The Mid-May Garden, 2023

It seems like the perfect time to give an update on what my garden is up to. 😉 May has been mostly mild and damp so far (although last night it went down to 1.8°C!), and plants seem to be popping up from nowhere. Left, right and centre!

My first oriental poppy started opening this week. Its silky petals have the ‘wow’ effect, and in a day or two it will be wide open for the bees to enjoy!

It was a humid day when I took these photos, with thunder clouds and the occasional rumble in the distance. This kind of day in May, especially in the evening, produces a wonderful light where all the shades of green stand out and provide a magnificent backdrop to the fresh colour in the garden beds.

One of the brightest colours in the Oval Bed right now is this Aquilegia, bought a couple of years ago. After having mostly purple ones reseeding in my last garden, I wanted a different colour to get established here… there are some seedlings already. 😃

The Camassia are starting to add blue to the spring colour scheme in the Butterfly Bed and are spreading too. They disappeared completely one year, but are now back in force.

I also have a paler Camassia in the Moon Bed. The creamy white shrub behind is Broom – Cytisus praecox ‘Albus.

In the Sunshine Bed some Geums are already open. This one is Scarlet Tempest – a lovely healthy plant that has filled out nicely, despite being planted just before the terrible heat and drought last summer. The Euphorbia polychroma is a great plant for sunny dry spots, and all my Euphorbias did extremely well last summer with no watering at all.

And this is Geum Mai Tai. Such a pretty colour, and reliable too.

At the back of this bed is the yellow broom, Cytisus praecox ‘Allgold’. It likes my garden and also does well in the soil around here. I always look out for it when I drive to town, as it grows wild along the roadsides.

The poppy I showed above is in The ‘Edge, along with a few late red and yellow tulips. Euphorbia polychroma makes an impact here too, but something that surprises me every spring is the beautiful new golden and orange foliage of Spiraea japonica ‘Magic Carpet’. It looks dead until about late March, and then slowly but surely comes back to life with bright orange shoots, fading to yellow and then lime green. The flowers are a rather insignificant pale pink in summer, barely noticeable, but in the autumn it will again take on these wonderful rich colours.

To finish off, this (unplanned!) grouping caught my eye: Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, Yellow tulips ‘Texas Gold’, Blue Oat Grass (Helictotrichon sempervivens) and, in the background, Physocarpus ‘Lady in Red’. Helctotrichon is perhaps an alternative to the enormous Stipa gigantea, albeit not so long-lasting. It is the first grass to flower in my garden and looks lovely in the evening light especially.

It has been comforting to see that I had very few losses due to the drought last summer. Choosing resilient plants contributed to that. And perhaps the wet winter helped a bit too. 😉

Has your garden suffered any losses this winter?

Thanks for visiting my spring garden. Do drop by again soon!🐝☀️🐝

 

Why I Love Autumn…

October is progressing, so it is time for an update from my autumnal garden. I really love this time of year, not just for the cooler temperatures and the special light or October sunshine. But the morning mists, the slower pace, the grasses, the asters, and a kind of ‘end-of-season’ feeling of satisfaction.

Apart from some slightly stunted growth (especially the Miscanthus), the grasses and asters seemed practically unaffected by the hot dry summer.

In the Oval Bed the rich purply pink Aster ‘September Ruby’ stands at about 1.8m tall. It has been the highlight for a few weeks now, along with the Miscanthus ‘Federweisser’, which is the only Miscanthus I have that has reached its full height and has flowered well. I love it!

Aster ageratoides ‘Ezo Murasaki’ is a small bluish purple one, about 60cm tall, spreading into a nice clump now….

Other asters have been planted in the Oval Bed but need a year or two to settle in, such as this pretty pale pink one called ‘Rosa Sieger’.

Moving across to the Butterfly Bed, this much pinker one is Aster novae-angliae ‘Andenken an Alma Poetschke’.

Pink is an understatement for this flower! It is lively, vibrant, luminous – a great one to have if you only have space for one or two asters, or as a focal point as it really stands out.

(By the way, Poetschke is one of the oldest gardening companies in Germany and this aster was named after the grandmother of Werner Poetschke who ran the family business until the 1980s.)

In the Butterfly Bed the mice/voles had fun reorganizing everything last winter, so bits of asters planted there have moved and labels have been lost! The only one I can name for sure is the Aster pringlei ‘Pink Star’, seedlings of which have been put in the Oval Bed as well. 😀 Here it is pictured alongside a blue Geranium and the Chrysanthemum ‘Anastasia’, which is just beginning to open.

These are also flowering in the Butterfly Bed…

 

Now onto the Moon Bed, which focuses on blue and white flowers.

I had Aster ‘Mönch’ flowering here. for weeks, but it is finally going over. The current blue in this bed is the very tall Aster ‘Barr’s Blue’… not a true blue, but lovely nonetheless…

The Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Schottland’ is still a great backdrop.

The white asters in flower here right now are creating a stir… I would never have thought that white could be such a lovely ‘colour’, but at this time of year it brings light to the fading flower beds and stands out so well against the blue skies we have had recently.

This is Boltonia asteroides ‘Snowbank’ above, and below the slightly shorter Aster ageratoides ‘Ashvi’.

The other white aster I have is on the corner of the Sunshine Bed, which is extremely dry and exposed to sun and wind.

Aster ericoides ‘Schneetanne’ has tiny flowers, but major impact. It looks as good as ever, especially from a distance, like a little cloud in front of the yellow Chrysopsis.

Finally, The ‘Edge. This bore the brunt of the hot winds we had in July and August, and although the Miscanthus suffered, most of the other plants bounced back in September.

The Calamagrostis took it in their stride and the Stipa gigantea has remained standing all this time and is still very present.

I have got my final planting done, and bulbs in pots and in the ground, so I finally had time to sit on my lovely lounger last weekend and dream about the perfect gardening year we will have next year… plenty of rain, but lots of sunshine too. No wind. No heatwaves. No thunderstorms or hail and lots of butterflies and bees! 😉

Do you grow asters? Which have flowered well for you?

I hope you are enjoying your October gardens too.

Happy gardening!

🐝🍁🐝

 

 

 

 

In a Vase on Monday: Water off a Duck’s Back

The Dog Days are here and the garden is now taking on its shabby look for high summer. But a few stars have been shining on regardless of the hot winds and strong sun, taking it all like the proverbial ‘water off a duck’s back’! So I decided to highlight these in my vase this week. If you are new to this blog, I join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden every Monday for this lovely meme, where we all find something from our gardens to share in a vase.

My little duck was given to me some years ago by a sales lady in a gift card shop, from her window display… such a kind gesture. 😃

First off, the Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’ which has appeared a couple of times recently on my blog. It is so blue, such a tough little plant and the bees love it. 😃

Perovskia. It doesn’t matter what the weather, this shrub comes back stronger by the year. The only thing you can do to hurt it here is to cut it back too hard before it has started showing new shoots in spring. (Or give it too much water and shade perhaps!) I used the stalwart P. ‘Blue Spire’.

Euphorbias. The tall Euphorbia seguieriana tends to flop, but I forgive it for the citrusy zing it adds to the garden. It refreshes and energizes just by looking at it. 😃 One stem I used here is Euphorbia cornigera ‘Goldener Turm’ which is still standing tall.

Gaura. The sun may singe flowers, but since they open new flowers on their long flower stalks daily this isn’t a problem. And they look lovely waving in a breeze/strong wind!

Echinacea. The only thing that might stop these flowering is the slugs in spring. But some of mine seem resistant to them too. The white one is ‘Fragrant Angel’ and is my tallest, at about a meter high. I also added a small pink E. ‘Pica Bella’.

Scabiosa. I cut them back after the initial flowering and they carry on flowering intermittently through the summer. Another bee magnet.

The grasses. I added a few stems of Calamagrostis, one of my favourite grasses at this time of year. With its defiant upright stance it faces the wind and sun like a real warrior. This one is C. Waldenbuch which has slightly paler seedheads than others.

Finally, I added some Daucus carota/Queen Anne’s Lace, which is growing wild absolutely everywhere this year, clearly enjoying the sunny weather.

Which plants take the summer heat or drought like water off a duck’s back in your garden? Do share!

And have a great week!

Summer Grasses

When planning my flower beds in this garden I wanted grasses. Lots of them. Ones that would sway in the wind, that would remain standing until late winter, that would provide cover for birds etc, and for the long flower bed I call The ‘Edge I wanted grasses that would grow tall enough to create the effect of a semi-hedge.  Miscanthus were of course on the list, but they take so long to reach any noticeable height and do not start flowering until August.

One that I chose for early flowering is Blue Oats Grass (Helictotrichon sempervivens ‘Saphirsprudel’). By mid-May it was about 60 cm tall and in flower. And here it is May 23rd…

… And at its full height (about 1.3m) June 1st…

Another early flowering grass is Stipa gigantea. Such a beautiful grass! It grew at roughly the same pace as the Oats Grass (but is somewhat taller at about 2 metres) and catches the light so well. Early evening light especially. 😃

In the Moon Bed I have Stipa capillata, which hasn’t made much impact yet but starts flowering in early June…

And this grass, Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Schottland’, which I think will have to be moved, as it has formed a very large clump already. It also started flowering at the end of May…

In various flower beds I have Stipa tenuissima, best planted in a windy position. (Which means almost every space in my garden! ) It is such a graceful grass.

It looks a bit drab until May, when it starts to produce fresh green, and the lovely seeds.

Another relatively early flowering grass is Calamagrostis. In my Butterfly Bed it is already taller than me. In more exposed beds it is only just starting to flower. This remains upright until mid winter, and provides some warm golden highlights in autumn.

And this year I have some small Briza.

Not sure if they are perennial, but hope they will seed around anyway. Probably the prettiest seedhead, but so hard to photograph!

Do you grow an ornamental grass that fills out early on in the year? Do share!

Thanks for reading, and happy gardening!

In a Vase on Monday: Hidden Gold

At the end of November, with a light sprinkling of snow, the idea of creating a vase with items from my garden would, just a few years ago, have been far from my mind. But then Cathy at Rambling in the Garden came up with her Monday meme and so, here is my contribution for this week. 😃

At a first glance, these grasses and seedheads look rather drab. But when I turned the light on to get some better photos this afternoon, I found hidden gold. 😉

See what I mean?

 

By the way, the little elk is Elvin. He is packed away after Christmas every year with all the other decorations and it is a happy reunion when I open up my boxes of bits and pieces! And the doiley is one I crocheted a couple of years ago. 😃

Do visit Cathy to see what she has found on an icy Monday in November. And have a lovely week!

❄️🌨❄️

In a Vase on Monday: A November Anniversary 2021

Cathy at Rambling in the Garden started up this lovely meme one day in November (!) 8 years ago now, and it has been part of my weekly routine for almost as long (I think I started contributing in the spring of 2014). Mondays are definitely not as drab as they used to be, and there have been weeks where all I have posted has been a vase, keeping this blog ticking over. So we are all celebrating this anniversary with her. Congratulations! And I am rising to the challenge Cathy has given us for today: to create a vase without using any fresh flowers.

😮

Well, actually, that might have been more of a challenge in June. 😉 But even in November there is still a lot to love in my garden. So here is what I put together for this week, which I hope conforms to the ‘rules’. 😊

The orange Geranium leaves against the pale pink vase rather appealed to me. Pink and orange is one of my favourite colour combinations. 😃 Although they are not dried, they are dry-ish!

Lighting was tricky… it was very dull and grey on Sunday afternoon, with freezing cold drizzle. I had to put a lamp on! Thankfully the sun is peeping through the clouds today.

Some Echinacea seedheads are still standing, and I also picked three Allium  ‘Millennium’ seedheads just before they start to disintegrate. The other additions are the still green Succisella seedheads and a few grasses from previous vases.

I hope you will visit Cathy in the course of today – you will find her latest vase and others linked in the comments section and I am sure you will agree how fascinating and inspiring it is to see what people around the globe are picking from their gardens.

Your Monday will be a little brighter for it! 😃

A big thank you to Cathy! xx

The Garden in November, 2021

The garden is still doing well in November, which somehow surprises me – but perhaps it is always so!

(I managed to get almost all the beds onto this one photo, taken from the terrace – albeit on Sunday 31 st October, so cheating a bit!)

Our first frost this year was October 10th, so a little later than previous years. Since then a few more have followed, so quite a few flowers have gone over now. But there is still loads of colour to cheer up these grey November days. 😃

Let’s start with the Butterfly Bed, sporting the Chrysanthemum ‘Anastasia’ I used in my vase the other day. It takes over from the adjacent pink Aster in mid October and will flower for another 2 or 3 weeks at least.

Another highlight in this bed is the leaves of perennial Geraniums changing colour… I like this unplanned combination with the lime green Euphorbia still looking lush.

At the back of the Butterfly Bed is my lovely ‘Red Chief’ Miscanthus. It isn’t as large as some, but from late October onwards the leaves and seedheads add some drama with their deep pinky red.

Moving across to the Oval Bed, two tall Miscanthus and the now faded Aster ‘September Ruby’ dominate. A mix of ground cover plants will provide winter interest for a month or two. I wonder if we will get much snow this winter….

The Miscanthus on the left is ‘Beth Chatto’, and the other one is ‘Federweißer’ – my favourite. To give you an idea of their size, the Aster is just short of 2 metres. I would recommend both Miscanthus, although my ‘Beth Chatto’ is a little later in gaining size and flowering than my others.

Beyond the Oval Bed is the Moon Bed, which was mostly planted in autumn last year and added to in the spring this year. Almost all the plants were in 9 cm pots, and still managed to put on so much growth, benefitting from the damp summer.

The colour scheme is white, cream and blue, drifting into purple. The white Aster ‘Ashvi’ and the Boltonia ‘Snowbank’, along with Aster ‘Barr’s Blue’ have kept this going into November, so I am pleased they seem to have settled in so well. Looking at it now I find it hard to believe that I could barely see the woodchip mulch only a few weeks ago. White Cosmos, Cleome and Gaura filled the spaces.

This Prickly Poppy, grown from seed, has flowered for months on end.

And naturally there are several grasses in this bed too. The Pennisetum is looking lovely at the moment.

Now a brief look at The ‘Edge, where my sunflowers were in the summer. The seeds were devoured in record time by the birds (and mice?!) and the remains are now on the compost heap. But there is still a lot of colour in this bed from plants like Cornus, Physocarpus and Pyracantha ‘Orange Charmer’.

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A small yellow Chrysanthemum also adds some sparkle late in the season. 😃

The Herb Bed is simply glowing with another Pennisetum and my Witch Hazel adding golden hues…

And finally the Sunshine Bed, which is very very dry due to the trees behind it, and yet the Helianthus did well and the Chrysopsis does not seem bothered even now…

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November is not such a bad month after all, as long as the sun keeps popping out every now and then! Still, I am glad I have managed to get all my spring bulbs in as it is rather chilly these days.

Hope you have plenty of mild and sunny days ahead now the nights are drawing in. Happy gardening and thanks for reading!

🤗