How to Avoid the ‘June Dip’

Forde Abbey Head Gardener Joshua Sparkes has recorded a short interview explaining how keen gardeners can avoid the ‘June Dip’, a gap in flowering plants between Spring and the height of summer. Well worth a listen on the Forde Abbey blog.

There’s usually a gap in June, or so the theory goes, when the efforts of Spring have been and gone and Summer is yet to get going. But never has a ‘June dip’ been more frothy and abundant, a baton relay of hesperis and lunaria, alliums and foxgloves – each stage of their life cycle defining the shape and silhouette of the June scape. Glaucous pods ripe to burst butted up against clouds of purple and discs of lunaria fluttering in amongst the ladybirds. And with no signs of running out of puff. Something at least we can thank the rain for.

But with a bit of careful planning and some inspired planting choices, Joshua Sparkes has managed to bridge the gap. He explains how to create pockets of seasonality with biennials.