2017: plant(s) that you have been most happy with!

[DeborahJane]

I have been really happy with this buddleja this year. I'm sure it hasn't looked so lovely before. I do know I cut it back last year and the actual tree/bush is quite dense so that must be the key. I don't have a photo of it in the garden but I put some in this vase this morning. The mauve and white is really soft and pretty en masse in the garden.

 

[alp]

I have been really happy with this buddleja this year. I'm sure it hasn't looked so lovely before. I do know I cut it back last year and the actual tree/bush is quite dense so that must be the key. I don't have a photo of it in the garden but I put some in this vase this morning. The mauve and white is really soft and pretty in masse in the garden.View attachment 27050

That's lovely. Normally, I remove buddleias when I see them self-seed as I don't have a big garden. But last year, I sprinkled my 30p a bottle of wild flower seeds and suddenly, I saw a white one. I loved it so much that I left it on the ground and it has been flowering happily this year. What a lovely vase you have, @DeborahJane

 

[DeborahJane]

That's lovely. Normally, I remove buddleias when I see them self-seed as I don't have a big garden. But last year, I sprinkled my 30p a bottle of wild flower seeds and suddenly, I saw a white one. I loved it so much that I left it on the ground and it has been flowering happily this year. What a lovely vase you have, @DeborahJane

It's my favourite vase alp. Second hand from a market. Just shows you, one persons junk is anothers treasure.
By the way, our purple salvia is quite stunning.
Just thought I'd pop in the other vase I put together this morning using the buddleja, ginger lillies and green goddess. A very good gardening friend has had to down size and leave her garden. She always did stunning big vases so I do often raid my garden for her and I was do impressed with what she did with MY flowers in HER home I decided I must do it too.

 

[alp]

@DeborahJane Ginger lilies smell so nice. I liked to crushed the leaves and sniff and sniff!

Love your display units.. I also love classical old fashioned furniture. I bought a unit from bootsale for £7 just because it has castor wheels on the four legs and they were beautifully carved. The surface was so robust. The one I had from Argos caved in under the weight of my plasma Panasonic TV. I threw that one away and used this old piece of furniture instead. I also liked details like that of the back of your chair. Bought a pair chairs with beautiful features for the back for £18 from a bootsale and have loved them ever since.

 

[Robert Cummings]

My favourite surprise surprise has got to be Heliotrope Arborescens cherry pie. One of my clients purchased some earlier in the year. This is a plant that was much more popular when I was an apprentice gardener back in the 70s, I have to confess it is one that I had forgotten over the years, until recently, when the dear lady asked me what the botanical name for cherry pie is.( I had to look it up) It's a lovely plant that has a beautiful scent of cherry pie and seems to be uneffected by our unpredictable weather and very free flowering. Have posted previously about this plant and stimulated much interest.

 

[DeborahJane]

@DeborahJane Ginger lilies smell so nice. I liked to crushed the leaves and sniff and sniff!

Love your display units.. I also love classical old fashioned furniture. I bought a unit from bootsale for £7 just because it has castor wheels on the four legs and they were beautifully carved. The surface was so robust. The one I had from Argos caved in under the weight of my plasma Panasonic TV. I threw that one away and used this old piece of furniture instead. I also liked details like that of the back of your chair. Bought a pair chairs with beautiful features for the back for £18 from a bootsale and have loved them ever since.

Thanks alp. It's great to mix and match, isn't it?

 

[alp]

@Robert Cummings Must find out where I can buy one. Is marine any good at all as 99p for a packet of seeds can enable to sniff this perfume. I was told that sarcococa was very fragrant. I've found it to be a bit too heady for me!

But I love nearly all scented plants and like plants which are not fussy - free flowering, easy to germinate, no known pests or disease and this certainly seem to fit the bill. I'm not asking for a lot ..

 

[Robert Cummings]

Yes marine is a good choice I think the flower colour is lighter but the scent isn't heady. Good value seeds at 99p

 

[Daren]

marlingardener thanks for your tips on salvia. I do cover in winter I cut them back & pop Upturned pots or boxes over them. I am growing more tender plants to the UK in my garden than I used to such as red Bannana plant that I dig up each winter and move in to my garage & rap up in a worm winter coat lol another Favorite of mine & also not winter hardy is the Caster oil plants I have about 8 or so in the garden I sowed from seed this year and they are giving the garden a vary worm feel with there vary large red leaves and Flower/seed heads here is a picture taken last month they have grow even bigger since

The Seeds are used to make Caster oil The thing that puts some off this plant is the risin that is found in the seed but being a full time gardener I come across plenty of poison's plants & have found many to be great in the garden as the rabbits, Dears, & slugs snails don't eat them So for that reason I add this to my fav plants I also have been giving begoinias the big push this year and have loads of them in all shapes and sizes I will be pushing them out in the garden next year After the Tulip fest is over

 

[alp]

What compost and fertilisers have you used for the hanging basket, @Daren ? Truly glorious. I love this and the one with frilly edges.

 

[Daren]

What compost and fertilisers have you used for the hanging basket, @Daren ? Truly glorious. I love this and the one with frilly edges.

My favorite compost has to be the Miracle Gro Moisture Control Compost. I used to add moisture control granules to my compost anyway, when I could. But this year I came across Miracle Gro's Moisture control compost & have loved the results. It out performs there other composts In my view and has added nutrients that get the plants through there first few weeks Then I start feeding with Miracle Gro's liquid feed & slow release grow more, or what ever I can find in my shed as a rule

 

[Verdun]

Plants that have pleased me most this summer are Sanguisorba Lilac Squirrel, zaluzianskya, the cannas, heleniums, anemones Wild Swan and Ruffled Swan, Salvias of course, dwarf kniphofias, and pennisetum rubrum (stunning red/purple grass with long foxy red flowers......brought through the winter again)

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Most happy with:

Great Blue Lobelia. Really love the blue stalks in late Summer. Hummingbirds did, too. This was taken a few weeks ago. It's almost done blooming now.

Brown-eyed Susans. My garden lost a lot of its color quickly in August this year, but then the Brown-eyed Susans started blooming and saved it. Tons of yellow. It looked great! Unfortunately, they're biennials so none of the ones that flowered this year will be around next year.

Orange Milkweed has never let me down. Looks great every year. Foliage looks great, flowers look great, and it looks good throughout the growing season. Some of my plants flower twice - once in late June and once in mid August, meaning they bloom from late June to October.

 

[alp]

My favorite compost has to be the Miracle Gro Moisture Control Compost. I used to add moisture control granules to my compost anyway, when I could. But this year I came across Miracle Gro's Moisture control compost & have loved the results. It out performs there other composts In my view and has added nutrients that get the plants through there first few weeks Then I start feeding with Miracle Gro's liquid feed & slow release grow more, or what ever I can find in my shed as a rule

Crumbs, I wish I had gone to B&Q yesterday .. they had loads of compost to be reduced.

When the slow release granules were released to £2.30, I was too mean to buy them

I need to start to see if I can get more juice from from wormery.. I fed them ground eggs, bananas 10 @35p all rotten from Tesco and coffee grinds from up the road.

 

[alp]

Most happy with:

Great Blue Lobelia. Really love the blue stalks in late Summer. Hummingbirds did, too. This was taken a few weeks ago. It's almost done blooming now.
View attachment 27072

Brown-eyed Susans. My garden lost a lot of its color quickly in August this year, but then the Brown-eyed Susans started blooming and saved it. Tons of yellow. It looked great! Unfortunately, they're biennials so none of the ones that flowered this year will be around next year.
View attachment 27073

Orange Milkweed has never let me down. Looks great every year. Foliage looks great, flowers look great, and it looks good throughout the growing season. Some of my plants flower twice - once in late June and once in mid August, meaning they bloom from late June to October.
View attachment 27074

Lovely good shows! I walked round and round the gc, but could only see red and pink lobelias which I already have. Never seen a blue one for sale. That's a lovely colour. So happy that I now have about 6 red lobelias from one pot and today, I'm going to bulk up the pink one and hopefully in winter, I can detach a bit more plants.

Lovely yellow in that brown eye Susan - yellow is so zesty and makes you sit upright and pay attention. The tallest yellow rudbeckias sold like hot cakes.

I splashed out and bought the orange Asclepias tuberosa. They didn't flower for too long and now have 3 big seed pods! Results. I wish mine were as rampant as yours, @JBtheExplorer ! Such a stunning show!