GINA PARKINSON finds her garden perking up after a dose of rain.

June has emerged from the dry spring with gardens perked up by the recent rain and summer plants are filling the beds and borders with colour and leaf.

Lovely border plants such as delphiniums are in full bloom, spires of blue growing tall in sunny spots.

In our garden, they are surrounded by hostas and alchemillas, reliable lower-growing perennials providing perfect ground cover that lasts for weeks.

Like many larger perennials, the delphiniums have struggled in the strong winds we seem to have had for weeks and had to be rescued with canes and string a couple of weeks ago.

Although they are in a very sheltered spot they had begun to collapse under the persistent onslaught. Must remember to put the supports in earlier next year.

Alchemilla mollis is a common garden plant that can be rather wayward, seeding itself about with abandon.

However the seedlings are easily recognised and can be removed before they get too large and who can resist the soft leaves that hold a jewel of dew in their centre and the foaming sprays of lime green flowers that complement any other plant with which it grows.

The blooms are lovely in cut-flower displays and can also be harvested and dried for winter arrangements.

We have hostas dotted throughout the garden, large clumps of beautiful foliage in shades of green, cream and yellow. By the time June comes around, hostas are beginning to produce their flowers, long stems that come through the centre of the plant, topped with buds that will soon open.

The blooms are usually lilac or white and although these plants are primarily grown for their foliage they add a fleeting moment of subtle colour and extra interest.

In the veg patch

Last weekend the sweetcorn was planted in the vegetable garden.

The small plants have been hardening off near the house for a few weeks so that by the time we got to the end of May and with it the last of the frosts, they were ready to get out into the world.

Sweetcorn is wind pollinated and needs to be planted in blocks rather than straight lines and also needs an open sunny site where the large plants will have plenty of room to develop.

Weekend catch-up

Pulmonarias have finished flowering and can be tidied up with the removal of the spent flowerheads.

Tatty foliage can also be cut back, new leaves will soon grow to take their place.

A good soaking will perk up the plants and they should last the rest of the summer, providing a good clump of spotted or frosted leaves.

Open gardens

Sunday, June 5

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme.

Easingtown, Hartforth, Gilling West, DL10 5JR. Box-edged potager with apple step-overs, rose arches, fernery, cottage, old English rose and sunken gardens, streamside plantings and deep pool. Open 11am-5pm, admission £3.

Hornsea Gardens, Hornsea, 12 miles north east of Beverley, HU18 1UR. Two gardens open in the town. New House has a small garden packed with herbaceous planting in borders and island beds, a wildlife pond and succulent collection. The garden at Nutkins is ¾-acre with borders, a bog garden, streamside garden and woodland garden with features for children. Open 11am-4pm, combined admission £4.50.

56 Hull Road, Cottingham, HU16 4PU. 1/3-acre suburban garden with mature trees and shrubs, mixed borders, patio, pergola with old wisteria, formal pond, fernery and antique summer house. Open 1pm-5pm, admission £3.

Hunmanby Grange, Wold Newton, YO25 3HS. Three-acre garden created from an exposed site on the Yorkshire Wolds with a series of garden protected from the wind with fences and hedges. The planting is designed for year round interest with seasonal highlights and the Wold Top Brewery will also be open. Open 11am-5pm, admission £3. Also open today 11am-5pm.

Millgate House, Millgate, Richmond, DL10 4JN. Award winning small walled town garden overlooking the River Swale with ferns and hostas, roses, clematis, small trees and shrubs. Open 8am-9pm, admission £2.50 adult, £1.50 child.

Old Sleningford Hall, Mickley, near Ripon, HG4 3JD. Large English country garden with mature trees, woodland walk, Victorian fernery, lake with islands, walled kitchen garden, long border and award-winning forest garden. Picnics can be brought to eat around the mill pond. Open 12pm-4.30pm, admission £5. Also open today 12pm-4.30pm.

Park House, Creyke Lane, Welton, HU15 1NQ. One -acre garden planted for year round interest with raised vegetables beds, woodland walk, herb garden, mixed planting and gravel and secret gardens. Open 11am-4.30pm, admission £3.50. Also open on Thursday evening 6pm-9pm. Swale Cottage, Richmond, DL10 4LU. Half-acre garden on a steep slope with several enclosed areas on different levels and including roses, herbaceous planting, shrubs, yew and cedar trees, organic vegetables and fruit, orchard and paddock with sheep and hens. Open 1pm-5pm, admission £2.50.

Wednesday, June 8

26 West End, Walkington, HU17 8SX. One-acre cottage garden planted to attract wildlife, especially bees, and with many rare plants collected over 20 years. The garden opens into an old wooded gravel pit being developed by the owner. Open 1.30pm-5pm, admission £3.50.

TV and radio

Sunday, June 5

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds. Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Matthew Biggs, Anne Swithinbank, Christine Walkden and chairman Eric Robson advise gardeners from Kurkudbright in Dumfries and Galloway. (Repeated from Friday).

Friday, June 10

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. This week the programme comes from the community-based charity Transition Town Totnes in Devon with Eric Robson, Chris Beardshaw, Pippa Greenwood and Christine Walden. Anne Swithinbank visits a local nut forest. (Repeated Sunday at 2pm).

8pm, ITV, Love Your Garden. A new eight-part series in which Alan Titchmarsh visits some of Britain’s beautiful domestic gardens then shows viewers how to recreate the look. This week he looks at feature beds, a summer house and keeping bees.

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Monty Don shows how to net and mulch strawberries and visits Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny in France to chat to the head gardener, James Priest.