Five Favourite July Plants

The lovely Chloris over at 'The Blooming Garden' has kindly invited her fellow garden bloggers to share their favourite July plants. Chloris has shared her top ten plants but it seemed more than that to me. Do visit her blog if you haven't already to peruse her choice of some fabulous plants. I've gone with the option of five plants. Four of them have proved to be reliable stalwarts over the years whilst the newcomer shows signs of promise in that department.  So in no particular order are :

Erigeron karvinskianus (formerly erigeron mucronatus) also known as the Mexican fleabane. This is a perennial which flowers from March onwards until the first hard frosts. It is in these summer months though when it looks at its best and the flowers are most prolific. It is best grown in full sun but has obviously not read the books as it is dotted about our north facing courtyard. Apart from its long flowering period another attraction of this little daisy is the way the flowers change from white to pink as they age. It is a plant that just gets on and does it own business without any intervention or attention. Moreover it seems to be pest and disease free.

It can be grown easily from seed or bought as a plant although I think that the latter option is usually relatively expensive. I have gasped with shock more than once when I've seen the price label at plant sales. Once you have it I think that it is with you for keeps it as it self-seeds with abandon. I'm quite happy for it to do so despite himself's regular assassination attempts.

 Kalimeris incisa 'Charlotte' - this is the newcomer of the bunch only arriving in August 2014, a purchase made at the Southport Flower Show from Holden Clough nursery. Preferring a sunny position is a hardy perennial which flowers from June to October. It bears pale mauve aster like flowers with a yellow centre. As far as I've been able to find out it is relatively disease and pest free. It's biggest selling point as far as I'm concerned is that it attracts bees and hoverflies. As you might be able to see I need to get in to do some dead-heading and some belated propping up. Friday night's torrential downpour has battered and flattened the plant somewhat and now that it's established I think that it might need staking in the future. The biggest selling point as far as I'm concerned is that 'Charlotte' attracts bees and hoverflies. 

Allium sphaerocephalon also known as the drumstick allium. Coming into flower later that most other alliums this is another easy-going character that just gets on with it given a sunny spot. I like the fact that they take so little room to accomodate so that you can plant them in between summer flowering perennials. A downside as it with all bulbs is trying to remember where they were the flowering stalk dies down. The flowering heads start off green before slowly from the top down turning into a deep purple colour. They can have a bit of a flippy- floppy tendency but that doesn't matter. They will self-seed gently. Again they are another magnet for pollinators. If you don't already grow these make sure to add some to your bulb order this year. Talking of making bulb orders I've read that it has not been a good season for bulbs because of the warm dry weather. The advice is to get bulb orders in early. I'm usually last minute when it comes to do doing this but intend to get cracking forthwith.

Clematis jouiniana x 'Praecox'- this is a long time July favourite although it first comes into flower in June. It's an extremely vigorous herbaceous clematis which can either be grown either as scrambling ground cover or as a climber. Awarded the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit this again is a pollinator magnet. I love it although it has one major fault in that it dies a most disgraceful death. If you are not of a sensitive disposition and want the full picture have a peek here. It has reached the situation though where it's taking up too much room so is in for a most severe pruning next spring. 

Geranium pratense 'Plenum Violaceum' - another easy going perennial which has such pretty double flowers. Mine is in a north facing border where the flowers do not scorch as much if we have a very hot spell. Sadly it is sterile as I would welcome seedlings with open arms. I've had it growing in the garden for a long, long time, along with its sibling geranium pratense' Plenum Caeruleum' but sadly the latter did not remerge this year. I must seek a replacement. There is also a white flowering sibling too!

Thank you Chloris for your welcome invitation. I'm now off outside as the weather has brightened up. I have a pot of oh so tiny hardy begonias to prick out so may be gone for some considerable time.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day ~ May 2015

A spring stalwart in my garden is geraniun phaeum in various shades. These are such easy going plants that just get on and do their own thing with little need for human intervention. This plant is what is often referred to as a "good doer" and is happy to oblige in any soil in full shade, partial shade or full sun. It's one of those plants which will even grown in dry shade. They can grow quite tall but somehow or the other keep themselves upright without the need for support, attract bees but seem to repel molluscs. What more could you ask for?

There's a little catch or two as there is with many plants. The plant does spread somewhat around the girth and also seeds about a bit but I can live with that. I've several of these geraniums growing in the garden with the first appearing in early April but with others only getting into full gear now. Foliage colour varies and includes some variegated forms. My plants once had names but I've lost track over the years. The plants you see above are geranium phaeum album and the second is probably phaeum 'Lily Lovell' but I would not like to hazard a guess at any other of the others. 

They will grow under shrubs and trees and are perfect companions for a wide range of spring flowering bulbs and perennials. A good haircut after flowering will prompt fresh new foliage to emerge. Propagation is best done by division. I usually do so in very early spring but the plants can be divided any time in their dormant season. They are one perennial that I would not be without.

Thanks as always to our lovely hostess Carol over at May Dreams Gardens who enables us to share our blooms each month as the year unfolds.

She Who Dithers

Shrieks of delight pierced the tranquility of our local garden centre last Sunday morning as my eyes alighted on helleborus 'Anna's Red'. Fortunately we were the only hardy perennials who had the bitingly cold outdoors area so no damage was done to anybody's hearing. Oh joy of joys - this plant had been way up on my wish list for a couple of years! Not only because of its name but also because of all that I had read about this beautiful comparatively new introduction. Named after the gardening writer Anna Pavord, this hellebore has huge flowers, deep red stems and attractive marbled foliage. I was so pleased to find her, not only so close to home but also at what I thought the most reasonable price of  £11.99. Like all feted newcomers the initial higher prices such gems command does come down after a while.

True to form I was not sure about the first plant I picked up so rummaged amongst the few other specimens for comparison purpose, whilst himself patiently stood on hand to offer his considered opinion. Back and forth I went until having satisfied myself after much dithering that I had picked the best specimen we made our way to the check out. Visions of a planting scheme to highlight my new purchase were floating around my head as we made our way home, which concluded in a petticoat of snowdrops and cyclamens. Back to base garden centre purchases (yes there were others) were removed from the car boot and lunch preparations took over.

It was only later in the afternoon when mindful that a hard frost was predicted that I realised the error of my ways. As I was about to place 'Anna's Red' under the shelter of the cold frame a close inspection of the label revealed that I had come home with the wrong plant! What I had was Anna's sister, helleborus 'Penny's Pink'. I went back inside to break the news to himself whose attention was focused on the television and a football match. His initial response was one of disbelief as to how this could have happened but an offer of a return trip to the garden centre the next day was eventually forthcoming. At times such as these being a non driver certainly has its disadvantages but I tried not to sulk or to think too much about the fact that there had not been a vast number of 'Anna's Red' for sale.

However my face must have registered as crestfallen because ten minutes or so a return journey to the garden centre became a now rather than tomorrow offer. Off we went again clutching a box containing 'Penny's Pink' (she's lovely but I already have her) and a receipt. The garden centre was much busier at this stage so it took some minutes to explain what had happened. On getting an affirmative that we could exchange plants himself volunteered to get a replacement from the back of beyond and legged it before I could protest. At this point I'm sure he was worrying whether we would get back home for the next football match. What can I say but the plant he bought back with him was not the best of the bunch but what could I say in this situation other than profess my heartfelt gratitude. I'm sure that it will flourish in the future though which is the main consideration.

I'm still pondering where to plant her. She might even be planted in a container as Michelle over at Veg Plotting is growing her 'Anna's Red'. Wherever she ends up though I'm sure I will remember both the excitement and trauma of her purchase. Have you ever come home with the wrong plant?

N.B. The moral of this tale must be always to check the label before you get to the till.

P.S. I've only just realised after taking a photo what a big label it was - I really did not have any excuse, did I?

Wordless Wednesday ~ 30th October 2013

Almost Wordless Wednesday - 14th November 2012

D'Arcy & Everest stand, Southport Flower Show ~ August 2012.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 26th September 2012

Wordless Wednesday ~ 8th February 2012

Great Dixter, Kent ~ September 2011.

End Of Month View ~ May 2011

My May end of month view is from a different part of the garden than I normally feature . I am starting off a border almost from scratch again. The ground cover - a rubus that I allowed himself to plant turned into a monster which swallowed all in its path, so its back to bare earth again apart from a clematis jouiana praecox which resides at one end. Whilst I ponder over a permanent plan for this bed, which is in the only really sunny spot of the garden, I have stuck in some odds and ends. These have been lurking in the cold frame and include some day lilies, a couple of hardy purple leaved geraniums grown from seed, another couple of hardy geraniums, dahlias 'Bishops Children' again grown from seed as well as some penstemons that I took cuttings of last year. There are some verbena bonariensis seedlings waiting on the sidelines until they are big enough to plant. I am also going to plant some allium sphaerocephalon which I planted in pots last autumn. I had intended to transfer the latter from pot to ground yesterday but rain stopped play. This planting will be temporary but will at least give a bit of colour this summer and will be a change from my usual colour palette. Meanwhile there are embroynic plans for more permanent planting - hardy geraniums, osteospernums, alliums, thymes, oereganum and grasses are swirling round in my head. Any other suggestions for sun lovers would be more than welcome. I am rather a shady lady.

The 'End Of Month View' is the idea of The Patient Gardener and is an excellent method of garden recording.

P.S. It is with some disbelief that I report that the fatsia japonica that was lurking in my end of month border has finally been removed. We have replanted it - to say that it is looking sickly is an understatement!

Déjà vu

Earlier this month I set off for the Malvern Spring Gardening Show with a relatively modest shopping list of five plants. Now why did I come back with only one plant on the list but more than I intended? I realised by mid morning that the contents of my horticultural shopping basket looked rather familiar. I was buying plants that have been in the garden before. Firstly there was the delicate foliage and white buttoned flowers of ranunculus aconitfolius 'Flore Peno'. I much prefer its common name of 'Fair Maids of France'. I had this beauty some time ago but then it fizzled out. The fact that the foliage disappears reasonably quickly after planting did probably not help. I am sure that it has already had a second coming so hopefully this reincarnation might be a case of third time lucky. How many times do you persevere with a must have plant? Maybe it could be a category in 'The Guiness Book of Records'. Then there was Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus with its striking magenta spikes. Again I have grown it before only for it to disappear to that giant plant catalogue in the sky. I have also attempted to grow it from bulbs only to be cruelly thwarted by squirrels who stumbled on a gourmet lunch. This time round I received what might be some potentially crucial advice from Avon Bulbs, that they would only sell it to me if I promised to plant it it deeper than it was in the pot. They must have taken one look at me and sensed my track record.

On the herb front a 'Morrocan mint' - yes I know that mints are hard to see the back of and a small angelica archangelica. I have not actually been responsible for the demise of the later (yet). It is growing in statuesque splendour at the allotment just now. It's huge flower heads are covered by bees who seem to settle and doze upon it. However from what I understand that the plant will disappear after it flowers and sets seeds. It may self seed but I thought that I would have a stand by at hand. It can be difficult to transplant as it has a tap root so I ignored the larger specimens for sale in favour of a diddy one. 

Finally on the have been there before scenario another attempt with Brunnera macrophylla 'Looking Glass' as my previous attempt turned out to be an impostor. My fault for not being more observant and for always believing what I read on a plant label. 

Ticked off my shopping list though was tiarella 'Appalachian Trails' which you can see in the above photo. I am still trying to find a nook or cranny for it to fit into. Not only do I like the foliage but it really does have a trailing habit so would look great in a container. In a talk to our garden club  in 2009 Vicky Fox from Plantagogo, indicated that there was some exciting breeding work taking place with tiarellas. I wonder if this is one of the results.

I did buy a couple more new to me plants which I am really pleased about but more of them another day.

Tales Of The Hellebore Bank

I have been engaged in a little bit of guerilla gardening this week as we have enjoyed some perfect for gardening weather. I am usually a law abiding citizen but now and again I do stray from the straight and narrow. Our garden is bordered on one side by a surface water stream - on the other side of the stream there is a sloping bank which rises up to meet the main road. This area is about 500 square metres and contains some twelve mature trees which were there before us. I am on a mission to give this area some interest during the early part of the year before the leaves are out on the trees. I planted some snowdrops some time ago, which are slowly clumping up and being added to. Now I am bringing hellebores into the mix which as you know can be relatively expensive plants to purchase. A couple of years ago I decided to take pot luck and I acquired some hellebore seedlings via Ebay. Some of these flowered for the first time last spring and after seeing them in the flesh as it were I purchased a few more last year from the same seller.

They have all lived in pots until their first flowering after which the majority of them are destined for the bank. One or two are earmarked for the garden. I planted the first few last year on the bank and was disappointed that with one exception they did not flower this year. However they are very much alive as there is healthy new foliage appearing so I suppose they are just biding their time. In the meantime a solitary hellebore (a seedling from the garden) probably planted about four or five years ago has now made a decent sized plant. Next year it should have some company including this trio ~ 

Now what do I do about the uncultivated field behind us? Food for thought.

'On Tip -Toe For A Flight'

"Here are sweet peas, on tip- toe for a flight:

With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white

And taper fingers catching at all things

To bind them all about with tiny rings"

~ John Keats,1795-1821 

Earlier this week I sowed some sweet peas in the greenhouse. I have once again decided to grow the highly scented 'Matucana' which I have grown ever since I got my allotment plot. They give me as much pleasure as any edible crop and their arrival always signifies the sure arrival of summer. A wigwam of seven plants is more than enough to keep me supplied with bunches to pick for vases from early June to mid September. This year I decided on another introduction ~ 'Albutt Blue' which you can pick out in the photos below ~ 

In the sniff stakes these were not a patch on 'Matucana' and although attractive I do not think I will grow them again. I would still like to try another variety preferably a pastel mix. I have been stopped in my tracks a couple of times at the allotment this year by shows of sweet peas, including a display of mixed pastel shades interwoven with scarlet runner beans. Any suggestions of good and preferably highly scented mixes would be most welcome from any other sweet pea fans out there. Earlier today there were some comprehensive instructions for sowing sweet peas in the autumn as well as advice on their aftercare on BBC's 'Gardener's Question Time', which is now available on BBC IPlayer.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day ~ October 2010

The latest arrival to the party is this quiet but graceful character above ~  a scutelleria or skullcap, although exactly which one I don't know. The first frost has still to arrive so there are still a number of hardy perennials in flower, although some of them are past their best. The hardy geraniums are still holding forth including 'Buxton's Blue','Salome',' Pink Penny' and 'Dilys' as well as ones whose names have long gone out with the bathwater.  Aconitums are flowering, a couple of astrantias are having a second flush, heucheras still froth and erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' continues to send out sporadic purple spikes. I am glad to say that erigeron mucronatus defies himself's spiteful attempts to erradicate it but dismayed to report that the dreaded 'Yellow Peril' defies my deliberate attempts to polish it off.

I have recently been making a deliberate attempt to introduce plants specifically for late colour so tempted last year by An Artist's Garden,  I have been delighted with rudbeckia fulgida var. dreamii. I have also been pleased with the similar but subtly different rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii "Goldsturm". Although I am not a big fan of orange or yellow flowers I think that I am slowly being converted.

Flowering for a long spell right up to the first frosts is fuchsia magellenica 'Alba' which despite the name has a delicately pale pink flush to its flowers. Sadly its much smaller hardy fuchsia companion 'Genii' has not shown any sign of flowering this year. I thought that the plant had been decimated by the harsh winter but slowly and surely it came back to life but it is foliage only. Oh well that must mean a bigger and better show next year! 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is kindly hosted each month by Carol over at May Dreams Gardens. Paper and a pen are compulsory when you visit as your wish list will grow and grow and grow .............. !

''Something Old, Something New''

No there are no peals of wedding bells ringing out in the vicinity but this post is a glimpse at a couple of asters. Firstly the old acquaintance ~ aster cordifolius 'Little Carlow', which resides at the allotment where it was positively singing in this weekend's warm sunshine. I divided my original plant a couple of years ago into three portions and this year they have really taken off. Time for some more division and thinning out though come spring I think. This aster has a myriad of little flowers which bees and butterflies are partial to and another bonus ~ no need for staking! ~

The new is aster diveraticus, which was one of two plants that I bought on a recent trip to North Wales. Strictly speaking it is not new as I have grown it before but somehow or the other I managed to polish it off. This is a woodland plant with attractive wiry ebony stems topped by panicles of small white daisies. As the flowers age the tips of the petals take on a lilac/mauve tinge. I believe that it will tolerate dry shade as well as moist but I have not tested the former conditions out ~ 

My other holiday purchase was actaea simplex 'Black Negligee' - the name makes me cringe but I do like the deliciously dark leaves which you can see in the bottom photo.  I  must wither and get these planted today whilst the ground is still warm ~ now where did I leave my trowel? 

'The Thing'

Recently Mr.McGregor's Daughter invited us to participate in the 2010 Houseplant Census. Now that was all done and dusted in the squeeze of a lemon for me. I have never had much joy with houseplants so I quickly tallied my count as five i.e. two orchids, one African violet and two amaryllises. I am getting quite excited about the latter as they are cybister hybrid. I have never grown these before so I can't wait for the for flowers to show but that is another story. What I forgot to do was to include 'The Thing' in my count. Shame on me for this is the most obliging houseplant that I have ever grown. In a nutshell it spends the summer months outside and comes indoors for the winter. A bit like me. During the summer it seems to be quite happy doing its own thing although it does need some shade. In the winter it survives on the south facing kitchen windowsill. Occasionally it is treated to a short spray of tepid water. It is a bit of a thrill seeker at times, getting caught up in the blinds when I open them and taking a fairground ride to the very top. It has survived these journeys unmangled so far I am pleased to report.

'The Thing' came to me via my Mum - she got her piece from a friend in Italy who holidays in Argentina and who bought a plant home with her. If anybody can put a name to it I would be delighted to be able to refer to this perfect houseplant with due respect. On the subject of naming plants if you have not had a peek at Teza's and Friends Garden Forum do pop in. February's debate is all about what lingo to use when describing plants. I don't think that 'The Thing' would object whether I addressed it either in botanical Latin or by it's common name. Anything has to be preferable to the 'The Thing'!

'The Holy Grail Of Hellebores'

Temptation stared me in the face today when we made our first visit of the year to the garden centre and I could not resist. She just had to fall into my basket - she being hellebore 'Walberton's Rosemary'. She is a new introduction and is described here and here by Graham Rice as the 'Holy Grail Of Hellebores'. She is a cross between hellebore niger and hellebore orientalis and was raised by plant breeder David Tristram, whose father played a large part in the development of the ‘Potter's Wheel' Christmas rose in the 1960s. I did not know all this when I decided that she must come home with us but was drawn to the plant by its large flowers, vibrant colour and the fact that there are many more buds waiting to open.

I came away with a few other purchases too. The purpose of the trip had been to buy some seed potatoes and I came away with two of the varieties on my list - 'Lady Christl' and 'Pink Fir Apple'. I excitedly spotted another variety on the list but they were already well sprouted, the result of being kept in too warm conditions so I left them on the shelf. I made a beeline for some of the highly scented white 'Casa Blanca' lilies which I am sure can go in a pot somewhere My last purchase was a couple of dahlias -'Black Wizard' and 'David Howard' which are destined for the allotment.

Back home it was warm enough for the first time this year to work outside without feeling that fingers were about to drop off. A special bonus - the sun came out and spring does not seem so much in doubt.