Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

For the first time at a particular garden center I saw Bleeding Hearts for sale.

Louis: Are you serious? We have bleeding hearts here, white, red, and some a different shape! If you can get seeds, they are easy germinators. I so want a yellow one though, but I was too mean to buy the plant and now if I want to buy them, I need to buy from abroad, which I don't want as there are too many fakes.

 

[alp]

Been very busy. Last night, didn't finish potting up the dead wood not until 9pm. Totally exhausted. I thought there were green bits inside the bags - we both examined and of course, once out of the bags, they were nothing but dead wood, ideal for adding organic matter to the soil! The soil improvers would be peonies Buckeye Belle x2 which I aptly named Buckeye Bull! and some z-list Celebrity! Heartbreaking £3 down the proverbial!

Bought quite a few plants and they cost more than the dead wood and planted most of them out already. Went to a posh gc and that's where I bought some unique packets and deadwood. They had Bletilla orchids flowering inside the bag. Poor thing! Have to say, got quite few bargains. Begonia Frimbriata x 3 x 2 different colours. They would be OK. £1 each and some not so common dahlias - Ace of Hearts, Alauna Clair Obscur (nightmare to label as the little piece of label was not long enough. Just call it Murky or Oxymoron would be easier. Wonder which moron named the flower!

Just love the gold dust and stripes in this Painted Woman!

Would love to see your garden belles/beaux!

 

[LouisFerdinand]

Louis: Are you serious? We have bleeding hearts here, white, red, and some a different shape! If you can get seeds, they are easy germinators. I so want a yellow one though, but I was too mean to buy the plant and now if I want to buy them, I need to buy from abroad, which I don't want as there are too many fakes.

@alp, I am serious. I have gone to this particular garden center quite often for several years.

 

[alp]

Do you have lockdown your way, @LouisFerdinand? You could ask the manager to see if they could source it for you. I remember I asked about Chilean guava and my gc said that would be £25. Worth asking.

Has the Covid 19 affected the stock in gc your way? Here, all gcs seem to have been mugged, burglarised, raided.. Very small amount of stock left and what's left were pretty undesirables.

Would love to see some of your plants. I'm off the screen now - need to surgically attach my hand to a water hose, another hot day ahead!

 

[Zenj]

Lovely day a bit breezy still no rain a few from today.

 

[alp]

Rain! Neighbour's daughter said we need some thunderstorm. Even in shade, it was very humid. After dinner, we went to allotment to WATER the blessed plants. Just came home 10 minutes ago. We have to lug every drop of bath water to water the front. Don't talk to me about soap or gel! I don't care! All I know is that it's WATER and my plants are literally drying up in front of my eyes. I reckon you don't need to water your stunning flowers. I saw a lilac flat out ensata iris, but it was totally DEAD! What a shame! Wish we had gone there earlier to get them. Your blue irises are full of lovely markings, but mine is only pure blue. I must look out for more. They are simply stunning. Going to sit down and enjoy tv. Been on my feet the whole day, sweeping and scraping hardened clay muck from the walkway. Son suggested using high pressure washer! So sad to have to call him my son! He's one of those who think you go to the wall and punch it and money will drop into their pocket.

 

[alp]

Good morning to all: An hour of watering. Strange enough, it was a bit breezy and cool last night. Look at the weather report and an hour of watering each day is just unsustainable.

Planted out most of my toms - San Marzano f2 (supposed to be good for canning and tom sauces), Sweet Million, Costoluto Florentino (sadly only about 4), Black Russians and Pink Brandywine and one lone Cherry Fall) not one Rosella! Sad.

I sowed something in two areas and nothing came up and yesterday, I sowed something different and hopefully, there would be something coming up or if I am lucky or unlucky, 2 different things come up near each other.

Red hot pokers coming up everywhere. Will take some pics later. Going to sow another round of cos or romaine lettuce and sow kale again.

 

[alp]

Peony 'Bartzella' Intersectional peony took me 4 years to see this one bloom!

Mr G.F. Hemerik

Globemaster?

Bartzella yesterday!

Quaking grass

The best I can manage with my camera - Salvia Madelaine.

 

[Perki]

Evening its been another hot dry day supposed to get even hot later this week , according to the weather barely a cloud in the sky till Tuesday at least .

That not Globemaster more like Giganteum , its wrong colour for GB and the petals are more pointy on GB. MY GB are just started to flower but I don't think they are going to get any bigger sadly , they really do need dividing a job I am not to keen to do I am bound to stab / chop the bulbs up.

I think the wait for the peony was worth it , its a beauty . I don't grow peonys even though I do like them, to short of a flowering period so I want with more roses. Meconopsis looking good zenji one of mine just opening but it looks a bit ragged and I've lost a flowering stem from the winds last week.

Why does my Iris seem to be taking for ever to open , needs to get a move on I am getting impatient .

 

[alp]

Good morning - if you knew what a trauma I had with my internet, you would know it hasn't been a good one! Until NOW! I had to copy and paste the IP code 192... and instead of the last figures being 1.18, I copied the number from the proxy and changed it to 1.1 and bingo! Out comes the internet. AND it took me from 3.30 to 6.30!

Yesterday was a bit cooler than the Sunday. Sunday was hell. Interesting that you said you had a hot day as I did feel a bit more comfortable yesterday. When the weather report came up, I noticed that Cardiff was supposed to be hotter than London for several days running. That probably explained it.

I need to have a closer look at the allium flowers. Strange enough, I do have 2 scented ones which according to Adam Frost are called Violet Beauty. Mine is a bit dull in colour. My Globemasters are bigger in flower. Quite dramatic. But not as big as a child's head. Perhaps, I haven't given them steroid.

Yes, peonies are really not worth it as they only flower for a short time and so are magnolia! Then their tubers become a huge block of wood. Well, mine is!

Have your iris got buds, Perki? Some of them do bloom later than others. For mine, the blue ones are always first, then the Indian Chief, Tickled Peach, then some yellow dwarf one, Scented light blue, Broadway Star, Chocolately one, then Black Dragon. They don't last long. But I do like them. Well, I like almost everything except for persicarias and the tall and spinny Veronica. I do like Veronicastrum, but I just don't know where to buy the seeds.

My tall alstroemerias are flowering their socks off!

So are the Candytuft!

Well, now, this seems to be a cheat as I only bought the plants on Saturday!

Thalictrum Numbus White - reminds me of a crane with similar headgear.

Something very exuberant about this flower form!

Love my little camera - shame the screen is so scratched and, with my glaucoma, it really doesn't help.

 

[Perki]

I've got buds on the iris they are probably days away from opening . I only have the one iris because of the flowering period as you've mentioned with the magnolia , short flowering are still worth growing it just not having enough space for having to many short flowering plants , I've got quite a few myself still - poppys - laburnum - wisteria and probably some others .

Think I best get to the greenhouse and do some watering it been a Hot one today , I've got a rose to tie up and a honey suckle to chop back from strangling everything

 

[alp]

Irises need heat, sun and rhizomes need baking. Being in the north might not be easy for them to flower, just as meconopsis would not survive here. I have to leave an area as a bog to have my blue irises flowering. Last year's rain has done irises a lot of good - the flowers are much bigger - but still they don't live long. I still couldn't find my iris seeds. When I saw the seedlings, they resembled sweet peas, which really annoyed me. 2nd time now. 2 rounds of sweet peas!

A lady living near the allotment had given me some laburnum seeds, but they never came to anything. It's very poisonous, she kindly pointed it out to me. The episode on wisterias was very interesting. The man's collection is simply pure beauty and fragrance. My Shiro Kapitan smelt heavenly.

I tried to get rid of my honey suckle for years, but still they came back. When they flowered and the unique fragrance made me feel very guilty. The only few plants left by the previous owners.

What do you think these alliums are, guys?

This one is perfumed, but colour a bit dull.

Red hot pokers put up a good show this year.

Madame Julie Courrevon is fantastic as it is reblooming and no watering required.

No idea what this one is, thought it was a Globemaster.

This is the Globemaster

Bartzella and the other bud is also Bartzella. No Bowl of Beauty AGAIN!

Mr Hemrick is really a stunner. I will commit it to ground and see if I can split it.

This one is nearer to the house.

I have tried more than 5 times with this Salvia Coccinea Summer Jewel Pink and finally this year, I have quite a few plants and they are flowering already. Shame photos are too dark. A real delight!

Quite different from the other salvias. Well chuffed.

 

[Perki]

Some Pics , iris opened today its nice but I think I were expecting more , probably had my expectations sky high with the long wait. Poppy been fantastic this year and no rain / wind to trash it yet

 

[alp]

Very pretty and lovely mass planting - this is what I should have done. Same bulbs and planted en masse! Very dramatic. That iris is beautiful. What is it called?

This year, I have actually removed my oriental poppies - they caught frost quite a few times and too much to compost. Also, they take up too much prime area. I am literally running out of room. Their roots go so deep that root killer is needed.

Went to Enfield yesterday and there was a terrible queue even at 2.30pm. Everywhere else was straight in. I wish I had bought more last time as those flowering plants were gone.

From Enfield

Some very strange looking delphinium x 2. I didn't buy them, but have digitally memorised them. Very different!

I bought this iris for £6 yesterday. It's very, very big!

Also bought this one bastard mint. Exact name Melittis melissophyllum 'Royal Velvet Distinction' for another £6 - so beautiful!

Believe it or not, this iris was freegled last year. It's so beautiful. The lady said it was excess POND plant. I haven't got a pond, so I put it inside a small paint tub and there you are. The deep scarlet colour is beautiful.

 

[Perki]

It a hot one again today , been planting up baskets and pots all morning unfortunately not for myself.
The iris is Supreme Sultan .
I could do to remove the daffs and tulips from my own pots but I am feeling a bit lazy today it is supposed to be my day off.