Six on Saturday: 23/5/20

Tags

Allium siculum, bearded iris, David Austin Roses, Erigeron karvinskianus, Hosta Big Daddy, Hosta Sum and Substance, Iris Midnight Caller, Mexican fleabane, Nectarscordium siculum, Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll', Sicilian honey garlic, six on saturday, weather, woottensplants.com

The weather. May is proving to be a tough month weather wise. Nighttime frosts followed by hot dry summer days and now winds of 19mph. The consequences can be seen all over: new foliage which was burned by the frost has now dried and died back. Damage is on most things from the tips of the Ash trees to shrubs, roses and iris. I have started watering as if it is mid July and this morning I have dragged hostas into the garage to give them shelter from the battering wind.

I especially hate the wind. My garden is very exposed as there really is not much more than open fields between it and the Chilterns. Consequently when it blows it really is damaging. My six today starts with my two hostas now cowering in the garage.

Hosta Sum & Substance

These dinner plate sized leaves do not take kindly to 19mph wind. I can see some of the leaves have been bent and this will spoil their handsome form.

Hosta Big Daddy

Now parked under cover Big Daddy is also suffering. The edge of some of it leaves are browning from the wind and from the earlier cold snap.

Not troubled by the heat the cold or the wind is Fleabane. Erigeron Karvinskianus has self sown around the drive, it is everywhere. I do love a daisy so it generally is allowed to stay.

Erigeron

My roses were subjected to standing in water for almost three months this winter into spring. I feared I may have lost them, especially those in the blue clay borders. Phew they have just started flowering. This is the opening Gertrude Jekyll rose. Rich pink with the most heavenly rose scent. It is mega prickly and that is her main failing. No issue with pest or disease a David Austin gem.

Rose Gertrude Jekyll

I love to see Alliums after the Tulips and thankfully they do well in my garden. My favourite is perhaps this one for its hanging lantern flowers which the bees literally disappear into. Allium siculum.

Nectarscordium siculum
Sicilian honey garlic

At the garden where I work the soil is thin over chalk. Free draining, the contrast to my own garden couldn’t be more different. Here I can grow bearded iris as they must have full sun and sharp drainage. The Iris are looking fabulous this year thanks to a great deal of splitting and dividing last year. The pale ones look extra special thanks to the addition of the near black Iris Midnight Caller from Woottens nursery, a specialism of theirs.

These are my six for this week. Joining our host The Propagator and bloggers from all over.

Have a great long weekend, stay home, stay safe and thanks for reading. D.

In a vase on Monday: little vases

Tags

Anthriscus sylvestris ravenswing, Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata ‘Greenapples’, Aquilegias, Californian poppy, cerinthe, Erigeron, Eschscholzia, Geum "Mrs Bradshaw", Geum Totally Tangerine, in a vase on Monday, London Pride, persicaria bistorta, riot of colour, Saxifraga x urbium, Thalictrum Black stockings

Aquilegia Greenapples, Erigeron,

Aquilegias are all over the garden in shades of purples and burgundy. A cheery marking of early summer. This is Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata ‘Greenapples’ Her bonnet is much more considered. Significantly bigger, a warm apple tone to its white. Long elegant spurs out the back of the bonnet.

London Pride
Saxifraga x urbium

Sometimes the smallest things just do it. The tiny flowers of London pride are exquisitely marked. Flicks of pink dots adorn the tiny petals. The stems are a shade of pinky brown. Common as, but a beauty nonetheless.

Then there are the others. A riot of colours. A rainbow of blues and purples, pinks and red, juicy oranges.

In a vase on Monday

There are Aquilegia, Thalictrum, Persicaria bistorta, Anthriscus Ravenswing, Cerinthe, Geum Mrs Bradshaw, she’s the red one and Eschscholzia the orange Californian poppy.

A dazzle of colour so perhaps you can see why I separated out the small but beautiful ones first. They’d be lost in that lot.

All together now

In the sunlight I feel I need my sunglasses on looking at this bunch.

Joining Cathy and bloggers from around the globe. Pick some of your home grown flowers, place in a vessel of any sort and tell us all about it. Share with us and link to Cathy using the link above. Simple fun.

Have a great week wherever you are, thanks for reading. D.

Wordless Wednesday: Camassia leichtlinii Alba

Tags

camassia leichtilinii Alba, wordless wednesday

In a vase on Monday: whether the weather

Tags

Allium Purple Sensation, Anthriscus sylvestris, Aquilegias, cerinthe major purpurascens, columbines, cow parsley, early summer flowers, Geum Totally Tangerine, Hebe hulkeana, Honeywort, in a vase on Monday, Iris Sibirica, New Zealand lilac

In a vase

How glorious the weather was on Friday and Saturday. Clear blue skies, not a breath of wind, balmy temperatures. The lanes around me are quiet and have been since lockdown. No sounds shouting over the birdsong. Bliss. Delivery drivers continuing their work dash through avoiding the numerous cyclists, the regulars in spray-on Lycra, the lockdown cyclists making the most of the quiet lanes, wobbling and weaving two or three abreast.

The chance to enjoy the weather, to sit in the sunshine, to have time to savour the pleasure of a peaceful breakfast outside. This is what summer should be like. If only it would last.

This morning is windy and cool and the forecast is for overnight temperatures falling to 1 degree. This is disappointing. Too cold for the newly emerged seedlings. Potentially burning new foliage and petals.

This vase was picked on Saturday to dress the table outside. Above is the NZ Lilac a delicate lilac colour but without the scent of real lilac. Geum Totally Tangerine is flowering profusely and hopefully it will continue throughout the summer months. A head of Allium Purple Sensation almost a common sight in gardens now but still offers much to be admired.

Iris sibirica

There is a single Iris which I am enjoying very much. The three 1L pots I planted two years ago have clumped up sufficiently for me to snip one or two for a vase. The froth of white is cow parsley. There are purple columbines, Aquilegias. I am pleased to see that this year they have taken themselves to all corners of the garden and are even in the bark chippings between the raised beds.

Cerinthe

The exotic Cerinthe, Honeywort, a rather glaucous and pleasing mix of greens to deep purple, are another favourite of mine. They too have self seeded a short distance from where I originally planted seed.

Now inside the house, these flowers I picked on Saturday are still looking perky. Close up I love the orange of the Geum outshining the yellow of the Iris.

Thank you Cathy for hosting. Have a great week, wherever you are and thanks for reading. D.

Six on Saturday: 9 May 2020

Tags

Allium Purple Sensation, Allium shubertii, digitalis, foxgloves, geranium macorrhizum, Iris Sibirica, six on saturday

May is a month of great promise. It is also a phenomenally busy month. Perhaps I should rephrase that, a busy month for growing plants. Tender plants are desperate to get outside yet sudden cold nights could kill them off. Consequently there is a seemingly perpetual motion of succulents between the house and the garden.

The same can be said for pelargoniums and any other bedding plants. They need to be growing, given space, soil and light but the nights might burn them. Inside they remain for a few more weeks.

Half hardy annuals can be hardened off before going into the ground. There is watering to be done, grass to be cut and never ending weeding. The weeds are loving the warming soil, the lengthening daylight hours and it is good practice to keep on top of the blighters before they set seed.

In between all the shuffling of plants I am taking time to look at what is happening all on its own. Just growing quietly, flowering or budding these are my six to share with you and our host The Propagator this week.

Fantastic Foxgloves

I hope that these are white foxgloves as I cast some seed a couple of years ago. How eager they look, reaching up and up to the sunshine.

Allium schubertii

I purchased three, yes three fat bulbs, three years ago. I seem to remember they cost about £7 which seemed rather a lot for just three bulbs. Yet what great value they turned out to be as I have three magnificent, bonkers flowers coming again.

Allium Purple Sensation

Alliums have rather ugly leaves which get tatty and brown. The flower heads are loved by everyone. Grown in between shrubs such as Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ the leaves are not seen and the flower heads stand clear above the foliage ready to be admired.

Pink ground cover

Ground cover can be tricky when creating a new border. The geranium family are one of my favourite, go to ground cover plants. The pink flowers here are small and insignificant but en masse they dominate the soil between the line of Euphorbia amygdaloides purpurea and and Aquilegias. This is Geranium macorrhizum It copes with my heavy clay soil very well.

Iris sibirica

Another happy plant is Iris sibirica. These were tight buds as recently as yesterday but the warm sunshine has encouraged them to open. I would have liked them to have staggered the opening so that I might enjoy them for a little longer. No matter, I am enjoying them now.

Iris

This Iris was a gift from Sandra. I am so thrilled to have this beauty in the garden. I adore its colour and markings and it too has opened today in this incredibly lovely weather.

Zebra stripes and rainbow shades

These are my six to share this Saturday. I hope you have a wonderful weekend wherever you are. Thanks for reading. D.

Six on Saturday: 25April2020

Tags

Aesculus hippocastanum, Anthriscus sylvestris, apple blossom, Cameraria ohridella, Cercis canadensis, cow parsley, Foeniculum vulgare purpureum, Forest pansy, Hebe hulkeana, Horse chestnut tree, leaf miner, New Zealand lilac, Purple fennel, six on saturday

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather as it seems it is forecast to change. I have been grass cutting just now (groan) and weeding again (bigger groan). I am not moaning though, I feel very lucky to have space outside and I love my garden, it is just that those particular tasks are about as exciting as the washing up.

More exciting are the beautiful sights and these are my six to share with the Propagator and you.

First off is this huge bunch of Anthriscus sylvestris, Cow Parsley. Picked to stop it seeding around the garden and picked because I adore it for its airy and delicate freshness. This is adorning the zinc table in my summer house. Sounds a bit fancy but it really is not a house as it has no doors or windows.

More lovely white flowers. These are veritable candelabras compared to the Cow parsley. The flowers of the Horse chestnut tree. Aesculus hippocastanum.

The trees look magnificent at this time of year and I don’t want to visualise the sorry sight they become by late Summer due to leaf miner Cameraria ohridella.

Then there is the lovely apple blossom which I am enjoying everyday knowing that as soon as the rain comes it will be gone, washed away, curtains.

Combinations of foliage are always interesting to me. I am liking the foliage of purple fennel, Foeniculum vulgare Purpureum, behind the emerging flowers of the New Zealand LilacThe blue grey foliage is from Thalictrum Elin. Not actually a Lilac it is Hebe hulkeana.

Then there is the emerging foliage of Cercis canadensis , Forest pansy.

The pea like pink flowers are beginning to drop and this year the branches have been covered. A first.

Lastly there is this view to share

A seating area backed by the garage wall. Just trying not to look at all the grass that needs weeding out to make way for the annuals. Big groan.

Wishing you all a good weekend, wherever you are. Thanks for reading. D.

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Six on Saturday: 18 April

Tags

Anthriscus sylvestris, apple blossom, carpinus betula, cow parsley, Hornbeam, hostas, six on saturday, Sweet cicely, Veratrum, violas

Avoiding any references to that virus or lockdown., my six to share with you are nothing but pure garden escapism.

Veratrum and Violas

Pot grown and displayed with my hostas the emerging foliage is always pleated and pleasing. Not dissimilar to hostas, in that the foliage is irresistible to slugs and snails and so the battle to keep the molluscs off and the plant looking ‘pleats please’ is tricky. This is arguably Veratrum at its best.

Next is apple blossom, it is blossom time.

Emerging Apple blossom on the old tree.

Hopefully we will not get a hard frost. Last year I got 44 bottles of apple juice and the previous year 72! Hoping for a good crop.

More pleats, this time from the new leaves of the Hornbeam hedge.

This is not Cow parsley but Sweet cicely. It is much lower growing than Anthriscus and it’s deeply divided foliage tastes slightly of aniseed and is sweet. It is good cooked with rhubarb.

Anthriscus sylvestris or Cow parsley is taking over rather.

Here with Euphorbia amygdaloides and against my WillowFencing. Tall, billowy, romantic, it is running amok and will need deheading to stop it self seeding everywhere.

Finally my pots of hostas are beginning to emerge. More about who, what, where, when, another time.

Wishing you, Master Dorris and our host The Propagator a good weekend wherever you are. Stay home, stay safe, save lives. D.

Six on Saturday: who are you calling ugly?

Tags

Daylesford Garden seeds, Gardens Illustrated seeds, goodbye concrete, Jekkas Herb Farm seeds, manure and tree compost, new project, packets of seeds, recycling, Sarah Raven seeds, seed sowing, so x on saturday, Suffolk Herbs seeds

Around the side of my house is a rather dark concrete spot. To look out from the window on to these dirty dark grey slabs is very unattractive and definitely ugly. I could clean them, I have in the past believe it or not. Anyway I thought I would take them up and create a new planting area. Out came the slabs. The cut slabs were edged in a rustic fashion, ie. wonky, with some old bricks that had been taken out from elsewhere in the garden. Full of sand and blue clay, perhaps this wasn’t such a great idea after all.

I added a bucket of manure and a load of tree and shrub compost. The big lumps of brick and and cement were removed.

Initially my plan was to order in some box edging, a large urn perhaps or some topiary to be mixed with colour themed annuals and seasonal bedding in the form of bulbs and annuals.

For now I shall make do with seed sowing.

To this bunch I shall add squash, spinach and dahlias.

It will be a riot of colour and certainly a whole lot prettier than previously. I will keep you posted.

So these are my six to share with you and The Propagator . ‘Hold up!’ I hear you say, there’s only five there. That’s right, I owe you one.

Strange times. Stay safe wherever you are. Thanks for reading. D.

In a vase on Monday: dainty

Tags

amelanchier, daffodils, in a vase on Monday, Narcissus 'Tete a Tete', Spring, Spring flowers, yellow

Good morning. Spring is absolutely happening. Whilst we have to lockdown, stay indoors and isolate it is all happening outside. Hedges are beginning to open to reveal a type of fresh green that is almost impossible to visualise in the depths of a dark grey, wet winter.

The snowdrops have been and gone but if you are quick there is time to divide clumps. Hellebores are pushing out their new foliage as their flowers have peaked. Crocus in my lawn are still flowering but are beginning to get leggy so are past their best already.

This is time for the daffodils to shine. Along roadsides and verges, in window boxes and containers, vast swathes of all shades of yellow and gold are brightening the scene. I love to see daffodils en-masse, they really do herald spring like no other. The ones I love most are the more delicate ones. Give me Tête-à-tête that pack a punchy yellow but do not blow over. Show me clumps of Thalia, not yellow at all but white, small flowers, long slim stems and leaves. Later in the daffodil season is the oldest known variety, Pheasants eye, Narcissus poeticus which has a refined scent and small polite look. No brash trumpets here.

Anyway they are still to come through. Right now in my garden the tête-à-tête are beginning to go over, slightly browning at the petal edge. Could be down to the change in temperature. Instead the highly scented multi flowered stems of narcissus from the Isles of Scilly are shining.

Just two stems provides me with a vase full to share with you and our host, Cathy. Each flower is only 2cm across but together each stem provides multiple flowers (5 and 11 to be precise).

Tiny fruit beetles are emerging, I think that is what they are?

Those of you who are kind enough to follow this blog may have seen this next vase.

A tiny Japanese pot, a piece of Amelanchier and a single bloom.

Daffodil season is officially here. I hope that you are able to enjoy them from wherever you may be holed up. Challenging times.

Have a good day wherever you are. Thanks for reading. D.

In a vase on Monday: blue

Tags

blue, Grape hyacinth, hyacinth, in a vase on Monday, March, Muscari, Scilla siberica, Siberian squill

Hi Cathy. In case you do not know, Cathy is the the host of this meme to share something from the garden.

I am happy to report that blue refers to the colour of my flowers for today’s vase, rather than my mood.

World news frankly beggars belief. I feel as if I am taking part in some dodgy science fiction film ( and I mostly hate science fiction). The virus is all consuming unless we are careful to limit our exposure. Social distancing is the new norm.

I have clustered these glass vases in reckless close proximity. Taking kicks where one can.

I have had rare moments in my garden this year thanks to the wet weather. The incessant rain and heavy clay soil left the garden sodden all winter. To have tried to walk on it, let alone garden, would have done more damage than good. So it is a very welcome relief to see the sunshine over the last couple of days.

The perennials are all cut back and I have my dahlias potted up. The lawn has had a light trim. Just an enormous amount of weeding needs to be done, once I have taken the other debris to the household waste site. ( I hope they are still open?).

For those of us who are lucky enough to have an outside space we can keep calm and carry on gardening in our free time.

I will be trying to catch up on my garden now that it is beginning to dry out. With heavy clay there is a window between when it’s too sticky, when wet, or like concrete, when dry.

The flowers are shades of blue: Hyacinth, Muscari, and a delicate Siberian squill.

I hope you are staying safe, keeping to the new rules. If you are WFH perhaps you could try joining in, it would be lovely to see what flowers you have in your garden.

Have a good week wherever you are, stay safe and thanks for reading. D.