Another hot, dry and sunny summer! It’s that time of year when most of the moisture has left the soil surface and your plants are having to find water deeper down. If you’ve planted anything this year, then your plants will need a little extra help to get established. So, don’t forget to water and feed - I always find a thorough soaking as opposed to little and often is always best - the water permeates deeper into the soil encouraging the roots to follow.

As its name suggests, Hydrangea arborescens 'Strong Annabelle' is a sturdier cultivar of the well-loved 'Hydrangea 'Annabelle'. The enormous, rounded heads of white florets stand proud on the strong stems of this deciduous shrub, even in exposed positions. Unlike many Hydrangea arborescens varieties, this well branched Hydrangea rarely flops due to its well branched, compact growth habit.

'Strong Annabelle' has glorious bundles of white flowers that will also get larger as the plant grows older, but even when they are still quite young, they will put on a dazzling and long-lasting display from mid-summer onwards. The flower heads are probably the largest hydrangea flowers in the world - up to 30cm across!

These extra strong hydrangea plants are tolerant of all the wind and rain that a British summer can throw at them, which is also very handy. The amazing flowers open lime green, gradually turn to pure white and then fade back to shades of green as they mature. If you like flowers for the house, then these will make astonishing cut flowers too. Unlike many Hydrangeas, it’ll also carry blooms on fresh season growth, made the same year, so you can be enjoying lots of blooms sooner than you think.

You can create high impact in the modern garden with these summer snowballs. This cool white variety produces a magical winter seed head. In autumn, Annabelle will show a spectrum of colour. The creamy white flowers will blend to pale lime and finally bright green, while the foliage turns from green to yellow. A winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit, this variety only grows to 1.5m tall, making it the perfect subject for growing in pots and containers.
Make sure that the hydrangea receives lots of water when the summer comes, especially if freshly planted. All Hydrangea need at least 3 years of watering through the summer to establish well until they finally find enough resources to look after themselves. Hydrangeas are very low maintenance and will need little pruning, which can be done in spring as new shoots appear. The old shoots should be left in the winter and not removed until spring.

Hydrangeas can be grown in fertile, well-drained soil and often prefer a shady location. One of my favourite combinations is with an underplanting of Hachenochloa macra, a small Japanese grass which provides the perfect spiky contrast to the big leaves of the Hydrangea – simple but classy!

Jobs to be Done July:
Ornamental Garden:
• Continue to deadhead herbaceous perennials and roses as flowers go over.
• Weed!!!
• Continue to edge borders.
• Cutback oriental poppies once flowered.
• Divide bearded irises if flowering is declining – re plant the youngest rhizomes.
• Deadhead roses.
• Trim evergreen hedges.
• Turn compost heaps.
• Cut back spent flowers of climbing hydrangea.
• Feed dahlias / cannas etc.
• Take cuttings of clematis.
• Sow biennials.

Vegetable Garden:
• Thin dessert apples and cooking apples.
• Sow spring cabbages and plant out winter cabbages.
• Water courgettes consistently to encourage a good crop.
• Mulch long term crops like brassicas
• Water fruit trees / bushes.