Geranium 'Orion' | Davids Garden Diary

Aren’t gardeners kind people. After my post last week I was contacted by a lady who lives not far away, offering to replace my lost purple Hesperis and craves the white one, of which I have seedlings galore. I always find that gardening folk are keen to share and help others. The dainty bells of this Clematis integrifolia remind me of this when I recall the kind gardening friend who gave it to me many years ago.

The Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’ hedge is bursting with blossom despite the rather pale and chloritic colour of the foliage! I believe it is suffering from a deficiency of some sort but not sure what. It could be a form of rose replant disease, the hedge being in the position of old roses. Comments and suggestions welcome!

Not Geranium ‘Rozanne’ as most people might assume, but ‘Orion’, another sterile hybrid with very different foliage but the same red veined, violet blue flowers but slightly less of a white centre. Looks very interesting under polarised sunglasses!

Allium ‘Mount Everest’ looking splendid in the long border and towering above its purple cousins. The leaves, however, have been shredded by our slimy friends and must now be removed. I am reliably informed that this will not affect next year’s flowering as it has already formed in the bulb. Just noticed the aircraft coming in to land from the West!

I struggle to grow Astrantias in my garden, even the tough old Astrantia major, unless I am constantly watering them over the summer, something I neglect to do. I have tried to grow the dark pink ones like ‘Roma’ but they just curl up their toes. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and move on!

Finally for this week, Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ which I grew from cuttings many years ago and about which I now have mixed feelings. In my ordered world of ‘painting with plants’, I find this scruffy and untidy, extremely fast growing and therefore high maintenance. I fear it may be time to consider a more attractive replacement……or maybe topiary!

Have a great weekend.

I’m off to Sheffield for our Granddaughter’s Christening tomorrow.

David

It is getting more and more difficult to find six interesting things for the blog but some things, like this Rose ‘Camille Pissarro’ continue to surprise me. Flowering as strongly in November as he was in June and no sign of giving up any time soon.

This unnamed wallflower, not a perennial just one of the annual cheiri types, is still here after three years and producing lots of self sown seedlings. I left it because I like the flower colour, less gaudy than most and unobtrusive at any time of the year.

Earlier this year I resolved to link my seven old water butts together to try and capture as much rainwater as possible. However, I am not patient enough to stand while a watering can slowly fills from the tap. I am a dipper. I plunge my can in the open water butt at the top instead! The problem is that some of my butts are old juice barrels with no lid. So, I experimented with joining them all together at the bottom by their taps or outlets whereby they all empty at the same rate. This means my open dipping butt never seems to go down! Every time it rains, the water from my 18′ x 8′ shed and greenhouse fills 2 of the barrels which in turn fill the other 5. This gives me a constant 1500 litres of water all year round. The manifold of old hose pipe and ‘T’ pieces was a bit of a faff but it all works beautifully!

A few Saturdays ago I mentioned the self sown cosmos seedlings and wondered whether they would survive the winter. Well, I needn’t have worried because they have all flowered! Never had this happen before and I think it must have been the hot summer and mild autumn which promoted germination and flowering in just a few short weeks.

The shrubby salvias, like this ‘Trelissick’ are still going strong with lots more flower buds and fresh growth at the base. I tend to cut the top third off about now to avoid wind rock, but I can’t bring myself to do it just yet!

And finally, let’s end on Hardy Geranium ‘Orion’ which has been flowering non-stop since May and is a real stunner. One of the sterile hybrids like ‘Patricia’ and ‘Rozanne’, she keeps flowering in the vain hope that pollination will occur, and seeds will form, but they never do.

Have a great weekend

David