greentapestry : August 2019

Monday 19 August 2019

In A Vase On Monday ~ The One That Nearly Got Away


My vase this week is one that missed being posted at the end of July. I'm not quite sure what happened at the time but thought it a shame to let it vanish into obscurity. All the flowers in it are still flowering today.

The contents are as follows :
  • Erigeron annuus - I first saw tall billowing clouds of this white daisy at Great Dixter a few years ago. I thought that it would be easy to raise from seed but my attempt last year didn't produce as much as a single daisy. Earlier in the spring I had an email from Special Plants Nursery  to say they had some small plants for sale including erigeron annus so I placed an order. My plants have been much more floppy and not as impressively statuesque as the ones I saw at Great Dixter but I'm quite taken with them. Whether they become nightmare self seeders remains to be seen.
  • The yellow daisy is anthemis tinctoria 'E.C. Buxton' taken from a cutting I took at a propagation workshop held in 2010 at local to me Bluebell Cottage Gardens And Nursery. This anthemis has attractive ferny green leaves and the long lasting flowers are a soft pale creamy-yellow.
  • An annual that I have not grown for a long time and I'm not sure why in the shape of nicotiana 'Lime Green'. Definitely on next year's to be sown list.
  • A new to me annual and also to be repeated next year is phlox drummondii grandiflora 'Isabellina'. The seeds were from Chiltern Seeds and were sown in the greenhouse in March.
  • The delicate white flowers of thalictrum delvayi 'Splendide White'. I bought this dappled shade loving perennial a couple of years ago or so and it's rapidly becoming a favourite.  It is sterile so has a long flowering period. I've still to work out how to support it properly and it will be moved further back in the snowdrop border next year.


As always a special thank you to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting. I'm off to find pen and paper and go vase visiting. 


Monday 5 August 2019

In A Vase On Monday ~ Allotment Pickings


































The contents of this week vase had to suffer the indignity of suffering a bus journey back from the allotment to reach their destination. They did well to arrive substantially less crumpled, sticky and weary than I was. It was one of those unpleasantly muggy days that we seem to have had too many of this summer. They were just as appreciative of a long cool drink on arrival home as I was but I spared them the ice and a slice.

In my vase are :
  • The first flower of rudbeckia 'Sahara', which were sown back in February in a heated propagator. Plans to end up with more plants than I did last year sadly didn't materialise. Note and reprimand to self - must do better next year!
  • Cornflower 'Blue Ball' which was directly sown last September. The cornflowers have done well this year. I think that the blue and mauve remain my favourites. They are beginning to look a bit straggly now. I've not been able to keep up with deadheading them this summer which doesn't help their general appearance.
  • A bronze fennel flowerhead. This is an old favourite despite its self seeding tendencies. It's one of those plants which is pure joy to feel and to smell. My original plant came from a fellow local gardening club member.
  • Some sweet pea flowers. I think that this might be lathyrus 'Noel Sutton'. All my sweet peas were sown in March and the plants are now planted up a couple of bamboo wigwam structures at the allotment. I can sense a sweet pea vase coming soon.
  • Tropaeolum majus 'Milkmaid'. Nasturtiums are always a must at the allotment. They self seed and are descendants of 'Empress of India' or 'Blue Pepe'. This year I also sowed some seeds from one of those 'freebie' packets of seeds that come with gardening magazine. 'Milkmaid' has flourished and will be sown again in the spring as an insurance policy just in case. She spreads well, is most floriferous and is an an appealing soft creamy yellow.
A special thanks must go as always to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for providing perennial inspiration to snip flowers and greenery to fill a vase on a Monday.