#alchemilla mollis

Six On Saturday: Plants that do it by themselves

/ n20gardener / 12 Comments

There was much anticipation here on Friday. Thunderstorms and rain were forecast. Nothing significant materialised. I will have to water the potatoes today and check on the newly planted tomatoes and courgettes. A friend who is well ahead of me has her first courgette already. There may be no rain but some plants just get on with things. Here’s six from the garden this week.

One

Peony, I did bring peonies from the old garden but they didn’t seem to take. Then after eight years this one appeared. It’s in the wrong place surrounded by roses and veronicastrum but I’m not going to move it in case it takes to not flowering again.

Two

This is the garden path. Almost impassable with the sprawl of plants escaping from the borders. It’s full of bees humming through the flowers so at this time of year I take the long way round across the lawn.

Three

Self-seeders are the theme in the garden this week. These calendulas are plentiful at the veg end of the garden.

Four

This year they have been joined by self-seeded nigella love-in-a-mist. I’ve left it to edge a narrow strip where I have sown carrots.

Five

More self-seeding, mallows have come through from the compost heap which I tend to use for earthing up potatoes. I’ve let them stay at the end of one of the veg beds.

Six

My final self-seeder is alchemilla mollis. This is also happy overwintering as seed in the compost heap or self seeding in the borders.

Wishing you all well in your gardens. It’s dead-heading roses and weeding for me. Jim’s garden is open for viewing literally and digitally. Garden Ruminations is the place to be, even if I am envious of his rain.

Six On Saturday: Autumn has arrived

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

I was away in Suffolk last week, worrying about the mid-week winds and the pots on the terrace but all was well. I had managed to stake some Japanese anemones that were flopping before I left and they too largely remained upright. I returned to a very autumnal garden. Courgettes and cucumbers are ready to be consigned to the compost heap and there is some change of season tidying to be done. It’s a bit of a struggle to find six delights this week but here is what is happening.

One

There was plenty of rain for the garden while I was away and these alchemilla mollis thrived. They are being saved for a friend who says they do not grow for her, while here they self seed everywhere.

Two

The persimmon fruits have been falling off the tree for several weeks but finally the ‘drop’ seems to have finished and those that are left will be ripening over the coming months.

Three

I am not a very ruthless gardener but I’m going to call time on this cherry tree. It’s not very old but it has the lurgy and in three years the birds have always feasted on the fruits before we get even close. Decision made. It’s going.

Four

There are new flowers on the daphne ‘Eternal Fragance’. It’s not a ‘stop you in your tracks’ shrub but it fills a corner and is very low maintenance.

Five

The Hart’s tongue ferns looking very shabby after winter but they have pulled through and are establishing themselves in a shady corner.

Six

My mystery plant. It grows in the wall, is never looked after and this is the first time in seven years I have noticed it in flower. Answers on a postcard please!

There’s a good week of weather ahead, if only I had the time to spend in the garden. It’s all a bit crazy at the moment. I hope you find time to enjoy your gardens. Jim, our host, still manages to find colour but also concedes the arrival of autumn.

Six on Saturday: Whose garden is it?

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

June is the month, that seven years ago, I took over this garden. The previous owner had loved his soft fruit and fruit trees but much of the rest of the garden had gone to weeds. That family was the second family to garden here. There is evidence in archived local newspapers that the first owner also loved his soft fruits and had won prizes for raspberries. There has been over 100 years of gardening here and I am gradually leaving my mark. I have come to appreciate that I share this garden with the past, with the numerous slugs and snails, with the foxes and cats and with the birds and insects. I share it with my neighbours too. Sometimes they have no choice as the clematis armandii knows no bounds. I also get to share theirs. Their roses peek over the fence. The hawthorn and ceanothus in Spring take my eye to their gardens and in June I enjoy a superb display of flowers from a neighbouring elder tree. Seven years of this garden has passed by so quickly and there is so much more to do. Here’s six for this week.

One

This is the creature that prompted this little outburst. A red admiral butterfly on a hosta. The hosta is in a pot at the end of garden. At this time of year it basks in the evening sun and this a favourite end of day spot for a visit. Clearly the butterfly also agrees but it is not so keen on sharing and each evening it dive bombs us in an effort to persuade us to leave this little corner. The butterfly always wins. This is the third year of this interesting behaviour.

Two

A combination of persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’ and alchemilla mollis. This has probably been in the garden for about five years. The persicaria has spread a little but not too aggressively.

Three

The suns rays shining through the lovely geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’. This is a garden share from an aunt and has been divided and lifted many times. It has been with me for, and it seems incredible to say this, about twenty years, joining us in each house move.

Four

The roses are exuberant at the moment. This is ‘Darcy Bussell’, great colour and scent.

Five

And this is ‘Jaqueline du ‘Pré’. Looking at its very best in this photo.

Six

Lastly, the very rampant geranium ‘Brookside’ with the rose ‘Gertrude Jekyll’. One of the previous residents of this house was a Gertrude so I hope this meets her approval.

The Six On Saturday meme is all about sharing gardens. Our host is Jim of Garden Ruminations and each week he shares the links to the posts of other SOS gardeners. All are welcome to stop by to have a look and to take part. It’s going to be very hot this weekend, I will briefly mention the lack of rain and the diminishing water storage. But let us enjoy what we can – it is Summer.

Six on Saturday: Reasons to be cheerful

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

Ignoring the awfulness of Thursday when, here, it rained all day with a real insistence there are reasons to be cheerful. I feel there is a sense of spring in the air. The garden is giving me strong signs that it is time to emerge from hibernation, open up the seed packets and get growing. This week I’ve sowed lupins, dahlias, a first batch of tomato seeds and three pots of basil seeds. I even gave the autumn sown ammi a brief outing in the sunshine.  There isn’t much new on the flowering front but progress is being made.

One

The clematis amandii ‘Apple Blossom’ has broken into flower.  This is it’s best side, further along there are one or two bald patches.  I hope these will fill out over the year.

Two

A small group of anemone blanda have deigned to push through again.  No sign yet of a new batch I planted in the north border.  I’m hoping a little more warmth will persuade them to show up.

Three

The fritillaries are dangling their lanterns again and reminding me that I must invest in a few more of these to make the impact stronger.

Four

The tulips leaves are marching on.  I particularly like these striped ones from ‘China Town’ 

Five

There is a rose to be seen! Battered by wind and rain but managing to look pretty even so.

Six

I was very happy to see some new growth on the alpine alchemilla.  I thought I’d lost this after the squirrels made short shrift of it when they planted a few acorns in the same spot.  Shame on me for being so despondent. 

The ground is still very wet, the weeds, particularly the bittercress, are enjoying the damp conditions and I’ll have to get to them soon before they find the energy to flower.  That means I’ll be in the garden which can’t be a bad thing.  And would you believe it, I’ve just had a delivery of 300 in-the-green snowdrops!  They are so late coming due to the poor conditions for lifting them from the fields.  That sorts out my morning.  Mr P has all the updates from other SOSers.  Plenty to admire and inspire! Cheerfulness all round I think.

Six On Saturday: Flattened

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

It was a week of hunkering down.  The water butts filled up impressively.  I then emptied them by filling up all the watering cans and then watering the greenhouse.  It was mad, crazy, wet.  I was happy from Monday to Wednesday, a little peeved by Thursday and downright fed up on Friday.  But the garden did need it.  I reviewed the damage: slugs and snails feasting on the lupins and flattened roses but most other things just soaked up the magic water.

One

The flattened and rain soaked ‘Scepter’d Isle’.  The petals just fell off them as I deadheaded them.  The alchemilla mollis underneath was cut and joined the forlorn rosa ‘Darcy Bussell’ in a vase.  I was reminded of some beautifully crafted staking of roses at Waterperry gardens and again made a note to do better next year!

Two

The collection of small plants I bought at the Finchley Horticulutral Society plant sale were short enought to withstand the rain, and positively thrived on it.  These are alchemilla mollis alpina, tellima grandiflora or fringe cups,  geranium ballerina and erinus alpinus, also delightfully known as fairy foxgloves.

Three

I was pleased to see a mistreated geranium had forgiven me.  ‘Ann Folkard’ was planted five years ago in the old house, moved around several times there, came to the new house and has been moved around several times again.  I hope it’s  in the right place now, I’m going let it stay for a while and see how it fairs.

Four

Just before the deluge arrived the ailing choysia left.  I now have that most desirable of garden commodities – open space.  I wish I had worked out the plan of what to do next first but the urge to remove the choysia was too strong.  Normally I would fill the space with annuals but I don’t think they will do well in this north facing border.  On the other hand it is at the western end and I do have two or three trays of annuals looking for a home.

Five

The much awaited melica altissima ‘Alba’ arrived.  The final piece in the shady north border planting.  Now it all has to knit together, the weeds are doing that rather better than the plants at the moment.  The climbing  hydrangea is making good progress but the first flowers on the geranium sanguineums were dashed to the ground by the rain.

Six

The small and dainty dianthus deltoides stood up to the rain.  They are about 18cms high and edge the border very well.

A little bit warmth would do very nicely now but dark clouds are looming again.  The weeds are growing upwards and the slugs are growing fat.  It is summer solstice next week so I am optimistically  expecting a change in the weather!  I think rain will be the word of the week for other SOSers.  Take a look at The Propagator’s blog to see how everyone faired.