ones still flowering in the garden. Many of the peach coloured and black ones have past their best. Lilies are prized for their fragrant blooms and often giant, trumpet-shaped flowers. The bulbs are planted in containers and flower borders making the perfect summer flowers to add colour and cheer to your garden. There are two main types of lily to grow: Oriental lily and Asiatic lily. The former typically have large, fragrant pink flowers and thrive in acid soils and so should be grown in containers of ericaceous compost. The latter have a greater variety of colours including yellow, orange, red and almost-black, they too thrive in alkaline soil and are extremely hardy, so are easier to grow.