puddleshark

A mystery tulip, from the bag of mixed tulip bulbs I planted back in November. None of the other bulbs I planted is in flower yet - neither the daffodils nor the tulips. But it won't be long now...

Only a fool would order a variety of tulip named 'Je t'aime' and expect it be subtle and restrained...

But still. I am surprised.

Number three of my Easter Surprise! daffodils is in flower, and I think this is my favourite so far of the four random varieties I planted back in November... Very graceful and elegant. Whereas 'Mondragon' is quite gaudy, and 'Carice', though pretty and subtle, is a bit overwhelmed planted in a pot with other bulbs.

60 mile an hour winds forecast for tomorrow. The daffodils are not deterred.

Bright sunshine this morning, after the first hard frost of the autumn.

I finally got round to ordering some spring bulbs last week. Finally. I seem to order bulbs later every year. Partly, because we've been having a very mild autumn, and it would seem a shame to evict my summer bedding plants from their containers while they are still flowering. Partly because planting bulbs for the spring requires a certain degree of faith in the seasons, faith in the future. ( Read more... )

I was tempted by the pelargoniums for sale at the Secret Garden, and couldn't resist bringing one home:


'Lady Scarborough'.

But I don't think Lady Scarborough is that impressed by her new surroundings. Perhaps she was expecting a stately home and an orangery. She has not been very generous in the matter of flowers. But the scented leaves are wonderful: crush a leaf and the lemon scent is strong enough to make you blink.

The Volunteers' Garden on the other hand is flourishing. A small area in bright sunshine, full of plants that planted themselves: Lady's Mantle, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint. They have been flowering away madly, attracting bees and hoverflies, and little Mint Moths.

***

Yesterday was grey and grim and cold. Not a glimpse of the sun all day.

But driving into work this morning, the sky was suddenly a pure blue, cloudless. And it felt very peculiar. Like I had gone to sleep in January and woken up in July.

***

I dreamt of my old mare Charm last night. She was inside the house. It didn't seem strange. And when it was time for her visit to finish, I turned her out into a field where the other ponies were waiting. A field of lush green grass. No restricted grazing. There are no electric fences in the afterlife, apparently.

Tulip 'Yume no Murasaki'.

( +1 )

The clocks went back. (Back, I think, yes?)

Made the most of an extra rain-free hour by tackling a few jobs in the garden. Emptied four pots of gone-over summer bedding. Three pots still to go, plus several pots in which the summer bedding is still flowering, & which can be left for another few weeks.

But I've made a start. And now I can go online and drool over bulb catalogues. Which daffodils, which tulips will I order this year? (Definitely more of the little flame-coloured praestans Shogun - they were stunning. The enormous PINK Saint Petersburg were pretty spectacular as well).



***

Under the shade of the oak trees, did battle with the root system of a very large Epimedium which the drought killed. Possibly it would have regenerated, if I left it till the spring. But it had become a thug, choking out the hardy geraniums and the Tellima grandiflora, so good riddance to it.

***

This year's summer planting notes:

Successes
- the Nemesia has flowered madly all summer and is still flowering. And the bees love it. Go, Nemesia!
- ditto the Salvia 'Victoria blue' bought from the local nursery
- the 'mixed' Icelandic poppies were splendid while they lasted (even if they all turned out to be white. Do not buy from Sarah Raven next time).

Failures

This year's summer planting scheme, Erigeron & Salvia patens. I suppose I was aiming for a classical/Wedgwood effect... But the bees aren't at all interested in Salvia patens, unlike most Salvias, so this one was a failure. And the Erigeron would work better along paving than in a pot.

Semi-failures
- six bare-root white spider Chrysanthemums bought from Sarah Raven, which I planted in pots, watered religiously all summer, but forgot to feed. They are just thinking about coming into flower now. And the buds on one of them are most definitely red, not white. Will they flower before the frosts get them? Will I get a single Still Life arrangement out of them?

*sighs* I will never learn not to be tempted by the gorgeous arrangements of cut flowers in the Sarah Raven catalogue. Next time, that catalogue must go straight in the recycling unopened...