May 4, 2016 by Christina

May 4th 2016 Wordless Wednesday

Another nameless Iris Continue reading →

April 23rd 2016 Irises and ……….

I’ve never seen my Bearded Irises as tall; ideal for the cyclone we are promised! I do hope the 50 and 60 km per hour winds that has been mentioned doesn’t materialize. Continue reading →

March 22, 2015 by Christina

GBFD – Spring foliage

Welcome to GBFD, a day to celebrate the foliage backbone of the garden.

After a glorious sunny, spring-like day on Friday today is grey with a cold wind; so not a day to enjoy being in the garden at all. I think that in spring we are all looking for signs of the new season especially flowers so it is easy to forget that spring also brings all the new foliage on trees, emerging perennials and the special promise we get from the foliage of bulbs appearing. Continue reading →

June 5, 2014 by Christina

The Slope on Thursday – There is change today!

There is a change in the weather and in the appearance of the slope this week.

It isn’t so much that the day time temperatures are higher, although it is slightly warmer, but at night the temperatures are not dropping so much. I have noticed some plants are telling me they need a little irrigation, the moisture in the soil is diminishing and without addition water non drought tolerant plants would begin to shrivel. Continue reading →

May 31, 2013 by Christina

It’s Not Pink, it’s Magenta

I promised a while ago to show you what other things are in the area now known in my head as the Magenta Zone! Pink sounds too girly for such a strong, vibrant colour.

Here is a description I found of a newly purchased Geranium ‘Tiny Monster’ “From Rolf Offenthal at Germany’s Countess Helen Von Stein’s Nursery comes an excellent new geranium hybrid (Geranium sanguineum x Geranium psilostemon). Each plant makes a 10″ tall x 3′ wide mound of cut-leaf green foliage, topped all summer with 1″+ lavender flowers (why are the people who describe plants colour blind? – it’s clearly not lavender colour in any images let alone in life!). Unlike straight Geranium sanguineum clones which it resembles, Geranium ‘Tiny Monster’ is sterile, so more flowers will result along with no unexpected little ones appearing and begging for support.”

Geranium ‘Tiny Monster’

I bought two well grown pots which I was able to divide into 9 small plants to spread under the Arbutus tree. I don’t usually irrigate this area so I will have to wait to see how much water it requires.

salvia, a cutting from a friend’s garden (unknown name)

Cistus

The Cistus is actually not quite in the Magenta zone but I might extend the planting to reach it or I have some cuttings from it I took last year and I will plant it in the ‘zone’.

Lychnis coronaria

Looking along the path towards the rose

Rosa L D Braithwaite is slightly redder than the true magenta colour I have been aiming for but having moved it once I will allow it to stay. I don’t have a good image for it at the moment, I’ll post about it again when I write about all the roses.

Achillea millefolium ‘Cassis’

Achillea millefolium ‘Cassis’ is a lovely colour this self-seeded last year and so far seems to have come true.

Do you have a colour themed area in your garden? A classic Sissinghurst White Garden?

May 15, 2013 by Christina

GBBD – May Profusion

I usually try to post every bloom there is in the garden for GBBD (for my own record of what is flowering if nothing else), but I’m beaten today! There are just too many flowers and to be truthful even though I love every single bloom it is the overall effect of the garden that is giving me the most joy.

I will try to post about more of the flowers individually during the next month. Cistus, Eschscholzia californica (and not just orange), Roses, Iris – all deserve their own post.

Thanks to Carol for hosting. You might want to peek over the garden wall at some blooms in other gardens so do visit Carol at MayDreamsgarden.

So here (grab a cup of tea maybe) is My Hesperides Garden on GBBD in May. I hope your gardens are giving you as much pleasure as mine is to me, happy bloom day.

Rosa mutabilis on the wall that divides the vegetable garden from the drive

Large Island

Iris Kent Pride with white blotched with brown Cistus

Philadelpus scenting the garden

Iris Before the Storm with Eschscholzia californica

The slope

This cistus is one I took as a cutting

The slope

Eschscholzia californica, on the slope

Buddleia alternifolia, I am tryijng to train as a weeping tree

The pillars on the west facing side of the terrace with Rosa Clair Matin

The pillars on the west facing side of the terrace with Rosa Clair Martin

My favourite rose

Rosa Rimosa, South facing Terrace

Large Island

Large Island looking towards the formal beds

Large Island

Looking along the back border from under the fig

Looking from under Mulberry along the back bed

Left Hand Border

Under Mulberry

Left Hand Border

Left hand border

Rosa Stanwell’s perpetual, Triangular rose bed

Sambucus with lovely dark foliage, Triangular rose bed

Triangular rose bed

The quality of the images isn’t as good as usual as today was very sunny but rain is forecast for tomorrow so I needed to get them today.

May 9, 2013 by Christina

White flowers in the garden, May

Although I don’t have a Sissinghurst-type white garden as part of my garden I do love white flowers. They add pools of light in dark shady areas and are, for me, essential to have on the terrace or near it because they seem to be luminous in the evening as dust and then night arrives.

Here are the white flowers in the garden during the first week in May.