#azalea

Six On Saturday: Finally, flowers!

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

Last week the garden was lingering in cool spring mode.  This week some sunshine has persuaded a few more flowers to open out.  Overnight showers here have lent a few diamond drops to the photos this week.

One

IMG_3609

The dwarf pink azalea that came as present a couple of years ago is flowering.  I recently  received another one which I  may have done for already by forgetting to water it while it flowered in the house.  I’ll try to resurrect it and will see if it likes it better in the garden.  I could end up with the national collection of dwarf pink azaleas!

Two

IMG_3608

I sprinkled the aquilegia seeds around and a few of them made it through to plants.  The flowers are just opening out.  I think this photo makes the colour more interesting than it is.  In reality it looks a rather muddy white.  I like them just as much for the foliage.

Three

IMG_3610

The first of the roses to really open up.  This one came with the garden and was a bit spindly.  Three years ago I cut it completely to the ground.  It has climbed back up the wall and now has so many more flowers, which are a shade deeper red than comes across here – and therefore much nicer.

Four 

IMG_E3611

This is weigela ‘Florida Variegata’.  It was new to the garden three years ago and has made it to about 2 metres.  So far I’ve not pruned it at all but now it is spreading out over the path so after flowering I will reduce the length of the side branches.

Five

IMG_E3612

I’ve been wailing for weeks that my geums had not flowered whilst everyone else’s were romping away.  Finally ‘Lady Stratheden’ deigned to put on a show.  She’s a bit of a sprawler but it works well as the plants around begin to fill out.

Six

IMG_E3607

Although these Siberian irises have not quite opened I had to give them a show.  The purple of the flowers just breaking through against the green of the sword shaped leaves is just perfect!

Mr Prop who hosts this meme has plenty more gardening delights and will no doubt be adding to his plant collection as I write. Take a look and investigate other delights from around the world.  Be warned: Six On Saturday is infectious.

Six On Saturday: Building up the layers

/ n20gardener / 30 Comments

Another crazy week in the garden.  Doing the hokey cokey with the greenhouse plants: in, out, in, out and trying very hard not to shake them all about and the layers in the new borders are building up.  This week it is the turn of the alliums.

One

IMG_2276

These are Purple Sensation. I hope they stay around long enough to look good with the Rosa Blush Noisette which is just in bud behind.  Now the path is complete I need to find some low growing edging plants to drown out the weed seedlings.  Or maybe I move the geraniums forward.  Hhmm,  I think I’ll do that.

Two

IMG_2275

These are Allium Mount Everest, looking suitably tall.  The tulips are really past their best but there is enough life in them to make the border look quite colourful.  Some of the Mount Everests have done a disappearing trick, about six have gone awol causing me to set up a spreadsheet for the autumn bulb order.  Otherwise I am sure to forget that I need more.  I like the height they give to the border at this time of the year.

Three

IMG_2281
And the bonus tulip is …orange! These are in a border that only gets afternoon sun and they are lasting rather well.  I though Queen of Night was the lone gatecrasher in this border but this late arrival is a real stand out.

Four

IMG_2260

The pheasant eye narcissus have been a joy in the last few weeks.  Their scent drifts across the back of the garden and they are looking very happy in combination with the bluebells and pulomonaria.  This corner is going to look quite empty when the spring flowers finish.  More layering to be done.

Five

img_2278.jpg

This is geranium phaeum which came with me in pots from the old garden.  This is its second year in the new border and it has really established itself well.  It’s far more stately and elegant in this garden than it ever was before.  I do love a geranium and will be dividing this up and spreading it around.

Six

IMG_2283

And lastly, the dwarf azalea has revealed its true colour and I think it has earned the chance to move out of its pot and into the border.  It is just the right height for the front of the north west facing corner.  But there is work to be done on that border, currently the most neglected part of the garden, home to ground elder, geranium robertianum and the ubiquitous sherperd’s purse.  The RHS advice gleefully informs me that ‘a single plant is able to produce an average of 2-3000 seeds each, with three generations per year.’  Plenty still to be done there then.

Don’t forget to check in with The Propagator, host of the Six On Saturday meme for a mesmerising selection of gardening delights from around the world.  Happy gardening.

 

 

Six on Saturday

/ n20gardener / 15 Comments

There was talk last week about growing plants in pots.  Was it really growing them or was it keeping them in a pot until the right spot was found.   I have had many a plant in a pot that has died through benign neglect while waiting for that perfect place in the border.  On moving house I decreed ‘no more plants in pots’.  My agapanthus and lavenders were planted out and their roots now have the freedom to roam.  I neglected the rosemary cuttings and they duly died.  Some plants have stayed in their pots and make an important structural impact and some need to be moved on or given up.  Here’s my six:

One

This phormium and its dragon pot have been together for 20 years.  There is no chance of me releasing it from the pot so there it will stay.  Every now and then it flowers but they are not significant.  It is the focal point of the leaves that is important.

Two

This cordyline had been in its pot for about 15 years.  It has recently been repotted and not a day too soon.  I use it to balance out the phormium on the other side.  Being smaller it needs help.

Three 

So I pair it with this yucca.  It came out of the old garden and into a pot.  The yucca rarely flowered in the garden and was getting congested.  I dug it up with the intention of throwing it out but decided to keep a few divisions in a pot to see if I could create another focal point.  The divisions took and they are beginning to establish themselves.  Paired with the cordyline they help counterbalance the phormium.

Four

Herbs are often kept in pots by the back door to be on hand when needed.  This thyme is in a sunny spot and has survived many periods of neglect.  There is a sunny spot in the border against a south facing wall now vacant after I managed to kill a well established rosemary.  My murderous gardening activities usually involve lack of water.   It might be safer to keep the thyme in the pot and in sight.

Five

I’m a little nervous about this one – I’m sure it won’t survive.  It was given to me as a present for the new garden.  It’s a dwarf azalea with a pink flower and until I see the colour I’m not sure where to put it.  For this year it is staying in the pot and if it is very dwarf it might stay in the pot for a few years.  This is how it starts…

Six

Saving the worst till last.  This box has been in the pot for about five years.  It was bought unshaped and my plan was to cut it into shape over the years.  I was not successful, the pot has cracked and neglect is setting in.  It has been demoted to that special corner of the garden  where  the broken pots are kept and the tumbleweed blows through.  Time for it to go … or shall I give it a new pot, some water and one more year?

That’s my pot expose  (add accent please).  Thanks to The Propagator for hosting the wonderful Six on Saturday.  Read his blog posts and all the other Six on Saturday posts from around the world at The Propagator my plant obsession