IAVOM ~ Pleasings

 Its' a typical soggy Bank Holiday Monday here so I've quickly whizzed around (well as much as I'm able to whizz around these days) and picked a few flowers that are pleasing me at the moment. They are :

• Orlaya visnaga - I think that this is 'Green Mist' but can't be sure without locating the seed packet. They were sown last Sepember and spent the winter in the greenhouse before being planted out in the spring. The plants have not done so well this year with the foliage becoming most anaemic in appearance. They were planted in the same border as last year but maybe the cold spring didn't do them any favours. I've pulled a couple of plants out but luckily some were able to hide behind other plants so the foliage wasn't as noticeable. I shall be sowing another batch next month.
• Larkspur 'Misty Lavender' - another hardy annual also sown last September but alas to no avail. A further spring sowing was made after the seed packet had a spell in the freezer and this time the germination rate was most satisfactory, with surplus seedlings to give to friends. I love the colour of this larkspur and it is a must again for next year.
• Some phlox drummondii' 'Cherry Caramel' - I sowed this half hardy annual in March. The flowers vary slightly in colour and it has rather a floppy habit but that can be forgiven.
• Achillea millefolium 'Summer Berries' - a hardy perennial grown from seed which produces a range of colours. This paler shade hit the right note so has been retained.
• Finally a sprig of clematis jouiniana x 'Praecox' - which can be grown as a climber of a scrambler, a bee and butterfly magnet but a clematis that dies absolutely disgracefully.

Thanks as always to our excellent hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden', who enables us to share our vases whether it be a high day or a holiday. Here I'm keeping an eye on the weather - there are signs of it possibly brightening up so some of the gardening jobs on the list might be ticked off later. On the other hand if it doesn't I will be checking through my seed box to make sure that I've got all the seeds that I intend to sow in September. Not so long now until the start of a new year 😂

Wordless Wednesday ~ Holker Hall, Cumbria , August 2023

 

IAVOM ~ 'In The Pink'

 

It's mainly pink in my vase this week which these days is a colour that I'm not as fond of as I once was. I'm not sure why - maybe it's like food tastes changing inexplicably over the years. There are still some pinks about though and in my vase week are :

• Antirrhinum' Madame Butterfly Watermelon' - grown from seed sown in March and not quite the deep dusky pink I thought that she might be. Still the colour might deepen with age.
• A sprig of hydrangea paniculata' Little Blossom' with initially white flowers which develop pink tinges. This is a relatively new plant to me.
• A couple of sprays of seed grown achillea 'Summer Berries'. I sowed this perennial in September 2020 and is now well established. It is most easy going and flowers over a long spell. I sowed some more this spring. 
• A bit of a dark leaved physocarpus probably 'Diablo'.
• A sprig or two of pittisporum 'Bannow Bay' - this has a different coat according to the season - variegated light green with a cream edge, before changing through late summer to autumn into a mottled green and burgundy effect. I think that it has reached this point now. It then moves to a deeper burgundy after frost. It's winter coat is my favourite.

Thank to our hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting each week so that we can enjoy vases from fellow bloggers each week of the year.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Wollerton Old Hall, Shropshire, August 2023.

 

IAVOM ~ 'Here Comes The Rain Again'

 We travelled home today after a quick trip to Shropshire where we woke up this morning to some heavy rain. As we headed west the rain eased for a while but then came down in buckets and more buckets. It has only just stopped now. This was the only dry flower I could come up with and that's because it's been under cover in the kitchen for a week. Even then a teardrop of rain landed on it when I whizzed it out for a quick photo. I don't know how I did it but I accidentally decapitated two buds of dahlia 'Molly Raven' last Monday. I bought them into the house where one of them has gone on to open. I planted this dahlia in the garden last year and she surprised me by coming through the cold winter. I think that a very thick application of mulch before the first penetrating heavy frosts did the trick.

The reason for our trip was to meet up with the lovely Cathy from 'Rambling In The Garden' and her equally lovely partner 'The Golfer'. We visited the garden at Wollerton Old Hall, lunched before making our way round the garden chatting about plants whilst the menfolk chatted about non plant related matters, made purchases from the plant sales area and rounded up the day with coffee and cake and a quick plant exchange in the field which serves as a car park. An most excellent way to while a way a Sunday afternoon and one where the rain held off. Thanks to Cathy as always for her impeccable hosting skills each and every week. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in other vases this Monday.

In The Greenhouse, Threave Garden, Scotland.

 

IAVOM ~ Something Borrowed

 

We returned home late afternoon yesterday after a relaxing holiday in Scotland to a most soggy garden, so for this Monday I'm cheating slightly, by using a photo taken on our travels. You won't be surprised to hear that we managed to fit in some garden visiting during our break including a trip to the National Trust for Scotland Threave Garden, near Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway. This garden was a joy to visit with one of the most well maintained walled kitchen gardens that you could wish to visit as well as a jam packed recreation of their original Victorian greenhouse. This vase is what greeted me when I visited the Ladies' room. I'm not sure of the exact contents but it included astillbes, sanguisorba, alliums and what I think is veronicrastum.  As always a special vote of thanks to Cathy over at' 'Rambling In The Garden' for orchestrating our weekly get togethers on Mondays to so that we can share our pickings. Her post features instant sunshine this week, something that we have been sadly deprived of for the last month. Once again it's pouring down so those gardening jobs will just have to wait a while longer including picking the first of the tomatoes. Fortunately I picked some French climbing beans in a dry interlude this morning so no prizes for guessing what will be on the menu tonight.

IAVOM ~ 'Crying Over You'

 Another Monday has rolled around and this week I'm sharing my first and  

a most cherished vase of sweet peas on 'In A Vase On Monday'. Alas there will be no copious bunches of sweet peas this year to adorn the kitchen windowsill or to pass on to friends - the first time this will have happened in years 😢 It's a happening that has caused some me some grief as sweet peas along with their scent are my all time favourite summer annual flower.  I sowed them in the greenhouse at the start of what turned out to be a bitterly cold March. They were planted out in late April looking positively jaundiced, limped through May, survived the drought and heat of June and have finally flowered in this so far wettest of Julys. The flowers include the usual suspects 'Matucana', 'Erewhon', 'Gwendoline', 'Eclipse' and the new to me 'Black Night'. I have decided that this year I will be edging my bets and will also sow a just in case batch in the autumn.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting. Do visit and see what flowers and foliage she and other bloggers have in their vases this week.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Arley Hall, Cheshire, July 2023

 

IAVOM ~ "A Space Of Flowers"

It's Monday and time to pick some flowers for a vase. These were picked yesterday as the  weather forecast predicted rain for today and it was spot on. In my little vase this week are :

• Rosa 'the Lady Of Shalott' - this is a new one for me arriving in January as a bare root rose - a birthday present from a friend. She is planted in a big container, although possibly not big enough, which I can see from the kitchen window. I wasn't quite sure when I saw the initial flushes of orange red buds but she opens orange and the petals soften as they age. She is most lovely indeed and has a reputation for enjoying rude good health.  The rose specialist David Austin catalogue describes the scent as a "pleasant, warm Tea fragrance, with hints of spiced apple and cloves" but sadly my nose can't pick that up.
• One of the last flowers of the annual orlaya grandiflora. The flowers do not last that long. I sowed in September and March and intended to sow again in May but forgot so sadly that's it for this year.
• A sprig of the half- hardy annual phlox drummondii grandiflora 'Cherry Caramel' sown in March.
• A bit of leafiness from a physocarpus - I think this one is 'Diablo'.

My vase is a little Victorian ink bottle and the post title is a phrase from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem ' The Lady Of Shalott'.

Thanks as always to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting. Do visit her if you haven't already and enjoy the flowers in her vase and those contributed by fellow bloggers. Here a rainy afternoon beckons and so far a cool and wet July has been the opposite of our extremely hot and dry June.

Hopefully though there must still be some more summer weather on the cards. For once there is no last minute fill it until brimming room in the green garden waste bin due to be emptied tomorrow. The torrential rain and wind on Saturday evening was so violent that it toppled the bin completely over.  Amazingly the contacts remained intact!