Slow painting

Monday 18 May 2009

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - 15th May


I started out at the front of the house, thinking that the few things that were blooming were there. These are trays of trailing Petunia surfina which my daughter is growing on from plug plants. On their own initiative she and a friend have taken on the 'greening' of the music school courtyard at their school. These petunias will be planted out in old, tall African drums as a centrepiece in the courtyard. They'll go in next week, once the risk of frost is past. For the moment I'm looking after them, as my daughter is away for two weeks of hillwalking.



They're very sweetly scented, but I've noticed that bees aren't attracted to them at all. I've recently resolved to plant many more flowering plants that bees and butterflies like - more about this in another post.


The bees do however like this Geranium 'Ingwersen's Variety'. I love to sit on the bench beside it and watch and listen to the bees at work.

In the back garden I really had to hunt for flowers. We have plenty of green - a whole range of greens, from acid to mid to dark.


A Pulmonaria peeking through the foliage of spent dwarf narcissi.

A cheerful saxifrage.

A strawberry blossom, complete with ant.


The Brunnera is going over now.


Periwinkle 'Vina major', which is getting too big for its own boots, and which I'll have to tame a bit.


And finally, peeking out shyly among all the green, the first flower of the Geranium 'Bressingham Blue'.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for May is here at May Dreams Gardens.

18 comments:

Unknown said...

So many colors (of nature) in one place, your collection is amazing.

Gunilla said...

Hi,

Surfina are very nice plants and I have the same job that you have I take care of them for my daughter too.
Your garden has alot more that are blomming then mine, but it has started to grow so I´m waiting for more flowers.
Nice photos of the flowers.

Have a nice evening

Gunilla

donna said...

Everything is so green and lush and beautiful there. Maybe later you could share a photo of the planted African drums in the courtyard at the music school. Without ever having visited Scotland, I just know it's one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Hilary said...

I do love your petunias. Have made a mental note (well actually wrote it down) to get some for our patio. Lovely garden you have :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Linda
Roncesvalles Avenue was named by Colonel O' Hara, the first owner of the farm where Roncesvalles Avenue lies, after the Battle of Roncessvalles which took place in the Roncesvalles gorge in Spain in 1813 in which he had led a regiment that fought against the retreating army of Napoleon.

Glad you liked the pics. Sorry to reply here, but you have no email address listed.
Rob.

Ginger said...

The greening of the courtyard sounds like a great project! Petunias will be perfect since they are so care-free!

Avis said...

Your garden looks lovely, with a nice mix of flowers and colors. I'll see you around Blotanical. Happy blogging!

Juergen Kuehn said...

Great to see a snippet of your delightful and blossomy garden.
---
I come back to your comment Forget-me-not: We have a very easy-going topsoil. So it's not too strange to getting rid of them.

Peggy said...

I have that geranium Ingwerson's variety'for years and have moved it and slipped it for friends but never knew the name of it until now!

Northern Shade said...

You have a lovely blue and pink theme through your flowers this month. The blue of the Pulmonaria is wonderful, opening from those dark buds, and the Geranium 'Bressingham Blue' is doing its best to cover the green, but my favourite is the sky blue of the Brunnera.

lazyclick said...

That is beautiful collection of flowers in your garden.

lazyclick said...

Beautiful collection of flowers in your garden.

Lindy said...

Your flowers are so pretty, especially the purple petunia. I will be late putting out our garden this year since I am gone for another couple of weeks. As well, we just had another frost there on Monday. So what has already come up has probably been nipped.

The bees seem to like the morning glories and liatris at our house. As a bonus, the gold finches enjoy the seeds of the liatris.

Tarolino said...

I'm off to the cottage about now but wanted to thank you for your support. The Pulmonalia intriged me. here it's a wild flower but not so very common. Does it grow in the wild there too? Anyway. All these pictures are lovely. Flowers just are, aren't they.
Have a lovely weekend and bless you.

Unknown said...

Hey Linda I thought for a minute there I was going through my own gardens. We must have the same taste in flowers as I have every one of those - well my hardy Geranium might be a different one. Too funny!

Unknown said...

Scented flowers attract bees and butterfly. I want 2 stop bees in my own garden but i love butterfly

Shady Gardener said...

What a fun collection of Spring blossoms! :-)

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I sure got behind in my blog reading! You had some great blooms in May. I imagine you have even more this month.