#geum

Six On Saturday: Cold winds but progress is being made

/ n20gardener / 22 Comments

I was in Dorset for the best part of this week where the locals are quite hardy, shorts and flip flops were popular whilst I was wearing a hat and scarf. The sun did shine but the wind was cold there and so too on the return home. I felt a pang of sorrow for the plants that are emerging only to be blown about by icy blasts. Here’s my chilly six.

One

The camassias moved on to more flower just before I left and I shared this view on Twitter(X) and shamelessly share again. I had planted ‘Cairo’ tulips in amongst them but they have all failed to reappear this year. I was thinking of going again with a pinker tulip but then was tempted by the new season’s ‘Totally Tangerine’ geums that are appearing in the garden centres. Reliable and slug resistant, I may well stay with this choice and add a few more.

Two

Elsewhere other tulips are more reliable. This one is ‘Barcelona’. It has been in the garden for several years now, dwindling slowly but each survivor has such a beautiful shape. I may replant these.

Three

New to the garden this year is tulip ‘Maureen’. It is part of the gooseberry patch revamp. I have never grown such tall tulips, they are 83cms. The Peter Nyssen website gives a height of 60cms. They seem to be standing up well to the wind and I love the creamy yellow that opens into a white. Very elegant. This is classified as an heirloom tulip from the 1950s. It’s a winner this year. I think the old gooseberry patch must be in good shape soil wise.

Four

I have just a few wood anemones and every year say to myself I must add more. Of course they are a slug’s delight. But they have battled on.

Five

The weather may be cold but the garden is moving on at pace. The melica altisssima ‘Alba’ is glowing green in a dark north facing corner. It seeds prolifically and in it’s third or maybe fourth year I have the job of thinning out the unwanted seedlings. I’ll add that the endless task of pulling up sycamore seedlings then!

Six

Two years ago I dug out this end of the border to rid myself of bluebells. Churlish of me, and foolish. I wasn’t going to succeed there was I? This is the corner with the ailing daphne, so it is likely I will be digging through the border again soon. For the moment the bluebells stay and at least the bees enjoy them. Perhaps I can find a scheme that incorporates their early colour. The slugs have fun here too.

I have that ‘rabbit in the headlights’ feeling that comes with this time of year. The rain is encouraging most things to grow at double the pace. Weeds are romping away and the rose bushes look as though they have never been pruned. I am contemplating one last round of flower seed sowing and weeding will be a priority this weekend. Thank you for all the lovely suggestions of shrubs to grow. The scented ones are very appealing. For more SOS conversations please stop by our host Jim’s garden. Happy gardening to you all.

Six On Saturday: Free gifts

/ n20gardener / 8 Comments

Finally it is happening. The garden is creeping into colour. The weather has had an interesting effect. Some tall plants are not as tall as they might be, others are racing away. Some plants grown from seed are sulking in the cold and yet seedlings in the garden are popping up everywhere. I remember receiving a gentle warning via Twitter that astrantia major would run riot and this year it has. Seedlings in every corner. Yet parsnip seedlings that I swear I saw two weeks ago have disappeared. Eaten by slugs I wonder? Geranium phaeum has done very well this year and I will have plenty to relocate to other corners. But on to the free gifts and colourful arrivals.

One

Warmed by a few days sunshine, the roses are beginning to unfold. This is r. ‘Madame Isaac Pereire’ and was planted out in the winter of 2018. It is full of bud and I can’t wait to see it in its full glory in the coming weeks.

Two

Several weeks after many SOSers were showing the geum ‘Totally Tangerine’ mine have finally flowered. I acknowledge they are in cooler part of the garden, which unusually still has a few tulips just about in flower.

Three

Free gifts is the theme for today and this aquilegia ‘Lemon Sorbet’ came from a free packet of seeds. Being a double it’s not pollinator friendly but there are plenty of self seeded single aquilegias in the garden.

Four

A few weeks back I was asking the twitter community what my coarse geranium look-alike plant might be. It arrived from nowhere and quickly took hold. A wild geranium was the speedy reply. I left in it place and have been rewarded by a wonderful spread of flowers. One day it will be moved to a wilder part of the garden.

Five

Definitely pretty in pink is this bloody cranesbill, geranium sanguineum var. striatum. A low growing perennial for the front of the border with delicate darker veining.

Six

This is the area set aside for a cutting patch. I have planted out dahlia cacti mix and have some china asters – free gift seed packet – to go in this weekend. I have direct sown calendula ‘Indian Prince’ and malope trifida ‘Vulcan’, also a free seed packet. Unfortunately the seedlings hell bent on growing are those from a packet of radish seeds that I knocked over and the thousands of seedlings that didn’t get killed in the less than hot compost heap. I spread a good thick layer of said compost over this bed for the winter and this week the seeds have surged into growth. I doubt they will be anything to be welcomed.

I have a few trays of seedlings doing the in/out routine this week but the root develop has been quite slow. Hopefully this spell of warm weather will move things along. The sad looking tomatoes in the greenhouse have picked up and those set aside for the outside will go in this weekend. The kitchen grown cucumber is in the greenhouse, the courgettes might go out this week depending on root growth, the chilli peppers have finally moved from the kitchen to the greenhouse and the bell peppers are in a grow bag. Enjoy the long weekend in the UK and much kudos to The Propagator, host of SOS. He completed his 100K run last weekend, a fund raiser for Macmillan Cancer and now intends to garden all weekend! Happy gardening to everyone.

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

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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

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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

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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 

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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

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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

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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: Red, white and blue

/ n20gardener / 14 Comments

Oh go on,  indulge me!  It’s Harry and Meghan’s day and here’s my Six:

One

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I’ve planted up the containers.  I’m very predictable.  It’s always two geraniums and something else.  This year I have two trailing ivy leaf geraniums, this one is Merlot.

Two

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And the something else is a trailing bacopa snowflake.

Three

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And the first of the blues is Polemonium caeruleum or Jacob’s ladder.  I strayed from my plan to plant in blocks and just bought one of these.  I am now trying it out around the garden to be sure I find the perfect spot for it.

Four

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The second red is of course a geum, Blazing Sunset.  Bought last year at the Finchley Horticultural Society plant sale – which is where I shall be on Sunday, manning a stall.

Five

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The second white is a Cistus or rock rose.  There is a label for this somewhere,  but for now I am joining our noble leader in the var. unk. club! (I think it might be Alan Frapp).

Six

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The second blue was a difficult choice but I’ve decided to save my favourite one for next week… For this week it’s going to be Geranium himalayense ‘Gravetye’.  It’s just coming into flower and is doing a great job filling out the new border.

Okay, so maybe the blues are a little purple and one of the reds is on the verge of orange but I think you get my drift!

Happy weekends everyone, be it weddings, football, plant sales or gardening!  And save some time for reading all the other sixes as featured at The Propagator’s blog.