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Nature's blessings

13 comments


I’ve been a bit quiet recently. Unusual for me but I’ve been pre-occupied with visitors, an usually active social calendar and the prospect of possible redundancy so it’s great that all of sudden the rain has given way to summer, a phenomenon that our ancestors used to enjoy in the months from June to August but we modern people equate with one or two days if we are lucky in either March or September!! Joking apart I’ve taken some pics of what has started to bloom more as a record of what an awful season it’s been than a sharing of what I’m proud of, because I’m really scraping the proverbial barrel this year :-)

I bought some Lupin plants but had more success from the seeds of Lupin Sunrise this year. They remind me of a sweet pea flower.

Talking of sweet peas after a slow start I’ve now had two vases full for the house. My favourite natural room scent and much apreciated after trying RHS sweet pea scented reed diffuser!!

One of the oldest sweet peas and although the flowrs are small the colours are amazing and the scent absolutely superb. My all time sweet pea favourite and very reliable.
Just love this sweet pea!

I know Hywel won’t appreciate this one but Alchemilla Mollis has just thrived with all the wet and looks great next to the hostas!

I bought this plant in April as a birthday present to myelf and didn’t realise how big it would get!! It’s called war grave but is very much like EC Buxton. A real shot of sunshine, whatever the weather! But I wish the birds wouldn’t keep resting on the branches and snapping them off :-)

And another close up of my lil sunshine warrior :-)

Nice to see the bees finding some pollen

Not quite the close up quality of some GoY members but I wish the bees had more to feast on.

Just a general shot of the front garden because I love the colours, especially the blue sky!

Scrambles through the garden like a good’un! Gorgeous colours and no care at all the ideal plant :-)

One of my bargains from local supermarket…too dark to go out check the name but I know it’s got a Polish connection!

Front door display

Still going strong! Loving my sea holly.

Never been a fan of Fuchsia until this year and now well into them. This is Sarah’s Delta.

After months of hibernation the geraniums have flowered – Geranium Blue (Rosebud). Small but max colour impact!

Geraniums and lobelia superstar make a winning combination. So pleased I bought the plants because the ones I grew from seed are so puny!

A little bud on my hosta..

And one that’s flowered already.

Japanese anemones flowering early this year and another plant that seems to love the wet weather.

So pleased I grew Lupins from seed.

A clay sink we found when we moved in makes a lovely (but heavy!) planter.

Getting lazy now but this is either a viola or a pansy (or is it the same thing!!)

My free seed samples of pollen free antirrhinum continue to provide a reliable display. Hoping the lime coloured geraniums flower before my trip to the Canadian Rockies in September!

A random pink gladioli..not sure where that came from :-)

Think this is golden showers rose. A lovely sunny colour.

Fuschia Sarah’s Delta has been a stunner and this is the first year!

General shot of front raised bed

Can’t help taking photos of the lupin grown from seed, Lupin Sunrise

Superstar by name and superstar by nature…

Starting to wonder if I’m repeating photos now but some more sweet peas :-)

And to finish some white climbing roses that have seen better days but so pleased to be taking photos in the sunshine!!

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Comments

 

Thanks for sharing your scented flowering garden, I can smell those sweet peas and Golden Showers from here. Warsaw Nike is maybe the name you are looking for for your lovely clematis.

13 Aug, 2012

 

Like your fav sweet pea too Julie,unusual lupin,do you like blues? looking round I dont seem to have any now Delphiniums are over.

13 Aug, 2012

 

Nice shots, Julie - what's the variety of Sea Holly, looks wonderfully dark?

13 Aug, 2012

 

your clematis could be polish spirit,i got one of that name last year in aldis but it hasnt flowered yet but i think it will be a similar colour if i remember

13 Aug, 2012

 

Scotsgran you are right about the "Polish" name - Warsaw Nike!! Thanks for the reminder as it's dark again when I got home :-)

Poppylinda - I love blues, greens, purples, yellows cream and white. More pink colours than I planned for but for a change I've put my colour obsession to one side as any flowers this year are better than none!

Bamboo the Sea Holly looks dark but it's just plain old Eryngium Alpinum. It didn't flower in the first year but this year it's done a sterling job and I've been coveting Eryngium Jade Frost that I saw on another GOYer's site so definitely going to invest :-)

13 Aug, 2012

 

Thanks for mentioning your blog. I haven't been on much lately, so have missed a lot. Your garden plants are amazing. Isn't it wonderful that there's so much colour around in this awful season we're having.

I'm not criticising you, but your fuchsia looks like Heidi Ann ... a lovely hardy variety. Delta's Sarah is blue and white. Maybe it was wrongly labelled. I often find that happens.
Mine hasn't flowered this year yet (I'm saying 'yet' in the hope it will do so lol)

I love your sweet peas. I bought a pack of the same ones but they all died. That's never happened before. I'm blaming the weather :o(

I believe Viola and Pansy are the same. 'Viola' is the Latin name for them.
And while we're on the subject, since you mentioned their flowers looking alike - Sweet Peas and Lupins belong to the same family - Leguminosae :o)

I like your front door display. I like the pots :o)
And I wonder if that Clematis is Polish Spirit. I believe there is one called that.

What a long comment ... I'll shut up now lol :D

14 Aug, 2012

 

Thanks for your kind comments but really my garden is just raised beds and tubs and there is a lot of work to be done before I'm happy with it. But enjoying learning and making mistakes more than sitting in the garden! Hywel you are so right about that Fuchsia!! Checked back against photo from catalogue and it's definitely not sarah's delta, which is a shame in one way because I much prefer SD (probably mentioned this before but I've got a bit of a colour obsession thing going on and generally reject having pink, red or orange in the garden!) I also got disappointed when I ordered some Tulip "Spring Green" which turned out to be a rather striking orange and green colour - I think it was Andy Jeavons who ID'd it as the Tulip "Artist". The mail order company did give me a £10 voucher to say sorry but what really boiled me, and still does, is that they kept on having offers for this tulip all through the year yet told me they had run out of stock (I'd simply wanted a replacement, not a voucher). Suffice to say I've ordered a rather nice peony from them with my voucher and that wil be the last business they get from me! Despite my vitriolic rants about "the wrong plants" (very Wallace and Gromit!) I'm starting to mellow to different colour options. As the Stones song goes "You can't always get what what you want. But you might just get what you need. Oh yeah!"

14 Aug, 2012

 

Lovely blog, lovely photos, Julie. I envy you your lupins not only for their beautiful colours but for the fact that you can grow them. I've given up as they always succumb to the dreaded SAS. The Japanese Anemone is a favourite, but mine are not yet in flower. As regards colour, I think we mellow as we get older. I used not to be fond of reds and oranges but have lots of them now.

14 Aug, 2012

 

Not sure what "SAS" is?? LOL I'm def going to grow these lupin from seed again next year as I bought lupin plants and all of them seemed to rot away :-) At £1.49 for 30 seeds sunrise lupins are on my favourites now!

14 Aug, 2012

 

SAS, hmm - slugs and snails?

15 Aug, 2012

 

Julie your lupins should last for several years they are HP (herbaceous perennials). Just cut them down when they finish flowering and they should flower again next year and be bigger and better plants.

15 Aug, 2012

 

Yes indeed, Bamboo. Got it in one!

15 Aug, 2012

 

Ah right! SAS! Like it :-) SG - will try to get the Lupins to come back next year but these ones are described as hardy annual in the seed catalogue and didn't have to do anything more complicated than push seeds in the soil so I'm thinking of doing a bit of a trial (a la Pippa Greenwood :-) by leaving some in situ, taking some seed from this year's flowers and buying some fresh. Perhaps this time next year I can post my findings :-)

15 Aug, 2012

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