How I wish rain would lash down on me! I know I sound like a depressing broken record -
I had 15 minutes of rain in the morning and the same in the afternoon. So that means I have to water later on. I started the washing machine, but it looks dark and dank outside,
I really like verbascum and I actually had a tall one growing on the dwarf wall - very dwarf! - last year. Love the pink and mauve flowers and they usually self seeded themselves. Last year, they have not revisited. That verbascum nigrium album sounds like a misnomer - nigri sounds like, alba sounds white. Perhaps - it has black colour, but google has shown up white spike. Echinacea seeds are hard work. I have only one Green Twister seed germinating. And I am still waiting for the green twister, yellow paradoxa to flower!
. As that woman said in Escape in the Country, "We can't never buy anything at that price in the SE!" That including plants - they are just pricy here, even more than brokers' belt Surrey! But persevere! Seeds are economical and when one flowers, you can collect seeds again.
I really want to get a sanguinsorba and one of this Eupatorium and a tall yellow rudbeckia. Got a Dinner Plate Dazzling Sun and a Manhattan Island Dahlia - no flowers but very little money, but never mind. Got some cuttings from the base or very near the base and hopefully, the cuttings overwinter well in my lean to.
I would wear gloves at all times. It's very difficult to clean your hands after gardening. No amount of scratching or soap or cream can clean them or repair the damage. I remember this cleaning lady wanting to buy my house, her face full of shocking make-up which I think is part of her glossy character. Her hands were like sandpaper or the leaves of a gunnera!
I am also on the look out for more Gladiator and Ambassador bulbs in Lidl, but they only have Purple Sensation. Talking of which I need to sow some in the front garden.
Yesterday, I cleared out most of my echinops. They were troubles. As soon as the seeds hit the ground, they breed like rabbit, just like eryngiums, verbena bonariensis and acanthus mollis! The roots were all broken and they seemed to have gone well deep into the soil or in fact, brick buried by builders. Very troublesome. Verbena roots are not deep and easy to remove, but they go everywhere you don't want them to. Worse still is that the echinop leaves are sooooo prickly, same for eryngium. I'm still waiting for my supermum to come up with flowers. If they do come up, I will be running scared as those in the front lawn just self seeded everywhere and yet at least 2 passers-by took photos of them.
And what's more, bees love them.
Going to dig up more alstroemerias for cuttings and some asters as well. Just love asters - big clumps of flower and very low maintenance - and the colour palette is huge - white, pink, lilac and blue .. What's not to love!?
