GINA PARKINSON soaks up the abundance of June as she enjoys the eventual flowering of a lily left over by another gardener

THERE is plenty to keep the avid garden visitor busy tomorrow with a plentiful crop of gardens open in the area - see details on the left. It is a good month to look around gardens, because June is a time of abundance. Beds and borders are full of lush foliage and increasing numbers of flowers.

Roses come to the fore this month. In our garden 'Octavia Hill' opened her first flower last weekend and since then has produced several more carried on strong thorny stems covered in dark, glossy leaves.

This seems to be a trouble-free rose that shows no sign of rust or blackspot and copes well with the inevitable visits of aphids. The double pink flowers are lightly fragranced and the shrub grows with a thin-leafed tall grass, Euphorbia 'Humpty Dumpty' and Geranium 'Ann Folkard', whose long stems and magenta flowers grow through the rose and give a long season of colour and form long after the rose has finished.

We have an unidentified lily in the garden, which is in full bloom at the moment. Planted by a previous owner, it didn't flower for several years and we thought it had been chosen for its interesting foliage rather than any blooms.

It had to be moved some time ago and in the semi-shaded place it finds itself, flowers have slowly emerged.

This year it has formed a large clump of stalks covered in long, thin leaves and topped with a magnificent display of maroon-spotted, yellow turkscap flowers whose backward curving petals give rise to that description.

The fragrance is intense and long stems are heavy with deep-orange pollen that stains if brushed against.

White-flowered Geranium phaeum 'Album' and Geranium clarkei 'Kashmir White' brighten the shaded area under a holly tree.

'Album' is taller, about 60cm, with small, neat white flowers while the deeply-cut leaves and purple-veined flowers of 'Kashmir White' sprawl about at the front of the bed.

I notice that Geranium 'Magnificum' has also made an appearance in this clump. This was planted elsewhere in the garden some time ago but gradually disappeared so it is good to see it back.

It will eventually form a large clump of hairy green leaves that are topped with a short-lived but splendid display of rich, blue flowers. Best grown in semi-shade, 'Magnificum' needs to be planted with grasses and mid-summer flowering specimens as it looks dull once flowering has finished; but this is a small price to pay for the splash it makes when in full bloom.

Updated: 09:54 Saturday, June 07, 2003