Monthly Archives: May 2017

The Tuesday View: 30th May 2017

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My weekly look at one part of my garden is helping me focus on planting errors and successes. One thing I noticed this week is how the view is slowly being obstructed by the taller plants in the foreground… some more of that Lysimachia will have to go after it has flowered…

In fact, I think we need to look at the view from the opposite direction…

Now you can see all the weeds! 😉

The Aquilegia and Siberian iris are going over very quickly in the heat. But there are lots of Campanulas and Lychnis to come. And at the moment there are other plants to focus on here. Peony Festiva maxima started opening yesterday afternoon – it is my favourite of all, as it smells so lovely and I have plenty of them for cutting.

The other stars are the poppies, popping up in all sorts of new spots this year!

In the picture below you can also see how tall the Aruncus is growing, bottom right.

The greenery in the foreground here is the Golden Rod. Usually there would also be two very tall and lovely Fennel plants here too, but they were a casualty of our very cold winter with several weeks of permafrost. (I also lost two of my Buddleias and my lovely Gaura lindheimeri).

Finally, here is a long-shot from below the Aruncus bed…

The ferns have put on a lot of growth, but if it’s a hot summer they will need cutting down by the end of June and will hopefully send out new growth a few weeks later. They were here – in the full sun – when we came to the house, and only last until autumn if the summer is cool and wet, like last year.

If you would like to join me with a weekly look at one particular view of your garden, just leave a link below in the comments.

Have a great gardening week!

In a Vase on Monday: Centre Piece

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It is very hot again this Monday, probably hitting 30°C later, so any flowers I want to enjoy before they wilt are coming indoors! My Centaurea succumbs to blackfly and then mildew almost every year, so I picked a single perfect flower that had just opened, and together with some Centranthus ruber that is just opening it is the central focus in this week’s vase.

The feathery petals are echoed by the fluffy spidery Pulsatilla seed heads which I always like to use in vases…

And for contrast the lovely Alchemilla mollis..,

The bluest of blue skies in the background made me wonder if this Centaurea really is blue, or perhaps slightly mauve?

I hope you also have blue skies today.

A couple of Hosta leaves were added, to be appreciated before the snails discover them. 😉 And a single stem of young birch.

Thanks, as always, go to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this meme. She has a stunning rose to share this week.

 Happy gardening!

The Tuesday View: 23rd May 2017

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I actually took my photos for today’s Tuesday view on Monday (cheating a little due to time available!) but when I woke up this morning and raised the blinds, I was greeted by the first of my Oriental poppies. I know it’s just a small orange blob here, but soon the whole rockery will be lit up by them!

They were sown in containers many years ago, and then planted out late summer. Since then they have multiplied and come back reliably every May.

Now back to this year’s Tuesday view…

The Siberian irises are now opening alongside the early peony. I like these much better than the straggly bearded iris…

The Aquilegias are in full bloom now too, here with both bearded and Siberian Iris in the background…

And beyond the rockery across the ‘lawn’ the day lily foliage and Aruncus are getting taller and taller…

If you would like to join me in showcasing one particular view of your garden each week, to follow it through the seasons, please do! Just leave a comment below so we can find you. Thanks also to all those who have started to join in.

😀

Happy gardening!

In a Vase on Monday: Highlights of May

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One of the highlights of May is definitely the Aquilegias, reaching for the sky in shades of purple, blue and pink…

For my Monday vase this week I chose to cut some of these tall stalks to contrast with an iris that has just opened and the lovely pale and mid-blue Camassias.

I added Geranium phaeum (again!)…

And on the outer edges I also added a white Geranium sylvaticum ‘Album’, which is not quite as prolific as the chocolatey purple G. phaeum but just as tall (about 60-70cms), and grows well in complete shade, adding lovely highlights to my North border.

What are the highlights in your garden right now? Do you have particularly tall plants in May?

Thanks go to Cathy, who hosts this wonderful meme at ‘Rambling in the Garden‘.

The Tuesday View: 16th May 2017

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It’s hot! A few summery days lie ahead of us before the next thunderstorms are forecast, and I shall make the most of the time I have available to do some weeding and cut back a few things. As you can see in today’s view, everything is growing like mad and getting greener and greener!

I think some of that Lysimachia needs to come out before the clematis obelisk on the left gets swallowed up! (The bell has almost disappeared already!)

The acer is the star this week. It is a lovely fresh pale green at this time of year…

And if we look through it we can see the first of the irises…

And look, a peony has opened! It looks a bit like how I felt this lunchtime in the hot sun though!

The lovely aquilegia below (‘Rose Queen’) is actually not quite within the Tuesday view, but it is one of the first to open. The others are almost all mixes that have spread around over the years and are only just starting to bloom. They seem taller than ever this year!

16th May 2017

If you have a view of your garden that would like to focus on and share through the seasons, please join me and my fellow Tuesday View crowd and leave a link below in the comments.

Happy May!

In a Vase on Monday: Thunder

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A few days of warm and thundery weather with rainshowers every few minutes has meant the tulips are practically over and everything is about ten foot tall… ok, I am exaggerating, but you know what I mean!

The last of the tulips to open was this elegant peachy one that has turned a deeper shade over the past day or so. It is ‘Menton’ from the Peter Nyssen Harlequin Collection (which I would certainly recommend).

I was actually hoping the Geranium phaeum would make the vase look a bit more dramatic, to justify the title, but they just look soft and pretty instead!

The flashes of white are the Moon Daisies, which are beginning to open now (and we have so many again). There were in fact a few flashes of lightning as I cut them.

A single Geranium macrorrhizum ‘czakor’ …

… a Hellebore, the last white Narcissi actaea and one Spanish bluebell were added, as well as some red/purple Heuchera leaves as a collar.

The vase was chosen intentionally to highlight the deep purple flowers of the Geranium. There is one with plain leaves in here too,  but most have lovely chocolatey markings on the foliage.

You can see the stormy sky in the background here. Have you had thunder this May?

 Thanks to our lovely host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  She has a gorgeous pink Aquilegia in her vase today. 🙂