Wordless Wednesday ~ Arley Hall, Cheshire, July 2024

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Dahlia 'Night Silence'

 

IAVOM ~ On The Scent

 

It's Monday again and time for a vase to mark the start of a new week. In today's vase is a pick plonk mix of scented plants, some more pleasantly scented than the others :

• Astrantias - two varieties of this hardy perennial - one unknown and the other the dark red wine flowers of astrantia 'Gill Richardson', which has become a favourite along with astrantia 'Burgundy Manor'. The astrantias have been in flower for a few weeks now and will soon be cut back in anticipation of a second flush of flowers. The smell of the flowers reminds me of a damp face flannel which isn't the most pleasant of aromas so any vase containing them requires careful positioning. 
• Two vivid purple and magenta blobs of dianthus barbatus 'Oeschberg', which I grew from seed a couple of years ago and will be sowing some more in the coming week.  The seed only arrived in the post earlier this afternoon. Their scent is intense. Isobel Bannerman in her book 'Scent Magic' describes it as 'happy and typicallly of cloves and warm baking'. The flowers last for a good while.
• Some philadelphus also known as mock orange blossom. This shrub came to me as a cutting from my parent's garden years ago and I've never known which variety it is. It lurks on the outer edge of the garden looking insignificant for most of the year but bursts into clouds of beautiful white blossom every June. It has now reached about fifteen feet in height and causes himself some grief, as he has to duck under some of the lower branches when mowing our sad excuse for a lawn. The flowers are scented but I find the scent slightly overpowering whilst himself thinks that they smells like honey.

The vase was one that my mother had and passed on to me when she stopped using it.

Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who encourages to share our vases every Monday. I'm looking forward to seeing what is  other vases  today and will no doubt be adding more plants to the wish list as I do so. Wishing everyone a happy month ahead! 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Holehird Gardens, Windermere, Cumbria

 

IAVOM ~ Glow

 

Just a little pot of pansies from me today for this week's Monday vase. These are pansy 'Nature Mulberry Shades' which I think are most aptly named. They were sown last September and overwintered in the greenhouse before moving to the outer world in the spring. I'm also growing pansy 'Nature Antique Shades', a paler mix but they were sown this spring and have yet to flower. It is the first time I've sown pansies in some years usually just picking up plug plants from a garden centres. They took some time to get going but have finally got there. 

Thanks as always to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who kindly gets us together every Monday for a floral shindig.

I have yet to start the Wordpress training course for u3a website editors that I mentioned in my last post as the course I intended to take was already fully booked when I applied. However I have a place on a course later this week. Thanks to all of you who offered me words of encouragement as I get to grips with the intricacies of Wordpress.

In other news the rain and wind continues along with well below average temperatures for the time of year. It is proving to be a great year for the roses though so there is some consolation. I hope to be back soon but if not I will still be popping by to keep up with what everyone is else is enjoying in their gardens. 

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ 'Bathsheba'

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ 'Reach For The Sky'

 

IAVOM ~ 'Here Comes The Rain Again'

 

In this week's vase are the following :

• Ranunculus aconitifolius 'Flore Pleno', commonly known as 'Fair Maids Of France'. I'm not sure what the French connection is but they are lovely little maids indeed. They like some shade and a to have their roots in some moisture. Flowering in May into June they retreat from sight quite early in the year.
• A couple of sprigs of flowers from a dark leaved physocarpus which I think is 'Diablo'.
• A touch of daisy floppiness in the shape of erigeron karvinskianus also known as Mexican fleabane - the flowers morph from white to pink as they age. This would probably win the longest flowering plant competition in my garden, usually throwing out a few flowers in March and then carrying on well into the autumn, sometimes as late as November. It does self- seed vigorously so much so that himself declares it a weed and wages war on it every couple of years but I'm quite happy to let it wander.
• Some lacy cow parsley like pink heads of pimpinella major rosea, another hardy perennial which prefers moist conditions. 

Thank you to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for her excellent hostessing skills each week. As you might be able to guess the rain is back. On Wednesday into Thursday we had an amber weather warning. It rained from the time I got up on Wednesday until I went to bed and then again on the Thursday until early afternoon 😱 Yesterday we had a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms and late afternoon the thunder arrived complete with a dramatic volley of hail before the rain set in. More rain this morning and yet more forecast for tomorrow. I don't know how much rainfall there was but it was a lot. I hope to squeeze some gardening in this week between the wet. Some of the plants have not enjoyed being flattened and there were one or two casualties. Fortunately nothing more serious than broken stems as far as I can see.

In other news I might drop off the radar for a while. I am the website administrator for our local u3a branch and will have a training session later this week as the website's publishing platform is about to change to Wordpress. I have used Wordpress in the past to run sites for a local gardening club and for my allotment association. However it was a good many years ago and I'm sure that things have changed. It will be a steep learning curve and I'm quaking at the very thought of mastering 'Plug-ins' as well as other challenges before our present site can eventually migrate to the new platform. I'm certainly not a techie so I'm slightly apprehensive that it might be beyond me. Maybe some of you Wordpress users can reassure me. It's certainly going to be a time consuming process. Oh well I will just have to see how it goes 😂

Wordless Wednesday - 'Purple Sensation'

 

IAVOM ~ Hazy

 

This Monday's vase has unfortunately become more than a little bit submerged by the willowy background and was perhaps taken at not quite the best distance. If you screw up your eyes you might hopefully be able to make out the individual contents which are :

• Briza maxima also known as greater quaking grass. It could just as well be called once sown, never without. This year's dotted about progeny seem to be taller and more vigorous than usual. I'm putting it down to all that rain.
• The orange flowers of the perennial geum 'Totally Tangerine' now in it's fourth year since planting and well established. Not only does it start flowering quite early but with deadheading goes on well into the year. It is a sterile variety so no little seedlings.
• A vague shimmer of pink from chaerophyllum hirsutum 'Roseum' also known as the hairy chervil. A relative of cow parsley it naturally prefers damp meadows or light woodland, so a dampish spot in full sun, or part shade suits it well. The foliage has an apple scent. 
• Some blue from polemonium caeruleum - grown many moons ago from seed obtained via the Cottage Garden Society which has self-seeded in a considerate manner over many years. 
• Lastly a stem of the hardy annual white orlaya grandiflora which I sowed either in late August or early September last year.

A big shout out as always to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' and who kindly invites us to share our vases on a Monday. Here we have had a week of most pleasant weather with yesterday being particularly beautiful and warm for the time of year. A week of many first flowers. The sweet peas have been planted and French beans and zinnias were sown as planned last week. This week's tasks remain in my head at the moment but they will make an appearance on paper before the end of the day. There will be some 'Chelsea Chopping' in the mix but for now I'm going to head out and enjoy a cuppa sitting in the garden.