Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - June 2012

And a very soggy Bloom Day it was too.  It has rained steadily here since Friday morning - the rain is still coming down as I write on Sunday morning.  Yesterday I squelched out into the garden to take these photos.  The camera makes it look brighter than it was.  It really has been a case of Darkness at Noon.

Above and below, a sadly nameless foxglove.  I only bought it a few weeks ago at Decora in Elgin, but such is the pace of life at the moment that my good intentions to write the variety in my garden book came to nothing.

Below, everything that is green is lush and vibrant.  A bit too lush for Scottish tastes.  The growth is sappy, and that's a problem in high winds.  The fern on the left is self-seeded from a now defunct fern I had in a pot.  It's relishing its freedom, but is getting a bit out of hand.  The alchemilla in the foreground loves the wet weather and is putting on a show of rain-drop diamonds.  At the right, the spears of crocosmia are the forerunners of its red flowers in late July.

My oriental poppies are monstrous this year.  They have responded to my attempts to dig them out in the autumn by putting out huge growth and massive flowers.  And I thought I'd cleared every last scrap of root...

Below, a Swedish flag-themed pairing of geranium Johnson's Blue and a yellow potentilla.

Beaten down by the rain:

This was meant to be a homage to my Albertine rose, which is rambling far and wide this year.  The blooms are not getting a chance to flourish in the wet conditions.  In trying to capture this bloom sheltering under my dwarf plum tree I seem to have concentrated more on the wonderful fact of a decent-sized plum.  We have had a total of 2 plums from the tree, but this year it has put on a spurt.

Last year we took out a scruffy conifer hedge, put up a windbreak fence, and widened the suburban strip of a border slightly. (The garden is city-centre tiny, so there's not much room to play with.)  I ordered plants from Crocus - they're happily establishing in the rain, but there are very few blooms yet.  A delicate exception is this Aquilegia stellata 'Ruby Port'.  I know the name because I can look up my Crocus order online...

To finish, the frothy exuberance of my Hydrangea petiolaris.  The bees love this, but it's been so wet that they haven't been flying.  The powerful upward shoot to the left is a Clematis Jackmanii, which I leave to its own devices apart from a chop back in February each year.

More gardens from around the world, some with sunshine, are at Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - September 2011

Not a huge amount of change in my garden since the August Bloom Day. Still, the season is moving on, and Autumn is definitely here. There was a day last week when everything that was growing seemed to shrink back slightly. The light is declining, with sunrise nearly at 7 am, and sunset by 7.30 pm. The equinox approaches.

Above, a marigold droops in the rain. Marigolds are a cottage garden favourite that I can't get enough of in Autumn. The sowing I did this year seemed to take reluctantly, and so the blooms are very sparse and all the more precious as a result. I don't know what happened to germination of my seeds this year, either in the garden or at the allotment. I'm going to read up about biodynamics over the winter, although I can't quite get my head round the preparations such a horn silica.

Below, autumn colours are beginning to appear on my blueberry bush.

Still a few fruits appearing on the woodland strawberries, and strangely the slugs don't seem to have found them.


Below, red clover which I sowed in a border as a mini patch of green manure, but which has also failed to germinate well.

Roses are making a brave second showing, although I doubt if the profusion of buds will all flower unless we get a very balmy spell now.

A bit of confusion here: a Spring-flowering polyanthus has decided to bloom, behind the seed pods of 'Love-in-a-Mist'.

A climbing fuchsia is doing well, but has a long way to go before rivalling the hedges we saw in Skye this summer.

Visit Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens to see what else is blooming this month.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - August 2011

This summer hasn't been the kindest for flowers. Plentiful rain, yes, but grudging sun and even more grudging temperatures. So it was a surprise when I set about taking photos for this month's GBBD to find just how much was in bloom.

Above, my container clematis, Anna-Louise. Below, a nameless fuchsia that I nurtured from a sad, dried out stick of a plant thrust at me by a friend.


Cheerful daisies beside the front door.


This fuchsia did have a name, but of course I've forgotten it. It came as part of an order of 12 mini plug plants from Thompson and Morgan, in a plastic container with letters beside each plant, and a key to the letters in the accompanying instructions. Mail order plants always arrive when I have minimal time to deal with them, so inevitably after the initial potting up and then the potting on and finally the planting out the identity of 'A' or 'F' has long been mislaid.


A sweetly scented sweet pea beside the front door. The packet was a freebie from Gardeners' World, about four years ago, and I took a chance that the seeds would germinate.


My stalwart hydrangea, nameless of course, but I do remember that I got it from Burncoose Nurseries in Cornwall. Quite a transition to make, from the south western tip of Britain to the east coast of Scotland, but it's hung on through the worst of our winter weather.

This year's surprise: a self-seeded hollyhock.


Cheerful violas, somewhat eaten round the edges by our ever-present snails.


For real snail damage, this is what remains of some busy lizzies. They were untouched until a couple of weeks ago, when overnight they were reduced to bare stems.


Below, the crocosmia is still blooming - the latest it's been in flower since I planted it in 2004.


Climbing courgette 'Black Hawk' is doing well in a flower border, producing just enough but not yet at glut stage.


Jasmine 'Clotted Cream' has had its flush of blooms. With the light declining now I doubt there will be a second flush, but it has been a lovely addition to the patio.


Chives are still blooming and appreciated by the bees. In the background is what has turned out to be a total thug - lemon balm. It has taken over a border to the extent that I may take it out in the autumn.


Finally, two more nameless mail order beauties.



More blooms, many of them with names, are at Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at May Dreams Garden.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - June

Glimpses of blue sky are precious this year. We've had rain and low grey clouds for weeks, it seems. The weather forecast in my sidebar is reasonably upbeat for the next couple of days, tho it's drizzling at the moment rather than the perky mix of sun and fluffy cloud that it's meant to be. Then we take a mid-week dive into rain and cool(er) temperatures, and then just cool temperatures. I have started a regime of Vitamin D tablets for myself and my daughter, to compensate for this summer's lack of sunshine. The male members of the family either don't believe in this nonsense, or are currently lying in the sun in the Canary Islands.

So even if it's a weed, if there's blue sky behind it - it merits a photo. This is our charming garden weed - red valerian. It's entirely self-seeded. My Reader's Digest 'Guide to Creative Gardening' describes it as being easy to grow, and that 'the fierce red flowers of this valerian brighten ancient walls and cliff faces all over the south of England.' I'm gratified that the wall at the back of our garden, which is all that remains of a old railway siding wall (late 19th century/early 20th?), could be classified as ancient. The Reader's Digest goes on to say 'its seedlings shoot up all over the place, though usually not in sufficient numbers to be a nuisance'. Well, it seems to love our cool, damp climate. From its lofty perch it rains down seeds which sprout merrily all over our garden. I would classify it as a lovable nuisance. And here it's got blue sky behind it.


My fragrant Alba rose is blooming, although not in such profusion as past years. The hard winter gave it quite a knock, and it's been slow to pull away in this grudging weather of the past 6 weeks.

The honeysuckle by contrast is rampant. The frosts seem to have killed off the aphids which normally plague it, clustering blackly round the emerging flower spurs and sucking the life out of them. It's busy with bees from early morning until late into the evenings.


I do have a few more blooms - just a few, however. This year I've decided to take stock and think about what will really thrive in our difficult back garden, and to dig wider beds and enrich the soil with green manure. So I'm off to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for inspiration from around the gardening world.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day November

A little patch of colour at the allotment site, amid the prevailing dun colours of bare earth and fallen leaves. A strip of woodland borders the road in to the site. The trees are mature ash, sycamore and chestnut for the most part, with a light under-canopy where volunteers maintain little patches of flowers. The rest is left as natural habitat, complete with decaying logs and nettles and all that good stuff. Rather a blurry shot - if I can remember as far back as Sunday, after a hectic start to the week, it was breezy.

By contrast, all I could muster from my own garden yesterday morning was this stalwart fuchsia, which has now decided to bloom after sulking all summer. Normally I bring out my big camera to photograph flowers, but this shot was snatched in the brief moment I had before leaving the house for work. Rubbish exposure - I was in a tearing hurry! Since it's dark by the time I return home it was the best I could do. Note the frosty edging to the leaves.


More blooms are at Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day October

Getting a bit tattered now, but still blooming in the absence of frost, the dwarf hollyhocks that were part of my bargain buy of plug plants at the beginning of the summer. It seems a very long time ago that I was cosseting them in individual pots.

The nameless hydrangea is into its dusky, burgundy phase, before turning copper and russet later in the autumn.


The second flush of roses has been very strong this year, but with very little scent.


And the Jackmanii clematis goes on blooming.


Self-seeded nasturtiums from a couple of years ago are still popping up. I leave them each year because they provide late food for the bees.


A last summery hydrangea flowerhead. All the rest are now the colour of lace dipped in tea.


In this warm October, this is what's blooming in my garden. But change is on the way, with the BBC weather map tonight showing winds straight from the Arctic by the middle of the week.

More October blooms are at Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day April

After a hard winter of snow and frost I had forgotten that the world held delights such as Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Donna at Mamma Mia Days reminded me with her shots of her spring garden, especially the Brunnera variegata, which I now covet. So here are some of the blooms from my chilly Scottish garden. Above, a Magnolia stellata, already going past. In taking this shot I had to get right in among the blooms - I'm sure the neighbours thought I was mad - and the delicate scent was all around me.

Below, a bee enjoying my abundant Helleborus.


The red accents of Pieris something or other, below. In the foreground, some bargain tulips from B&Q, which have outlasted all the more precious (and expensive) bulbs I bought some years ago from specialist suppliers.


A mixture of Arabis and pear blossom:


Abu Hassan tulips, and some Wallflower which I think are called something like Orange Delight. I've just made that up, but it sounds feasible.


Another Pieris, given to me by our then Swedish au pair about 6 years ago.


Finally, basic and cheerful daffodils, with my Brunnera which is not doing too well this year. I have given it my usual regime of benign neglect, but perhaps it needs a treat.



Blooms from around the world are at Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day July

I dashed between thundery showers to take these shots. It seems as if we've had our week of summer, and it's all looking rather like a re-run of last year's soggy July and August. The combination of sun and showers does mean that there's lots of green at the moment, and with temperatures in the high teens we're not too badly off as far as Scottish summers go.

The morning glory above is proving good value, brightening up the front doorstep.



Next to it is my miracle of a summer cactus. This hardy specimen gets left outside all year, through frost and snow, and blooms in fiery profusion each July.


At the other side of the door is a pot of nicotiana, which gives out a sweet fragrance as dusk falls (around 11 pm still, tho the glorious light nights will start to wane by the end of the month).



Shamefully, I've forgotten the names of these three hardy geraniums. I must start writing these things down. I always think I'll remember, and then I never do.



One plant I do remember the name of, because I posted about it, is my new hyssop 'Black Adder'. This has lived up to its promise in attracting bees, and I find myself impatient for next year when it will have even more blooms.

Planted at the same time, and also in the hope of attracting bees, was this bergamot 'Croftway Pink'. However, I've yet to see a bee near it. If I'm honest, it's a bit too...pink for my taste. I need to pair it with something that will tone it down a bit, but it's in a border where we plan to put in a new boundary fence, so I'm holding back on putting anything else there until that job's completed.


Finally, another of my nameless purchases, this pink hydrangea with lovely coppery leaves. Both flowers and leaves change colour through a palette of copper and bronze as the season goes on. I may not remember the name, but I know that I got it from Burncoose Nursery down in Cornwall, right down at the southern tip of England where palm trees grow.


I've taken a blogging break for a few weeks, but I'm looking forward to catching up on what's growing elsewhere, starting with Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens.