Six on Saturday: 27/6/20

Tags

Crocosmia Lucifer, Echinacea Delicious Candy, hemerocallis Little Grapette, hydrangea arborescens Annabelle, Nigella papillosa African Bride, Sisyrinchium Quaint and Queer, six on saturday

The month of June is progressing too quickly for my liking. I want it to slow a little so we can savour the summer, the long hours of daylight, the weather. It’s been said before but I for one would like an endless summer.

Maybe not if it is 31 degrees though!

My six today to share with you and our host The Propagator are a snapshot of the season in my garden.

Sisyrinchium Quaint and Queer

These tiny flowers are a favourite of mine not least because they are quaint and definitely a queer colour. Don’t be distracted by the foliage, that is from a neighbouring box plant. Q&Q has typical strap leaves of a Sisyrinchium.

Nigella papillosa African Bride

Grown from seed these are much bigger than a regular Nigella. My new favourite I think. Good white petals and dark black centres. Good in a vase.

Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle

The flower heads on the Hydrangeas have suddenly grown and are even beginning to colour up from their starting green. They are growing under Vitis coignetiae Crimson Glory vine and next to Geranium Johnson’s Blue. Such pleasing shades of green.

Crocosmia Lucifer

Crocosmia Lucifer is a devil to grow. See what I did there?!

This is about my third attempt in various gardens. Finally I seem to have cracked it here: sunny open position and well drained soil. In a raised bed it seems happy returning for this it’s third summer.

Stipa tenuissima Penstemon Garnet and Crocosmia Lucifer

Hemerocallis also are doing well and flowering beautifully right now.

Hemerocallis Little Grapette

This is a useful front of border sized Hemerocallis in a rich dark grape colour looking properly juicy with raindrops this morning.

Echinacea Delicious Candy

I love a daisy and the Echinacea Delicious Candy are no exception to that pretty daisy look. This one is an especially vibrant pink. Smaller in stature than E purpurea but seriously more colourful. Echinacea like the open position my garden offers and need elbow room to flower well.

These are my six. I hope you have an enjoyable weekend wherever you are and thanks for reading. D.

Six on Saturday: stunning September

Tags

apple juice, Bees, Calamagrostis brachytricha, Cosmos, dried alliums, Echinacea Delicious Candy, sanguisorba canadensis, September, six on saturday

The weather the last few days has been glorious, warm, with highs of around 20c, blue skies and long shadows. Yet for gardeners it is a struggle to keep a garden looking fresh as it is so very dry.

Dry Alliums, hanging in the summer house. These are to my mind too pretty to compost and are almost as lovely as the Spring forms when they appear in shades of purple. These dried out skeleton alliums act as a reminder to pop a few more in this autumn. The first of my Six on Saturday

2. To quench the dry

These are my bottles of apple juice collected from Mr Nutkin, Tring’s Own Apple Juice. For £1.50 a bottle he can convert your apples and pears into juice. It prolongs shelf life of the fruit for up-to about 18months and is delicious too. Worth every penny.

3.

Bees are happily doing their thing on the Cosmos. No bees no fruit. Very welcome here I say.

4.Sanguisorba candanensis

I love these and they grow well on my nasty hard clay ground.

5.

These are the lovely tails of Calamagrostis brachytricha. They come into their own late in summer. Tactile.

6.Something sweet

This is Echinacea Delicious Candy. That colour is not enhanced in any way. Glorious in yer face pink.

These are my 6. Please join us and refer to the Propagator above to find out how.

Have a great weekend wherever you are. D.

Six on Saturday: it’s August

Tags

Alex Moore, August, Echinacea Delicious Candy, Echinacea purpurea, Echinops ritro white, Helianthus salicifolius, madebymoore, sempervivums, six on saturday, Succulents, Vitis coignetiae, weather

It is August yet the weather seems to think otherwise. I took these pictures yesterday morning when they were blowing in the wind and covered in rain, rather than basking in any glorious August sunshine. Hey ho, it could be worse, it could be today! What a shocker. Truly atrocious summer weather.

Here’s the six:

Six succulents. Some are Sempervivums I hear you cry.

I don’t have names for any of these apart from Aeonium zwartkop (that’s the fourth one). These grow well in coastal regions in the UK but here in my garden on the Herts. /Bucks borders, mine survive, rather than thrive.

The succulents are precious to me and they are carefully placed in the house over the winter months as they are not at all hardy and they hate our wet cold winters. Don’t we all.

The Houseleeks or sempervivums are left outside but under glass to protect them from the worst or the weather. They are quite tough really.

I enjoy these every Summer and forget how annoying it is in the Winter to find space for them.

2.

This is the third year for Althea cannabina and it has hit its stride. Wonderful, wafting in the wind, oodles of soft pink, mallow like flowers, taller than me. I wouldn’t be without it. Here it has fronds of Molinia Transparent and Coreopsis Verticillata Moonbeam behind it.

3. Echinacea ‘Delicious Candy’

I purchased this last August, drawn to its luminous colour and name. It is beginning to bulk up. Cathy remarked that these do not do well in her garden ( frankly the only thing, everything she grows looks so good) after one appeared earlier this week in my IAVOM. Echinacea do like an open site and with room to bulk up, to thrive. They only lasted one year in my last garden.

3. Echinacea purpurea

This is their time. Flowering when the roses are recharging their batteries. Good with grasses. Just great for bees.

4.

This pile of green leaves may not look very interesting but trust me, it will be a stunner this autumn. Vitis coignetiae or Crimson Glory vine. It is climbing over the garage wall and has reached onto the roof. It will be in for a major chop soon enough.

5.

The willow like foliage is what I grow the perennial sunflower for. Helianthus salicifolius. It will have small daisy like flowers in the autumn and will reach 2.5m tall.

The yellow flowers I like less. I am even considering pinching out the flowers as they will detract from the shaggy texture which is so intriguing. Alas the wind is battering them today.

6. Echinops

These pale Pom poms are taking over. Echinops ritro white. I like them less than E Veitch Blue but these are better suited to my heavy soil. In case you are wondering what is in the centre of the picture, it is the bird feeder made by Alex Moore.

I love how it is fully surrounded by plant life now.

Joining our host The Propagator who is on his ‘olidays. Enjoy !

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend wherever you are. D.

In a vase on Monday: new month, new flowers

Tags

Althea cannabina, Dianthus carthusianorum, Echinacea Delicious Candy, Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea purpurea Fatal Attraction, echinops ritro, in a vase on Monday, Persicaria amplexcaulis Firetail, Rose "Lark Ascending", shasta daisies, Verbena bonariensis

As we move into August the garden is beginning to alter. The roses are largely in a void period, preparing for a second flush. Hemerocallis are nearly finished. The Verbena is getting taller and taller mostly at 1.5m and falling over in the wind. The geraniums, alchemilla and Euphorbias need deadheading.

Newly flowering however are Persicaria Echinacea, Echinops, Coreopsis and Shasta daisies.

I decided to pick a few samples and line them up in my favourite ‘April’ vase by Tse-Tse.com

From left Echinacea purpurea, Verbena bonariensis. Echinacea Delicious Candy, Coreopsis moonbeam, Dianthus carthusianorum . Rose Lark Ascending. Echinops ritro, Echinacea purpurea Magnus, Persicaria amplexcaulis Firetail, Echinacea. Purpurea Fatal Attraction. Lastly a tiny pink flower, just seen, Althea cannabina.

What is in your vase today? What does our host Cathy have in her vase today. Take a look, join in.

Have a great week, wherever you are. D.