IAVOM ~ Holding On

 

It is still just about holding on to summer here, although the end of the week is promising a definite taste of autumn with rain and gales predicted for some areas. My last collection of this year's summer snips for 'In A Vase On Monday' includes :

• Daucus carrota 'Purple Kisses' - a couple of stems from last week's vase are still going strong but I've added another stem with white flowers. This is an annual grown from seed which can either be sown in spring or late summer.
• Aster divaricatus - a late flowering perennial.  I bought my original plant from the sales area at Powis Garden in Wales over ten years ago. It has dark wiry stems and the tips of the petals slowly change from white to a soft lavender shade as the season progresses. It is resistant to mildew and does well in a moist shady spot. It's a quiet plant but one that I wouldn't be without. 
• Clematis jouiniana x 'Praecox' - a late summer flowering clematis, loved by bees and butterflies which could either be grown as a scrabbler as mine is or as a climber. It's only fault is that it is not a pretty sight at all as it fades.
• Thalictrum delavayi 'Hewitt's Double' I love it's soft colour, the delicate little button flowers and it's airy ways. This plant came home with me earlier this year from a plant sale as a replacement, as my original plant or possibly a replacement too slowly fizzled out over the years.   

A big thanks as always to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting. Do pop over there and visit other bloggers to see what is delighting them in their vases this week.

IAVOM ~ Summer's Lease

Well summer's lease is certainly rapidly slip-sliding away with just a few days of the season left. All but one of my flowers in this week's 'In A Vase On Monday' will fortunately make it well over the seasonal dividing line. In my vase this week are :

• Phlox drummondii 'Cherry Caramel' - a half-hardy annual grown from seed. I like it but find it on the straggly side. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? I must research it's likes etc. in more depth. This was the very last vestige of it for 2020. It has been in flower for some time although the flower heads do vary slightly in colour, some more attractive to me than others.
• Dahlia - (far left) which I have been calling 'Senior's Hope' all year but am beginning to think that I have had a senior moment or two and that it could possibly be some other name! Again further investigation is called for and update of posts if required. 
• Daucus carota 'Purple Kisses'- a hardy annual again sown from seed this spring. I have just sown some to hopefully flower earlier next year. The kisses do not live up to the name coming in a range of shades from purple, pink and through to white but they are all most pretty and delicate. I've included a seed-head in the vase.
• Finally a couple of flowers from rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara' - again grown from seed. It hasn't been it's best year in terms of germination or flowering but it looks as if it is going to pull out all stops with the imminent arrival of autumn.

Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for bringing about and nurturing this lovely meme. It gave me the prefect excuse to take a break from a most frustrating and unfruitful online appointment booking experience and subsequent telephone call this afternoon. After unsuccessfully holding on the phone for over half and hour with much internal growling I put the phone down and headed out in the direction of the garden and felt all the much better for doing so. Looking forward to seeing what's in other vases later.

"Busy Doing Nothing" ~ Aberporth, Wales 2021

IAVOM ~ Simply Red

Well maybe some shades of russet and yellow too. It's time for 'In A Vase On Monday' and as summer slowly drifts away my flowers seem to reflect the subtles change in the air. This week's vase contains:

• Dara carrota 'Purple Kisses' - a hardy annual which will soon be sown again in readiness for next year
• Dahlias 'Chat Noir' and 'Senior's Hope' - the latter is new to me this year and I'm still making my mind up about it. I'm absolutely sold on 'Chat Noir' which I planted for the first time last year. i didn't lift the tubers last year and started from scratch again this spring. It hasn't been the best of years for dahlias which have suffered from all the wet weather we have had. They have provided the molluscs with much in the way to nibble and laugh about.
• A single stem of rudbeckia 'Sahara' which was sown back in March/April. Germination of these proved very hit and miss this spring with the result of later than usual flowers. So far this hasn't lasted more than a couple of years in the garden so I will sow again next spring. The seed mix results in a variety of colours - soft reds, oranges and yellows.
• A sparkly champagne moment in the shape of a couple of stems of panicum capillare 'Sparkling Fountain'. This is a beautiful grass which was sown from seed back in April I think. I've planted in pots with companions but must try it directly in the garden next year as well to see how it fares. A couple of self-sown seedlings from last year's plants have appeared growing in cracks in the patio but as yet there are no signs of sparkle and whether they will get there in time remains to be seen.

As always a huge thank you to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for enabling us to share our blooms each and every Monday.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Seedheads

 

IAVOM ~ 'Monday, Monday'

 

I had to pinch myself today to remind myself that it was indeed really time to pick some flowers for 'In A Vase On Monday'. For the first time on a Monday this month it is sunny and there is not as much as a whisper of a breeze. What is more the forecast is set fair for the week ahead! Not a heatwave in store but a settled dry week which will be a good end to the month which has been generally most unlike summer.

In my vase this week :

• Cosmos bippinatus ' Double Click Cranberries' - I sowed just the two cosmos this year and 'Purity' the other was in my vase last week. This is much shorter and is just only really getting going as I didn't sow the seeds until mid-April I think. However last time I sowed this variety they were still producing flowers well into October so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The odd flower here and there isn't double but I'm not bothered about that.
• A few persicaria flowers  - I don't know which variety.
• A button or two of dara carrotus 'Purple Kisses' which were sown in the greenhouse either in March or early April at the latest. I will be sowing some of these next month when I plan to sow seeds of several hardy annuals.
• Finally some shimmer from hordeum jubatum commonly known as squirrel tails grass. None of the grey squirrels I regularly encounter have tails like that otherwise I could even become fond of them and risk a stroke or two. These were sown last spring and have overwintered coming back as much bigger plants this year. I will leave them in and see what transpires next year but may sow a few more next spring as a back up. 

Of course my sunshine vase had to be my choice for today inspired by the weather.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who came up with the idea of sharing our vases each week and has encouraged us to do so over a number of years now. Time for me to get back to filling my green bin which is due to be emptied at the crack of dawn or thereabouts tomorrow. I will be back later to see what delights are in other participant's vases later on today.

IAVOM ~ Swirl

 

Today continues in the same vein as most of August in that it's cool, damp and windy so just a quick dash out to pick and plonk from me whilst there was an opportunity to do so. My flowers still swirled round in the wind, a couple of petals flew off  (perhaps I was to rough when I coaxed them into the vase) and they are not quite where they were meant to be when I took the photo. An optimistic hint of sun from my sun face vase was obscured. Still in the words of my school reports when it came to maths "I tried".The flowers are cosmos bippinatus 'Purity', a favourite old stalwart sown from seed in the greenhouse back in early April. I love them but this year have struggled to find the right place for them this year. I used to grow them at the allotment where they had plenty of room but tried to grow them in big pots this year and they were just not right. I may have to seek out a similar but smaller version next year so any suggestions of a shorter white flowered sister, cousin or friend would be most welcome. Thank you as always to Cathy who blogs at 'Rambling In The Garden' and who came up with the excellent suggestion of sharing our vases each Monday. 

Powis Castle, Wales ~ August 2021

 

IAVOM ~ 'I Am The One And Only'

 

How quickly 'In A Vase On Monday' comes round! As usual this year I sowed some sunflower seeds. Sunflowers are one of those seeds that are either a hit or a miss with me - a big miss being the usual outcome. I decided that this year I would go for a red shade rather than yellow and after some searching of seed catalogues and web sites decided that 'ProCut Plum' was the perfect choice. The thought of "dusky crimson and 'cafe-au-lait shades" was the clincher. An order was made and seeds arrived well in advance of sowing plans. I sowed my seeds (two to a three inch pot) duly in April and nurtured them with an eagle eye. They survived the delicate seedling stage when more often than not predecessors have been demolished by molluscs. They grew nicely into young plants, were hardened off and were finally ready to cope in the big wide open world. Five sunflowers were planted. They were happy and healthy and grew taller and taller and are now taller than me. Flowers began to form and I waited with great anticipation. Imagine my excitement when I saw colour appear. Imagine my disappointment when I saw a different colour to what I was expecting! Four of out five sunflowers were a murky yellow with vague hints of a plum centre. However I'm pleased to say that the runt of the litter and the last to flower was exactly the same as the illustration on the seed packet and I love it. I will just have to try them again next year. Of course I had to opt for my sun vase to display my one and only true sunflower in all it's full colours.

Thanks as always to Cathy over 'At Rambling In The Garden' who is most pretty in pink this week. Do have a peek and enjoy vases of flowers from far and wide.

Dear Diary ~ Late July 2021

 

Here we are already at the end of July and thoughts turning to late summer and the autumn. I'm still dithering over my spring bulb order and need to make a final decision and get it off as soon as possible. I will probably order the majority of my bulbs from Peter Nyssen and a few odds and ends from Farmer Gracy.  Last year I ordered some narcissus bulbs from the latter and they turned out to be the plumpest narcissus bulbs I've ever seen. I'm also enjoying leafing through the tempting catalogue that you can pages from as Sarah Raven's  catalogues are always brimming with positively beautiful colourful combinations. 

Just a brief post today mainly for my personal records. A lull from full on seed sowing for now but the seed compost will come out again in September. I pricked out some 'Sooty' sweet william seedlings today which were sown at the back end of June and there is another batch of a different variety that are still to small to prick out.  I may fit in for some sowing more salad seeds though. We are now eating French beans, which were just morphing from flower to bean just over ten days ago or so, some rather delicious beetroots and cherry tomatoes. I've not grown my own tomatoes from seed for a while now but treat myself each year to some small plug plants from the excellent Simpsons Seeds. They offer a wide range of tomato varieties in all colours and sizes and their plug plants are always well packaged, happy and healthy. They also stock other vegetable plant plugs.We have just enjoy the third harvest of 'Charlotte' potatoes grown in bags this year. Each harvest has been enough for two meals and there are probably another couple of harvests still waiting. Not necessarily a cheap option but they have been delicious.  My shallots need lifting - they looked most promising in their early days but are not looking so brilliant now. The proof will be in the lifting sometime this week. 

We have had a fair bit of rain this week which the garden needed after the recent heatwave. Unfortunately there were two intense cloudbursts involved which did flatten some plants but no long lasting damage done.

Not much in the way of other news. I'm expecting an exciting delivery in the post next week but more of that next time round. The weather for the last week or so has been on the wet and cool side so I've not been out there in the garden as much as I would have liked to. Just in the nick of time we gave the new 'Bathsheba' roses a specific rose granular feed this afternoon. Their second flower flush is just starting with one or two flowers already out and plenty of buds to come. That's it for today - short and sweet. Next time I hope to say that I've ordered those bulbs. Does any one else dither just trying to decide what to include in their bulb order.