Six on Saturday: 14/7/18

Tags

buddleja Miss Ruby, Buddliea, butterfly bush, Cercis canadensis, Daylily, echinops ritro, Forest pansy, hemerocallis little grape, hydrangea arborescens Annabelle, Lily, six on saturday, stachys

This is a new meme for me. Simply put this is a look at six plants in my garden which are looking at their best and most interesting right now.

Cercis candanensis underplanted with stachys

Such sweet glossy heart shaped leaves become bigger and bigger and back lit their foliage is unquestionably eye catching.

Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle and chair. This is their second year and boy do they deliver.

From lime green they open to a dreamy green white, one of those colours the people at Farrow and Ball would no doubt find a great name for.

Lily

After a few weeks picking off lily beetle these are looking in good condition and smell divine. They are huge too, about 1m tall. Shall I pick them? Hmm maybe just one.

Echinacea purpurea

I planted these in 2015 and unlike my last garden they have returned each year looking bigger and better.

This is Hemerocallis Little Grape. All daylily do well on my heavy clay soil and this one is a cast off from my friend Liz. Thanks Liz! It is smaller than most at about 40cm high but the strength of colour is very good.

Buddliea love them? Or loathe them? I would not be without at least one as they definitely bring butterflies into the garden. This is Buddleja Miss Ruby a modest sized version at 2x2m but easily contained with a spring pruning The aroma is very fruity. I really like the sharp colour on this one.

Echinops ritro I love all of the echinops but some such as Taplow Blue do not do well on my soil. This however is delightful, makes a good cut flower and adds such a clear form after the alliums are over. so that’s my six on Saturday. If you have six to share please add a link #sixonsaturday The propagator

Have a great weekend. D.

In a Vase on Monday: British Flowers Week

Tags

apothecary bottle, British Flowers week, in a vase on Monday, Lily, oriental lily, poppy seed head, Rose "Lark Ascending", Verbena bonariensis

Cathy is the host of this lovely weekly feature and those of us who take part or who read the posts know all about the exquisite selection home grown flowers can offer. With this in mind I would like to share my British bunch, grown and picked by me. Just as normal really!

The centrepiece to the bunch is an extraordinarily dark lily. I grow a number of lilies in a raised bed and just leave them to it. This year the lily beetle has found them and I had to strip the leaves as they were covered in a black gunk. The flower seems to be untouched so I think it’s fair to say I got away with that one.  

Interestingly, well to me anyway, is that the buds of such a dark colour lily are an orange tone. With this in mind I chose Rose Lark Ascending.

I cannot praise this (David Austin) rose enough, it’s a firm favourite. It picks up the orange lily bud in a soft tone of orange to which I have added a few sprigs of  vibrant purple Verbena bonariensis and some soft green grey poppy seed heads. 

All that was left was to decide on a vessel. It had to be the orange brown apothecary jar as the colours seem to work.

The weather here is full on Summer reaching a sultry 29 degrees today. Incredible and dare I say it, not very British. The flowers are though. 

In a vase on Monday: specimen

Tags

in a vase on Monday, Lily, science flask

Morning.
I realise that it is Tuesday but I wanted to join Cathy at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com with her lovely meme. This is my tardy specimen. Grown on my cutting patch this Lilium .

Good strong colour, tick. Strong straight stem, tick. Multiple buds on one stem, tick.

So a single stem in an old science flask on Tuesday, not exactly a vase or Monday but you know what I mean.
Have a good day.

In a vase on Monday and 52 week photo challenge: Heat

Tags

52 Week Photo Challenge, Alchemilla mollis, Cosmos, Dahlia mignon.mixed, Geranium 'Ann folkard', Geum "Mrs Bradshaw", Geum Totally Tangerine, heat, in a vase on Monday, Katie Swan, Lily, Rose "Lark Ascending", Rose Morning Mist, Verbena bonariensis, wibledon championship, wildcard

Where is the heat to this Summer? The weather pattern is unsettled  but to me it seems to be very settled, settled into a routine of much rain followed by a few warm hours each day.  The weeds are growing well, not unlike Jacks beanstalk.
Today is more of the same so to join Cathys ‘in a vase’ and Sandra ’52 week photo challenge’ of last week, my vase is full of hot colours.

The vase is an old earthenware pickle pot, and this arrangement is in a bit of a pickle with stuff all over the place.

I like it like this with lots of movement and hot colour. No real reds but plenty of oranges and hot pinks.

So two birds with one stone today. Last weeks late entry to https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com and Mondays vase to https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

Take a minute to have a look at other entries they are usually diverse and always lovely.

Have a great week.
Wimbledon has started today so that usually means more mixed weather. I shall be keeping my fingers crossed for wild card entry Katie Swan on Tuesday. Ranked 437 she won for GB in the Fed cup in Israel earlier this year and is the youngest British player to have won a Fed Cup game. Swan will play Timea Babos (44).
Let’s cheer her on, go Katie!