It really has been the sort of January day when hibernation seems an attractive option. We woke up to wet and windy and although both slowly eased off it has been a day for keeping snug indoors. I have been playing about with Picasa. this afternoon. I had great fun choosing my plants for the desert island challenge at Shirls Gardenwatch blog last week, but it was almost asking the impossible to narrow it down to three ! Well today I have made a collage of the almost but not quites. These are all plants that I grow in our garden. Some have been there for years whilst others are comparatively new residents. I really wanted to include a hardy geranium in my three choices, as they are the first perennials that I got into in a big way, but I could not narrow it down to one. Moreover scent was a must have when I made my desert island choices. Sadly hardy geraniums beautiful, often long flowering, and resilient as they are, are simply not scented, with the occasional exception of the foliage. Nothing to make you swoon though. All these were photographed in our garden, except the geranium pratense which was photographed at Catforth Gardens in Lancashire,and clematis 'Alionushka', which was photographed at Buckland Abbey in Devon. I have a feeling that Catforth Gardens no longer opens to the public but must check. The gardens there were beautiful and held a national collection of hardy geraniums. There was also a most tempting nursery attached, where I just had to set a geranium or two free each time we visited.
So here are the candidates that missed the boat to that desert island:
Top left - Geranium pratense 'Plenum Caeruleum' or 'Plenum Violaceum' - I am not sure which. Need a flower to check.
Bottom left- Geranium seedling (not sure of its parents) but the bees like it.
Top centre - Clematis 'Alionushka'
Centre - hellebore
In little jug - Clematis 'Arabella', clematis jouiniana 'Praecox', thalictrum delavayi 'Hewitt's Double' and rosa 'The Fairy'.
Top Right - Aquilegia
Geranium clarkei 'Kashmir White'
Primrose
Bottom right - Clematis 'Petit Faucon'
Anna, after seeing what other gardeners picked for their three flowers, I couldn't believe the ones I forgot all about while selecting my three. It would be nice to go back and choose again. Maybe these could be the plants that friends mail to us after we're on the island.
ReplyDeleteJan
Always Growing
I think all flowers are nice!
ReplyDeleteThese guys look beautiful, tagging along in the dingy behind the boat. I love geraniums, and your double Geranium pratense is lovely. It's a great assortment of blue, violet, white and pink flowers.
ReplyDeleteNow why did I not think that friends could send us more plants Jan- what a good idea ! There was nothing in the rules to say that it was not allowed :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Wendy although there are the odd exceptions- that's what made chosing just three so hard :)
Thanks Northern Shade - yes they would make good travelling companions in the dingy. Those colours are my favourites, but I must try to introduce a wider range into the garden :)
Hi Anna, I'm late to see your choices, but I'm sitting here asking myself, are there just 3? It looks like more...but hey, that's ok:) No one could 'really' choose, I don't think. I think we were all kidding ourselves when we picked 3. At least I know I was. There is no way I could go with only 3!!!
ReplyDeleteI love geraniums and yours are gorgeous...and I also love clematis. Your entire collage is beautiful. I need to fool around with Picasa a little and make one of my own;)
Well these were the runners up Jan so no restrictions as far a just picking three :) Picasa is great but I am still on a steep learning curve each time I use it :)
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