Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

Finally, half a butt of rain. Looked so voluminous and terrifying electric blue, but in the end, only half an hour of proper and steady rain. Next week it will be 29c! Where can I duck this heat? In the car yesterday, son had the air con on as it was so humid and unpleasant and it was raining, but the good bits were pinched by someone else. Why are we always an after-thought?

Friend's favorite pea flower (hers looked very pretty, and this one might not be the same, but the same genre)

Some strange looking hydrangea on sale in my fav gc

Even stranger indoor plant in another gc

Princess Kate is gorgeous - lovely shape, lovey details.

My Duo or Edinborough??? Dahlia

Lovely coreopsis - see the number of buds!

Helenium Rubinwerz.

Salvia Hot lips and Coccinea Lady in Red

Another beautiful Teesbrooke Audrey!

Must go to the allotment - need to vacate the builder sac of weeds and the rose cuttings which now has left my rose a crew cut or more like a skinhead. Amazing it was covered with blooms and then blooms on one side died and another facing the sun was smothered with a more than a hundred flowers. The standard is only 3 to 4 foot tall!

 

[alp]

Spitting and 90% rain has no meaning. I just need some downpour. But the wind was serious: Toppled my crates of pots.

As you can see, my direct sow of sweetcorns in the allotment ends up in tears... My neigbour Ben has a field of solders and I have nothing. Odd one here and there. Heartbreaking. The allotment is teeming with slugs and snails and birds and bugs which make growing vegs with green leaves impossible unless extensive netting is used.
Salvia Uliginosas are very happy though!

Flowers are happier here. Look at the glorious display of agapanthuses.

A Reblooming iris.

Reblooming bearded iris has loads of buds

Lobelia tupa is becoming thuggish and the sunflower is vertically challenging!

Echinacea Twister

Hydrangea Curly Sue?

Newly bought Echinacea Adobe Orange. Under a tenner and then we went to B&M and saw some for £6, but without no name.

Indigo Dream agapanthus

Rhapsody in Blue?

Could be San Marco F2 or just some plum toms

A lovely truss of toms

Monch!

Mini punch x 2

Dahlia Toto

My very first Salvia Uliginosa!

 

[Perki]

Hello another day of rain and winds like most of the weekend , I did manage to get out Saturday afternoon and visited dove cottage nurseries , picked up a couple of Salvia serende and a astrantia superstar which I have divided . popped into the GC on the way with my mask / neck warmer and got some perlite for cutting some of mine keep rotting away. I were quite productive the other day in the garden dead heading / weeding etc . I've ran out of compost as well which I am finding rather annoying .

The helenium doesn't look like M.Beauty , MB starts off red fading to orange then to a copper orange . The Salvia .U does look magnificent much better than mine .

 

[alp]

Crumbs! That was my very first Glutinosa, not Uliginosa!


Those helenium at the front are definitely Rubinswerz. Those at the back I am not sure. I thought I had only got Moerheim Beauty and Early Sahin and then I realised I had Mardi Gras as well. That's where the complication arose. I should never plant them too close.

Well, no more rain for a while and Friday it might be 31 and on that date our membership to RHS expires! Very annoying: was hunting for the card and found it. But it will be on Saturday and Sunday that the little emperor will be free. So we spent days hunting for the card which is now more or less defunct!

This year, we don't want to renew the RHS membership automatically as the price keeps rising and it's stupid. We don't visit them that often as Son had to work Monday to Saturday.

This gave me a fright yesterday on my way to feed my rooster! Either the cat or the foxes. Some cancer patient might have lost his.

Coreopsis is very happy - only one plant. It was so windy!

So is its neighbour, Helenium Rubinswerz.

A new Dahlia

Want to give him a hug - Teddy Bear - Glorious and rich with features.

Love this yellow echinacea with a hint of mellowness - the nursery lost its label.

Couldn't work in the garden at all. Just raining or actually spitting all the day and on and off. I ripped up my Salvia Moorcroftiana as the flowers were so small. This Saturday, we will go to the Oxford Street of horticulture again. Enfield. We bought our Ford Fiesta in the Renault dealership there. A man working for Allen Ford servicing cars told us that Fiesta was a most reliable car and that is 04 reg car would outlast him. We freegled his paving bricks. Went there 4 times and we hardly made a dent. He's going to use resin to cover this front so that he could park his 2 cars. A much more environmentally friendly idea, but if bricks are free, I would use them. I need some paved area so that we can enjoy garden al fresco.

Love Astrantia - how can you tell Superstar from Majus? I bought a Gill Richardson for £3.60 and I'd better label it before I get confused. Glebe never had labels as they have suppliers or gardeners as customers and that's why all the plants are £3.60. Really like the place, but the choice is limited and you have to be quick or you end up with the last 2 pots. That's how I got my last red Echinacea. Going to be a more productive day, I hope. I consumed 4 bags of Wootsit flaming hot yesterday, one after another!

 

[alp]

Just a test to see my new camera

Apparently, this camera can take good pics, but orange is still rendered as red!

Early Sahin? Mardi Gras?

This abutilon yellow was bought at the weekend for £7.50. A lovely standard!

So I don't need to buy a new camera, just need to have stronger arm and steadier hand to lug this lump!

 

[Perki]

Morning raining again. Astrantia superstar is supposed to be like Roma ( sterile ) but white . I have astrantia snowstar already but its very small in terms of flowering and wasn't giving the affect I wanted, bit dissappointing about snowstar I've been waiting for a few years for it to get going only to be something I wasn't after , some say flowering height 2ft and others say its a dwarf version with a flowering height of 1ft which all 3 of mine seem to be.

not sure on the Heleniums other than what I said the other day , I do have sahin early and Mbeauty to compare if you wish. Sahin early only just coming out. I've been looking at rubinswerrzs for a number of years but unfortunately don't have anywhere to put it . I am doing some changes to one border in the winter that border already has Waltraut which has been flowering its little socks off, its not as tall as the SE and MB.

I keep think about a RHS membership but I put it on hold when the New garden Bridgewater got postponed till next year. I beleive you get a magazine as well once a month is it any good ?

 

[Perki]

H.M.Beuaty is at the front of this pic.

Geranium orkney cherry

Kniphorfia tawny king before the wind rain flattened it yesterday.

I adore this clematis , its called supernova and its one of the viticella group.

This is H.Waltraut

H .Waltraut

 

[Zenj]

A sunny day but very breezy a nice walk at Jesmond Dene today

 

[alp]

Spoilt I felt - so many lovely photos! That Clematis looks stunning and the details are gorgeous.

Waltraut is beautiful and yet I have never seen it on sale here in this area. I might buy it if the price is reasonable. I like Helenium more than rudbeckia.

Zenj That bridge is lovely. So nice to be able to walk next to running water. I keep wanting to buy a piece of land with water. The only one affordable was in Wales. apparently plagued by J knotweeds. Nice place to walk along!

 

[alp]

Good morning all, also to the bonfire which has failed miserably. It's still going this morning and I added another dose of kerosene to help dissipate the smoke. Not very neighbour friendly! Ooops!

Perki I will take some photos of all the little heleniums dotted around so that you can tell me. Little Emperor said the same thing: As soon as Bridgwater is open, we will renew our membership. We have been to all the RHS flagship gardens and really would like to see the new one. But as things go, not likely this year. The magazine is a means for them to reap their advertising revenue. It's a nuisance as it is full of greenhouse, bespoke furniture such as glass staircase, far-flung trips to see gardens, ... and some specialist advertising at the back pages. There isn't much interesting things about plants though every month there is a specialist article about one type of plant eg fuchsia in which they will show the leaves and flower forms and really is not a reason for subscribing to it. I would say wait till Bridgwater is open unless the weather is good when the flower festival is on. But they are unlikely to be on.

Forgot to say this is Omega

 

[Perki]

Its been a warm one today but had a little shower around tea time , tomorrow to be much cooler.
I used to subscribe to GW magazine and Garden Illustration last year , GW magazine didn't have much interest for me and had lots of adverts , Garden illustration did have things of interest but not everything so gardens were set in California for example totally different conditions for this country and especially here, and it were jam packed for of adverts.

That's a nice setting Zenji looks very tranquil .

Don't know what to do with myself again over the weekend do I go to the GC , seen as we are back in sort of lock down here yeeee even though we have a very low cornovirus rate ,looks like we are getting bundled in with the others cause they are near by / surrounded .

 

[alp]

Hi Folks: Went to the allotment at 6am yesterday morning and finished part watering at 7.45. Corrr! It was so frigging hot. My Totally Tangerine was fried. I was at the back of the garden to gauge where the concreted bits were. It was a joke. Part concrete and part soil and they were highly irregular. When I had tons of wood chips, I dumped them there to decompost. Don't think it did a good job, so at least it cooled down that dry shaded area. It was very hot. I was literally standing with perspiration dropping all over my face and my clothes soaked through. In the end, another siesta watching TV.

Watering in the allotment ended up with 2 bug bits and now my right arm is totally swollen, stiff and hot.

Just love Teddy Bear, no staking required.

Mount Etna Penstemon

Split end antler cacti dahlia Omega

Only one plant and yet it's singing!

Small camera is better, showing even the rubbish very well! LOL!

Echinacea Adobe Orange

Omega a day ago or 2?


Indigo Dream - shame the camera couldn't pick up the darker tone! Need to try with the new camera!

This small camera lets in more light!

Glorious cupcake

Cosmos sulphureus! Apparently, it is a soil improver.

Tithonia

All the magazines from RHS or National Trust are a major source or revenue. The amount of leaflets and adverts is just ridiculous. I wonder if Plantsman is any better. Sounds more specialists. If you google, you will find that the Americans have more beautiful and exotic and unheard of dahlias. I was fascinated by the form, shapes and colours of the dahlia showcased.

Yes, lockdown comes to you, Perki! I think people worship together and they are more close knit. Even their leader admitted that his people ignored social distancing. People live in their own bubble. When our car drove past Wolverhampton, I was amazed to see only one white boy in the school playground and that was 8 years ago. Perki, join the breeding programme! LOL! We should have equal representation in this country.

Going to Enfield today. Can't wait. Go to the greenhouse, Perki! Shocking development. The Chinese should have been honest with the world. Mind you, they tormented their own whistleblowers! Heartbreaking! In China, they usually have only one son and imagine your son became a doctor - all the investment, sense of pride ... The father of a dead whistleblower complained that the government smeared his name even after his death. Tears are not enough... I feel his pain!

Shame that reduction hasn't even started. All because people are becoming gardeners and buying up seeds and what not. I think Zenj is walking his dog? Gee, the air was still hot this morning. Why do people need to go to Spain to be browned? We have plenty of sunshine here. Mind you, if it rained weeks on end, I knew what I would do!

 

[Zenj]

Morning all
beautiful day yesterday had a barbecue and lazed around all day no need for watering here alp had around 2 hours of rain around 11 last night nice morning now. The dog is our nieces but we have her for 2 days a week when they are at work and when they are on holidays ,she’s as good as gold and good company we miss her when she goes home.

 

[alp]

2 hours of rain! We had 1 minute of rain! And of course, evaporation does its trick. I can see any rain within the next fortnight. I think to be ecologically friendly, I need to grow sedums, sedums and sedums! ...

 

[Zenj]

Just to say this year with the coronavirus I have grown mini salads radish runner beans ,potatoes ,courgettes ect .All in pots with that compost with the added seaweed which I posted on here it’s been a success and will do it every year from now.Example cougettes