Tuesday View – 25th April 2017

Today is a public holiday in Italy; an Italian friend described it as the day the Italians celebrate losing the war.  What ever it is for today is sunny with the wind coming from the south so not as cold as it has been.  Many have gone to the sea, not to swim but to enjoy the beach and have a good meal in a restaurant.

Tuesday View 4th October

A second post from me today as I was late posting In a vase on Monday.  Tuesday is when Cathy at Words and Herbs asks us to share one view of our garden (whatever state it might be in!).  It’s a great way to understand how a border or bed changes through the year; it can be surprising how much it can even change in a week.

Tuesday View – 21st June 2016

I apologise to those of you who were expecting a report on the cut flower beds today but when I wrote the post yesterday I had forgotten that Tuesday is not the day to join Cathy at Words and Herbs  and show one view of the garden each week to see how it changes or not as the case may be.

May 24th 2016 Morning light in the garden

Yesterday the wind blew all day so that it was impossible to take any photographs and it was exhausting just being outside.  My washing was dry almost as soon as I hung it out.  This morning the light was beautiful so I wanted to capture some of its magic.

April 5th 2016

Continuing with our walk around my springtime garden.
Yesterday morning the light was very bright and shining through some of the foliage in a rather delightful way.

Wordless Wednesday – Views I’m enjoying this week May 20

Large Isalnad -the Irises are coming to an end now but have been wonderful this year, the small island is in the background

Large Island

Large Island looking towards the Drive

I must try some cuttings of this Salvia, I love its purple spikes against the orange of the poppies (Upper Slope Path)

Edge of Large Island looking towards the terrace

Rosa ‘Queen of Sweden’ is amazing this year and a great rose to cut for a vase

Left Hand border, roses in full bloom this week

My favourite rose of all, R. Vielchenblau, this swag should be tied in but when I do the branch dies so I’m just enjoying it while it flowers

The Spring Walk is now full of Sisyrinchium striatum

Wordless Wednesday – Views I’m enjoying this week

I’ve decided to use Wordless Wednesday to share views of the garden I’m enjoying each week.  Often these don’t find there way into other posts which seems a shame.

GBFD – Scorched and then the first rain came

As I mentioned in my last post we had our first rain for over a month during Monday night plus the temperatures have dropped this week by about 10°C, making it again possible to work in the garden with some degree of comfort at least for most of the morning and in late afternoon. Today I worked on until 1.30pm and it was hotter than I at first realised! Caution is needed, I was wearing a hat!

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

While I love the usual bright orange Eschscholzia, it is not a colour I want to predominate all over the garden; on the slope it is perfect.

Some very good American friends brought me some packets of seed of the Thai Silk series; I’m not sure why but I thought they might not be as strong a plant, or as easy to cultivate as the more customary wild orange variety.

From the RHS:

Preferred common name: California poppy Thai Silk Series

Family: Papaveraceae

Eschscholzia can be annuals or perennials, with finely divided leaves and solitary, long-stalked, poppy-like yellow, orange or red flowers, followed by conspicuous long seed-pods

Thai Silk Series are annuals with attractively dissected, blue-green foliage and single or more often semi-double flowers 4-6cm wide, in a range of shades of cream, yellow, orange, pink and red, sometimes with a cream centre.

Cultivation: Will thrive in poor, well-drained soil but they need full sun for the flowers to open. Can be grown as a drought-tolerant container plant. Good for exposed or coastal areas

They began flowering in the middle of April and made some nice combinations with tulips, especially in the Large Island.

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series with tulips in the Large Island

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series with tulips in the Large Island

I am removing the orange and yellow flowered plants from the Large Island and hoping that it will be all shades of pink, white, cream and pale yellow in the autumn.

Here’s a selection of some of the beautiful colours.  I really like the pleated texture that some of them display.

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series with tulips in the Large Island

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series – how about this for pleated petals?

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series with silver leaved Tanecetum

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series

Eschscholzia californica Thai Silk Series, they come as doubles too

They are making seed pods now but are continuing to flower.  I will cut them down when they have finished flowering but after they’ve spread their seed.  Last year they flowered again as soon as the first rain of late summer arrived.  At present they are filling so many spaces that it is hard to imagine the garden without them.

Home from Chelsea

What is the first thing you do when you arrive home after a few days away?

Last evening when I arrived home from Chelsea, I didn’t even open the door of the house but immediately needed to walk around the garden to satisfy myself that all was well.

The sun was going down do the light was coming from a low angle and the garden seemed magical to me.

Even more of the roses were blooming, Madonna lilies were opening and Stipa tenuissima was wafting about in the wind, tempting me to run my fingers through it.

Sambucus and rose Scepter’d Isle in the triangular rose bed

Dwarf gladioli in the large island

Buddleia alternifolia

Trachelospermum jasminoides, hides the gas bottle from the vegetable garden, and its scent fills the air all around the garden

Cotinus catching the last rays of the sun

The slope

From the drive you can’t even see the paths between the beds

I hate being away from home at this time of year, all the more because later in summer it will be too hot and many plants will go into summer hibernation so this is really the moment for abundance in the garden.  I did enjoy the Chelsea Flower Show and when I get my thoughts together I’ll post about my impressions.