March 14, 2018 by Christina

Flowering today in my garden

Our weather is strange; three or four days of very cold weather and rain; then a couple of days of glorious sunshine, so bright it was almost too strong to be eating lunch on the terrace without some shade! Continue reading →

February 15, 2018 by Christina

Little February treasures

On the 26th January I wrote about my busy gardening week; but since then the weather has been anything but good so most of the work done has been in the greenhouse (report coming soon) rather than the garden.

Today, at last, there has been soon sunshine that had a little warm in it so I was able to prune most of the mutabilis roses. They had been pruned badly (by me) as a hedge between the drive and the vegetable garden. To be brutally honest they are too large a rose for where I have planted them; add to this that they have been cut so as not to scratch the cars and to keep them back from the pathway in the vegetable garden – the result was crossed stems and new strong shoots beginning high up old stems. I pruned all but three of the roses; I’ll show you what they look like when I’ve completed them all. But suffice to say that the view of the onion bed is now very open!

I have another tulip that is not as described on the pack; one has reached flowering stage well before the others but instead of Daytona (White frilled) I have this…..

Tulip NOT Daytona

It is fringed as Daytona should be and is not unattractive but it is always disappointing when things aren’t what they should be.

Crocus, the first of the deep purple

Crocus. this image was last week, the yellow crocus are all finished now.

Tommi Crocus

Or as it should be Crocus Tommasinianus Lilac Beauty (seems a very long name for something so delicate)

Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’

Volunteer Anemone

Grape hyacinth

There are thousands of Grape hyacinths in the garden but this is the only one flowering.

Iris reticulata

Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’

Hyacinth Miss Saigon, the first to flower in the garden

Anemone coronaria ‘Sylphide’

You can see last year’s Sedum stems need cutting back – I have done some of the many around the garden; those remaining are growing quickly which makes cutting the stems off low more difficult.

Sorry the name escapes me, something rosemariafolia

Native Freesia buds – they won’t be long now

Snowdrop

almost ripe seedpod from another snowdrop

Iris unguicularis

Viburnum tinus

When Chloris at The Blooming Garden writes her post for February flowers I’ll link to it.

I hope you are finding at least a few garden when you can get on with some work in the garden.

March 17, 2015 by Christina

Scent in the Garden

When I saw WellyWoman’s post about scent in the garden yesterday I thought I had nothing new in the garden that was perfumed and so wouldn’t be able to contribute this month.

But any excuse for a walk around with the camera. Continue reading →

March 13, 2015 by Christina

The Greenhouse and a bit of catching up

Although out in the garden not very much changed while I was away, it was a different story in the greenhouse where all of the tomato seedlings grew at quite a pace and have now all been pricked out into larger modules and some that I had pricked out before were ready to be put in 9 cm pots. This is the stage I really enjoy partly because at this stage it is pretty certain they will survive.

There were positively forests of seedlings from the saved seeds of tomatoes that I had particularly liked last year; for the rest I had been more restrained in the numbers I had sown as I am always loathe to throw away unwanted seedlings. I will still have enough to give lots away to friends. Continue reading →

May 1, 2013 by Christina

Pink

I wouldn’t really describe myself as a ‘pink’ person but I do love very deep fuchsia pink. Last year I started planting a small area of the garden with just this colour, the idea being that there would be something flowering in that colour for most of the year.

If you’ve seen any of my previous posts over the last few months you will have seen Anemone Sylphide. I am thrilled with the colour and how long it has flowered; it is still producing new blooms now and it began on January 15^th.

Anemone Sylphide

Last spring I saw two tulips that caught my eye on other blogs. Hillwards showed Tulip Barcelona, just the colour I wanted and available from my supplier; I have not been disappointed by its silky loveliness. Wife, Mother Gardener raved about the little tulip Persian Pearl (she has shown it a couple of times this year too. I think it must like her cooler conditions better than mine because mine was over in about a week, but as it is a species type it should at least bulk up for next year and will hopefully make a better impression.

Tulip Barcelona

T. Barcelona, I like the way the petals curve out in a most elegant way

The petals look like silk

The first tulip opens in 2013 – T. Persian Pearl

Tulip Persian Pearl

I included Hyacinth Miss Saigon, but again this opened and finished very quickly so the jury is out as to whether I would plant others, it will depend on its performance next year. Little Gem irises were pretty but their colour didn’t live up to their description but they did flower for a long time so I enjoyed having them in the garden.

Hyacinth Miss Saigon

I also bought Tulip Purple Dream not expecting it to be a similar colour. This tulip is indeed a dream I’ve never seen a tulip with a larger flower, the images don’t do it justice. It was very tall too, although this could be because it was planted with Cerinthe all around it so it might just have been reaching for the light. I hadn’t planted it in the same bed as the others but I might be tempted into buying some this autumn (don’t think about it yet) to give a different form in the bed.

T. Purple Dream

T. Purple Dream with the light behind its petals, this is a new favourite

Wide open showing a white throat T. Purple Dream

The same applies to T. Double Dazzle planted in autumn 2010 in the large island; I think it would look great with the other tulips.

T. Double Dazzle

T. Double Dazzle looks great with Euphorbia rigida

Sadly the tulips have all finished now but I’ll post about some of the others that were especially beautiful this year and the plants that associated well with them.

March 20, 2013 by Christina

First Tulips

Yesterday the sun shone and the first tulips of 2013 opened! I am so happy!

The first tulip opens in 2013 – T. Persian Pearl

Not just one, and doen't the new foliage of Sedum Matrona look nice with them

Not just one, and doesn’t the new foliage of Sedum Matrona look nice with them

Hyacinth Miss Saigon is opening more each day too

Today is not sunny, this morning was grey and this afternoon there is steady gentle rain (good for the garden unlike the heavy rain and horizontal winds at the weekend) so the tulips aren’t open but Hyacinth Miss Saigon is opening more each day.

Thank you all for your response to my appeal for a plant ID. Here is an image of the foliage so that even though the stems didn’t exude an orange liquid it seems clear this is a Celandine, just that it has pointier petals than any of the images I saw when searching.

Here’s the foliage of the flower I posted about 2 days ago

Talking of foliage just a quick reminder that it is GBFD on Friday 22^nd please feel free to join in with anything that takes your fancy foliage-wise.

March 15, 2013 by Christina

GBBD March – spring begins

Not in the sense that we have spring weather, no, it is cold, it is wet and the winds have been gale force; there has been some sun but mostly March has definitely come in like a lion…..

But despite this, blooms have opened, some bulbs are already finished, Crocus have been shredded by the whipping wind and Iris reticulate, although lasting longer than other years are now putting on foliage rather than flowering.

The best blooms are still the Anemone sylphide, close to them the other bulbs I chose for their similar fuchsia pink colour are showing their buds. Hyacinth Miss Saigon, another bulb I’ve never grown before will be open in a few days and Barcelona, Persian Pearl or Antraciet Tulips are showing colour in their buds. I don’t know which tulip this is because I planted all three here hoping for a continuation of intense colour, I’ll know when it is fully open I hope.

Anemone Sylphide, no apologies for showing these again!

Hyacinth Miss Saigon

Barcelona, Persian Pearl or Antraciet Tulip?

The plum is now flowering with the promise of small sweet yellow plums later in summer.

Plum blossom

The rest of the blooms are those you would expect in March with one exception, Rosa rimossa on the south-facing pillars has two flowers, one has already been almost destroyed by wind by the other is more tucked away so will hopefully bloom for a little longer.

Rosa rimosa three days ago

and now after the wind

R. rimosa, another bud opening

Ceanothus repans continues to flower out of its usual late spring season, the plant is dying back in the middle and I fear it will die, they are capricious shrubs that often die for no apparent reason, I will replace it if it does die, I am trying cuttings but they are slow to put down roots.