Silent Sunday: first, second, third

Tags

Borage, favourites, in the garden right now, June, Rose "Lark Ascending", rose a shropshire lad, Silent Sunday

Saturday smile: mingling

Tags

cytisus battandieri, David Austin Roses, Rose "Lark Ascending", Sambucus Nigra, Saturday smile, Sweet cicely, Thalictrum Elin

All together, mingling.

Thalictrum, pineapple broom, black leaf elder, Roses, sweet cicely.

Saturday smile: Summer

Tags

allium, Allium sphaerocephalon, euphorbia griffithii Dixter, Helenium Moorheim Beauty, Hydrangea paniculata limelight, Leucanthemum x superbum, Rose "Lark Ascending", Saturday smile, Shasta Daisy, Verbena bonariensis

This Summer is showing itself to be, dare I say it, good. Warm, dry and sunny. The garden this morning looked rather nice in the slightly cooler air and before the direct sun hit. 

Rose Lark Ascending 

Euphorbia Griffithii Dixter and drumstick Allium Sphaerocephalon

Hemerocallis and Helenium Moorheim Beauty, Verbena bonariensis 

Hydrangea paniculata Limelight, Box and Shasta daisies, Leucanthemum x superbum 

Whatever is making you smile today, enjoy it. 

Right I am off to paint yet more wood. More about that another day as it is not making me smile. 

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: dazed and confused

Tags

Coreopsis, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlia mignon, dazed and confused, in a vase on Monday, Rose "Lark Ascending", Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll', Verbena bonariensis

Those of you who saw my earlier post of Silent Sunday must be rather bemused by my confusion over what day it is. You are not wrong. I lost track.

Hastily I put together a bunch of garden flowers to take to my friend Liz last night.

Not in a vase but tied together with purple twine.

Included are two roses, the pink is strongly scented Gertrude Jekyll and the pale apricot one is Lark Ascending. There is Verbena and a pale Coreopsis, darks are from the small Dahlias, mignon and Arabian Night. 

So there you have it, a bunch of garden flowers that did not make it to my vase. Cathy will be joined by bloggers who know what day it is and have filled vases to share. Do take a look. HTTPS://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

In a vase on Monday: in a row

Tags

Cosmos, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlia mignon.mixed, in a vase on Monday, Rose "Lark Ascending", Tse & Tse April vase

A row of flowers comprising dark pink Cosmos, small terracotta Dahlia mignon, Dahlia Arabian Knight, Rose Lark Ascending and the tiny white Dahlia whose name I have lost.

It was late in the day when I got the chance to put this together and so the light was poor and electric light has tainted the colours.

Not much I can do about the light but I can pull the line into a group thanks to the flexibility of the vases, my favourite by Tse Tse.

I am off to take a quick look at some of the other Monday vases on Cathy’s lovely blog https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com  Did you get chance to look at them?

Tuesday View 28 June 16

Tags

Astrantia major, astrantia shaggy, Digitalis purpurea, Eupatorium purpureum, foxgloves, Geum "Mrs Bradshaw", Joe pie weed, molinia Transparent, Rose "Lark Ascending", Thalictrum Elin, Tuesday View

I am linking with Cathy of https://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com to share my view of the the garden as it develops and changes through the seasons.  This Tuesday is a beautiful Summers morning and yet still rain is forecast for later in the day.

The giant Thalictrum Elin

Against a rare blue sky this morning

Thalictrum Elin is a fabulous addition to my border, reaching up to 2.3meters.  The top of the flowers can be seen clearly above the fence line on the roadside.  That may not seem very interesting but to me, where there previously has been no garden at all, this is exciting. I actually prefer the plant at this bud stage before the flowers pop open as its colour changes to a creamy yellow.

The Joe-pie weed Eupatorium purpureum is the large leaf perennial in the foreground of the first picture.  It too will grow tall, up to 2.5m generating pink fluffly flowers on stout stems.  I chose it for its height and its suitability for a wildlife friendly garden.

Even the common old fox gloves  Digitalis purpurea are tall this year.

Behind the tall outer plants, Astrantia Shaggy and Astrantia major are flowering their socks off and have been for about a month.  The grasses are looking ethereal, this is ‘Transparent’ mixing in with the Astrantias creating a haze through which you can see the wonderful rose ‘Lark Ascending.’

The stronger orange on the corner of the bed is the so called ‘rascally’ Geum ‘Mrs Bradshaw’ (so called by Cathy at ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com after seeing it yesterday in my vase on Monday).

The garden is full and some of the plants are reaching their peak.  Roses, grasses, foxgloves, astrantia are wonderful right now.  What is looking great in your garden? If you would like to join in with sharing your Tuesday view, do join Cathy at wordsandherbs.wordpress.com and be sure to make a link back to her page.

Happy gardening

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!

In a vase on Monday: a touch of orange

Tags

Dahlia mignon, David Austin Roses, Echinacea purpurea, Geum "Mrs Bradshaw", in a vase on Monday, Rose "A Shropsire Lad", Rose "Lark Ascending"

Morning, can you see me out there?
Fog, thick fog here.

Today I am joining Cathy and fellow bloggers with a Monday vase. I have picked pink Echinacea and A Shropshire Lad, rose. Lark Ascending rose mixed with Mrs Bradshaw Geum and small head dahlias labelled merely as “Mignon”. These offer shades of soft peach through to strong orange. By contarst to my weekend post entitled Boo!

The biggest difference now is that the flowers have a tendancy to drop petals much more quickly when they come inside, yet I can hardly grumble, it is November after all.

Perhaps you have flowers to bring inside, perhaps you do not. Either way take a look at other Monday vases at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/in-a-vase-on-monday-forever-autumn
Wishing you all a good week.