Six on Saturday

Posted on November 5, 2022 by davidsgardendiary

It rained every day this week which made weeding a lot easier in my claggy clay soil and I whizzed through my ever increasing ‘to do’ list. Darcey Bussell’s skirts got wet but she didn’t seem to mind!

The last Penstemon flowers of the season are hanging on to give the bees a treat on sunny days. They have put on a wonderful display since May and seem to be unaffected by the changing climate. If anything, they enjoyed the drought this year and didn’t need a drop of water. They are having a lot now though!

I struggle to understand why some plants from hot countries, like Peru and Chile, seem to do better in the UK when it’s getting cooler and wetter! These Alstroemerias are revelling in the current conditions and flowering their heads off. I am picking armfuls for the house every week.

Salvia uliginosa still growing strongly and flowering in her rather haphazard way. The tall stems are a bit lax for my liking and gradually become horizontal after days of wind and rain but nothing stops it from flowering and it soon picks itself up again. A number of passers-by have stopped to ask what it is and are very surprised when I tell them it is a Salvia. I don’t tell them its common name is Bog Sage!

I think I may have overdone the Viola pot a bit! The Cyclamen in the middle are getting smothered and as for the scraggy bit of Ophiopogon…! Cheery, happy little faces though, I love them.

And finally……a bit of an oddity. This Rose ‘Let’s Celebrate’ has produced some very odd flowers with petals that don’t fully open making it look a bit like Eaton Mess! Could be the cooler nights or maybe the rain; I just hope it is not a permanent affliction!

Have a great weekend

David

Six on Saturday

Posted on September 11, 2022 by davidsgardendiary

A day late due to the exceptional circumstances of the death of our beloved Queen Elizabeth II. I was away with our family when I heard the news.

A very sad few days for the whole country and more to come, but our gardens provide us with great solace and a place to think, reflect and draw strength. There is still plenty of colour too, including this rare and special Tradescantia (Andersoniana Group) ‘David’s Blaby Blue’, named after a young man who died in tragic circumstances in Blaby, Leicester.

The ginger lily, Hedychium flavescens, is just coming into flower. The smell is rather like sweet cinnamon but the flowers are here and gone in a flash. It didn’t like the intense heat this summer and needed gallons of water which makes it a very needy plant in my book. Probably not one to grow in periods of drought!

The front border is still performing well and the powder blue Salvia uliginosa alongside the acid yellow of Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’ is a nice combo. You can just see the second flowering of the delphiniums which I cut down to the ground only a few weeks ago.

The Fox Grape, Vitis labrusca ‘Isabella’, is almost ready for harvest, the sweet juicy pink fruits gradually turning a dark pink. Not even enough for a few bottles but delicious on my morning granola!

The Box Moth caterpillar ridden Box ball featured in my last Six has gone and has been replaced by Teucrium chamaedrys, or Wall Germander, a short, upright and well behaved evergreen flowering plant which, I am assured, is pest and disease free, probably due to its aromatic leaves.

Let’s finish on a dahlia, a delightful hybrid dahlia which I grew from the seed some years ago and whose flowers are different every year. This year the pink has diminished and lemon yellow is the dominant colour. All I know is the bees love it, and so do I.

Enjoy your garden this weekend and reflect on the life of our late wonderful Queen and all those who perished in 9/11 on this day 21 years ago.

David

My Garden This Week – The Best Bits!

Posted on August 24, 2015 by davidsgardendiary

I have been trying to take a good photo of Salvia uliginosa and have found it very difficult so this is the best I have managed so far but it really doesn’t do it justice. The colour is simply exquisite and it flowers for months. The bees love it and it is a full 1.8m high and wide which makes a wonderful border statement. Believe it or not, it is thriving in one of the worst parts of the garden overshadowed by trees and in sticky clay soil, all the things it should hate!

Aconitum carmichaelii, the common Monkshood, has got a fearsome reputation for being the most poisonous plant in the garden, particularly since a gardener died of it’s effects earlier this year. It is, however, a rather beautiful and statuesque plant, just don’t touch it and then eat your sandwiches!

The front border is filled with colour from the salvias, echinaceas, monardas and heleniums with the fresh foliage of the asters and chrysanths supporting them. Everything props each other up and avoids flopping.

Amongst the asters is this rather unusual Solidago ‘Fireworks’ which is not your average Golden Rod but a more refined version which works well with the purples, mauves and crimsons of the asters which are now beginning to open.

Best hoverfly attractor plant? This Lysimachia ephemerum, the Willow Leaved Loosestrife, gets this year’s award. Yes, better than Verbena, salvias or scabious and at least on a par with echinacea for attracting pollinators. Never seen it without something crawling over it!

The ever reliable Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii which lights up the borders in August and goes on for weeks and weeks. I wouldn’t be without it. Shorter than ‘Goldsturm’ and a brighter yellow in my opinion.

I do find it easy to ignore the more mundane plants in the garden and take them for granted, particularly those which have been there for years and just perform without fussing, feeding or propping, things like this Echinops ritro, a reliable drought resistant, clay loving plant if ever there was one. Loved by bees, flies, beetles and all manner of creepie crawlies, it must be overloaded with pollen and nectar. It is not until you look closely, really closely at those blue balls that you see why.