Garden Bloggers Bloom Day – November 2016

There are still a few annuals braving the chill – the one above, Calendula ‘Touch of Red Buff’ and below Nicotiana mutablis,

Antirrhinums include sumptuous ‘Black Prince’

and (in my view) insipid ‘The Rose’

As well as the pink flower carpet roses there is also this one, ‘Berkshire’ which is a very similar colour but has a more single form.

There are still Pelargoniums flowering well, this one is the ‘Boot Fair’ one

wonderful ‘Surcouf’

and this one, ‘Pink Capitatum’, the only one so far brought into the greenhouse.

There are at least a couple of Salvias (‘Dyson’s Scarlet’ and ‘Cerro Potosi’) covered in more blooms now than earlier in the year.

On the pergola the first few Clematis cirrhosa var. purpurascens ‘Freckles’ are flowering, but they are terribly tangled up with the roses and I’m a bit concerned both are suffering from the relationship!

In the greenhouse the loud Mandevilla Sundaville Pink is still pumping out its exotic blooms, but other exotics are still flowering (incongruously) outside.

This Grevillea

more Gazanias

and still the Nerines.

And to finish, not exotic, but what a good doer – Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’.

With thanks to Carol at May Dream Gardens who hosts everyone’s GBBDs.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – September 2016

Over a week late with GBBD, but I still wanted to post as a record for me.  (I’m not sure having my daughter home is conducive to blogging!)

Whilst the raised cutting beds have been pretty hopeless this year due to lack of water,  the Zinnia above Z. elegans ‘Luminosa’ is doing well, whilst these Diascia personata, grown from cuttings last year, are going mad.  I mean to move them into the Swing Beds, but life keeps getting in the way.

In the Swing Beds the Nicotiana mutablis are starting to get going, but were definitely planted out too late to make the impact I was after.

They’ve been joined by Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Blue Cockade’, also grown from seed, shown here with Aster frikartii Monch. 

Further blue is provided by the lovely Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Heavenly Blue’. Apparently this can be propagated by cuttings, so I really should try to make some more as I love it.

Elsewhere there are still roses going strong – R. Flower Carpet Pink,

R. Jubilee Celebration

and R. Munstead Wood.

Joining the rose above in the Mid Century Bed are Antirrhinum majus nanum ‘Black Prince’ (not looking very black to me!)

Amaranthus caudatus

and Dahlia ‘La Recoleta’.

Whilst the Grass Bed was supposed to be taken over by Ammi visnaga ‘Green Mist’ and this lovely Cosmos, C. bipinnatus ‘Fizzy White’

instead it’s been rather overwhelmed by self seeded Nasturtiums

and this grass, which I’m sure I originally grew from seed a couple of years ago, but now can’t remember the name of.  Help!

In the veg bed, this Lathyrus ‘Heathcliff’ must be one of the very last Sweet Peas.

In the greenhouse, the Plumbago is still flowering well

and has been joined by the Mandevilla Sundaville Pink.  Some of you might remember these rather gaudy plants were bought at Hampton Court Flower Show to go in pots with the wonderful Pelargonium Surcouf, but I couldn’t bear to plant them together as they weren’t quite the same pink.  Consequently, they’ve been left in the greenhouse, repotted twice, and are absolutely thriving.  Shame I’m now not sure I actually like them!

To finish this cheeky orange Diascia.  I bought this as a plug plant months ago and it’s in a pot by the front door and has been in almost constant flower ever since.  Gotta love a bit of bedding!

With thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts everyone’s GBBD (on the, er, 15th of the month!)

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – July 2016

Plenty of dahlias this month after my splurge earlier in the year.  Some of these are still in pots, and, not entirely surprisingly, not very happy.  I’m trying to keep on top of feeding and watering, but there’s no doubt they’d be happier with their feet in the ground, if only I could find some ground for them….

The one above is D. ‘Tamburo’, and below, another dark one, D. ‘La Recoleta.’

Bright pink, D. Hillcrest Royal

and D. ‘Roxy’ are joined by

peachier Dahlia ‘Burlesque’ (with hiding visitor)

and even more orange, D. ‘Zundert Mystery Fox’

There are still plenty of roses still blooming, including the R. Pink Flower Carpet (which really has been a carpet this year, although looking a little exhausted now),

R. ‘Munstead Wood’,

R. ‘Korizont’

R. ‘Jubilee Celebration’,

and R. ‘Pat Austin’

Plenty of Pelargoniums are looking good, including this one, bought cheaply last year at the local Car Boot Sale, unfortunately without a name,

and this rather more expensive one, P. Choun Cho, which is in a pot with the dahlia in the first photo above, D. Tamburo.

The annuals grown from seed are all a bit behind as I was so late getting everything planted out, but the following are starting to bloom – Antirrhinum majus nanum ‘Black Prince,’

Calendula officinalis ‘Touch Of Red Buff’

self seeded Nasturtium Caribbean Crush (here with Achillea ‘Terracotta’, although not looking very terracotta)

Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Fizzy White’

and Ammi visnaga ‘Green Mist’

Meanwhile the outdoor sweet peas are romping up the netting

but the Winter Sun ones are still flowering in the greenhouse (although now rather badly plagued by greenfly).

Also flowering their socks off in the greenhouse are my two pots of Plumbago.

In the Greenhouse beds, the pink of the Potentilla nepalensis ‘Shogran’ shows up well against the wall.  

In these beds too there are both white and blue Agapanthus, grown from seed.

but there are even more in the strawberry bed.  Although these were planned to all be blue, they too have turned out to be a mix, so I think once they’ve all finished flowering I’ll have a reshuffle!

In the Mid Century bed one of last year’s Gladioli, G. Black Star, is flowering again – this was also previously discussed here.

In the Swing Beds, there are plenty of pink blooms – Diascia Personata, grown from cuttings from the original plant generously given by Nick at White Cottage Day Lilies, joined by a Penstemon

and Salvia jamensis ‘Stormy Sunrise.’

And to finish a little conundrum.  Below is one of two matching Mandevilla bought at Hampton Court to go in pots on the decking together with the Pelargonium ‘Surcouf’ in place of the rather sickly looking Clematis.  However, despite priding myself on having a pretty good ‘colour’ memory, they aren’t the same pink as the Pelargonium, so now what do I do with them?  Probably plant and be damned, as I don’t know where else they’re going to go!

With thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts everyone’s GBBD.

Hampton Court

The last time I was at the Hampton Court Flower Show I was pregnant with my daughter, you know, the one who’s just finished her first year at uni.  And even then I didn’t ‘do’ the show, instead I took my mother on the Gala Evening, the night before the opening as a birthday treat.

Roll forward 19 years and I admit it, I approached Hampton Court all wrong.  As with Chelsea, I’d bought a late ticket (which started at 3pm) but then due to work commitments in the morning ended up not getting there until 4pm, and taking another half hour finding the OH who was apparently deaf to his mobile.  It wasn’t a good start.  Add to that a general irritation with carrying my overnight bag, feeling generally hot and bothered as well as overwhelmed and bewildered by the size of the site, and I was in a right old grump.

However, a restorative marmalade ice cream from Purbeck ice cream and a greenery immersion in the Floral Marquee, and I soon started to perk up.  And, of course, having spoken of my relative abstention on the plant purchasing front last week, it soon went all wrong to the extent the OH had to buy a trolley to carry everything back to the Isle of Wight!

The first purchases were two Mandevilla ‘Sundaville Pink’.  This was actually prompted by seeing Clematis ‘Princess Diana’ looking really good on another display and reminding me that the two I have growing in rectangular planters on the decking (with the lipstick pink Pelargonium ‘Surcouf’) really don’t look good and clearly aren’t happy.  The plan now is to move the Clematis out and replace with the Mandevilla.  Apparently the Mandevillas quite like being restricted so I was instructed to plant them into a larger round pot and then place that in the planter.  It also makes it easier to bring them in for the winter, although I somehow doubt that will ever happen…

Number two was this gorgeous Sanguisorba obtusa, shown off beautifully here in front of a black back drop.  I’m hoping I can find a dark hedge to achieve the same effect, but whether I can also provide the moist soil conditions they prefer is another question.

The OH also treated me to a packet of ‘Just Jenny’ sweet peas, but I’m not sure I’m that keen!

Other plants which caught my eye (but not my wallet) were Nicotiana mutablis.  I’ve just planted this out all round the back of the Swing Beds, so good to note I still like it

This Digitalis illumination ‘Cherry Brandy’ was a stunning colour, but, like D. mertonensis I was moaning about recently, it was really quite short, and I do like a Digitalis to ‘tower’.

Although I’m generally uncomfortable with plants the ‘wrong’ colour, I was rather taken with this Delphinium ‘Red Caroline’, but then I felt bad about it!

I loved this Coreopsis ‘Mercury Rising’.  It reminded me of Chocolate Cosmos but I assume would be a whole lot easier to grow.

I also loved this double Lychnis coronaria ‘Gardeners’ World’,

talking of which, guess who I spied close by.  I loved your frock, Carol!

Inspired by the stunning circular Hosta bed at Whalton Manor, I’m considering planting up a round metal bath I have, solely with Hostas, and a couple took my fancy, firstly H. ‘Mrs Minky’

and also diminutive H. ‘Slim and Trim.’

A last foliage plant to catch my eye was this Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’.  I’m a sucker for a lime coloured leaf.

Oh and the OH liked this, Allium ‘Forelock’.  Yes really.

Back outside I made very limited progress with viewing all the show gardens.  I did however, enjoy the Dog’s Trust garden, particularly the relaxed, relaxing planting.

and I also liked the sunken ‘All the World’s a stage’ garden

with some unusual planting combinations.

I think this was part of the World Gardens, which demonstrated a really effective contrast between the lush planting and the arid hard landscaping.

And these little succulents growing amongst the pebbles in the gabions on this Kent ‘Feel Good Front Gardens’ exhibit were inspired.

And to finish, a special mention for this Conceptual Garden, the ‘Red Thread.’  Not only was it designed by Robert Barker, an ex student of my Capel Manor tutor, John Gilbert, but a couple of my class mates helped with the planting.  I was delighted to see it won gold.

Watching the coverage on the BBC last night made it clear I had missed some real treats, so apologies for such an incomplete post, but it does beg the question whether this is one show best enjoyed from the sofa!