Plant Therapy 🤣

I blame it on Frank. And Kimberley. A conspiracy of winter-weary gardeners encouraging me to go on a spending spree at the garden centre. (Thanks Frank! Thanks Kimberley! 😆)

In case you are wondering what I am talking about, Kimberley of Cosmos and Cleome recently posted here about the Ten Days of Plantness; a new holiday that Frank at Sorta Like Suburbia had apparently invented (See here and here). Frank confessed a few days later (he even baked a cake to celebrate!) and I must admit I was easily persuaded to join in. The idea was, to buy ten plants in the ten days between January 12th and 21st in order to prevent winter sticking around for much longer. Well, I missed the deadline, but a trip to the garden centre (now open again after a winter break) was bound to happen sooner or later. And the sight of all these tiny violas when I got there was magical – and the scent of them too!

I am not terribly successful with houseplants and have managed to kill, or at least severely damage several this winter through overwatering or neglect. Greenfly then whitefly invested several pots and I fear they will not survive the spraying with soapy water. So some replacements were definitely necessary. Does this sound like I am trying to justify spending xx euros (the cost of a meal out for two perhaps)?

Anyway, here is what I got….

First of all, an Aloe. I’ve got one already and haven’t managed to kill it off yet, so I am assuming this may be a good idea to stick with what I know. Yes, that is ivy next to the Aloe… it will never make it into the garden, but it will be added to an outdoor container in spring. Various violas and primulas also jumped into my shopping trolley, including the beautiful pale lavender/white one you can see above, a yellow one…

…and this gorgeous frilly pink one. 🩷

Then this beautiful pink flower caught my eye. I have never seen one before and do not usually buy such big and rather pricey plants. But this really appealed to me…

It is a Dendrobium ‘Berry Oda’. It will go where the Christmas cactus (that didn’t flower again) stood. The cactus clearly needs a new location… any tips welcome.

In the background you can see a bunch of pink tulips, tinged with creamy yellow. One broke while I was arranging them, but not to worry, I bought a new vase (😆) which was perfect…

Next to the vase above is a teeny weeny African Violet. Not sure how long it will last as it really is minute, but I will do my best. And the green plant next to it is called a Caribbean Chlorophytum Comosum ‘Bonnie’. Completely new to me but will look good in the spot where my Poinsettia stood over Christmas and New Year. (Don’t ask… Poinsettias never seem to survive longer than six weeks here).

And finally a small pot of Muscari and a white Cyclamen. I have several dormant Cyclamen at the moment. (At least, I hope they are only dormant!) but none in flower. I love white ones as they really brighten up a grey day.

I think I actually ended up with more than ten plants. 🤣

The only disappointment was that the garden centre had no Hellebores worth buying. They had clearly been neglected in their pots during the winter closure and were almost beyond saving. I expect some new stock will appear soon though, and I will just have to go again! 😉

Have you been to a garden centre recently? Or bought a new plant?

Have a good week

and

Happy (indoor) Gardening!

🌷🌷🌷

In a Vase on Monday: Glorious Globes

This Monday, after a week off, I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden again for her weekly vase meme. And I decided to choose a global theme today – literally!

Globes.

After all the hot and harsh winds over the past few weeks, with no rain in sight, the flower beds are literally disintegrating. But this has meant structure is playing more of a role, and I have noticed a lot of round shapes in both flowers and seedheads.

Firstly an Allium seedhead and the fresh Allium ‘Millenium’ which is the latest flowering one I have found. I also added a Nigella seedhead (slightly oval), and a sedum – also much rounder in form before actually flowering.

And the Echinops of course – a perfect globe. The orange seed heads of Gaillardia too.

Then the Succisella inflexa ‘Frosted Pearl’ (which is very drought tolerant) and the seedhead of Scabiosa perfecta.

(The grass I added is my current favourite: Deschampsia ‘Schottland’. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but have slowly fallen in love with it!)

The Scabiosa close up is quite remarkable…

Naturally I used a globe shaped vase and found a prop to match too….

This ‘marble’ came from the Kugelmühle (‘Marble Mill’) near Berchtesgaden in the German Alps, right on the border to Austria. Founded in the seventeenth century, this mill ground stones to perfect globes, which were sold as marbles – toys for children – exported via Rotterdam and London to all over the world. There were in fact many such mills in the region in past centuries. This particular mill is still working, and is a lovely spot for a walk in a shady ravine on a hot summer’s day. And there is of course a beer garden for a refreshing drink too! Aah, nice memories of holidays in the mountains!

Have a good week, and stay cool! 😎

Happy Easter 2020!

Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Easter.

🌷🌷🌷

Wordless Wednesday: Danube Gorge

A Brief Summer Update

Hello dear friends! I know I have been silent for a while and do apologise! As several people have asked, I thought I would just briefly interrupt my blogging break to post a few photos – all is fine, but we have moved to our country house to care for our hedgerow shrubs and trees which were planted in April. Needless to say, the weather has been challenging; temperatures were in the mid to upper twenties all through May and June, rising into the thirties in July, and we have hardly a drop of rain for months. So watering is the main activity here – mostly at night to avoid the heat. No rain forecast for the near future and the heat goes on…

Back at my garden things look fine. Only a couple of hours of care over the last two months and it is still bearing up well in the heat and drought. This is the Perovskia mid July in all its glory.

Thank goodness my rockery doesn’t need watering!

Here is the Perovskia again a couple of days ago… fading a little, but that isn’t bothering the bees. The Scabiosa ochroleuca is wonderful again, but one of my favourite plants in this view is the Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’.

I hope you all have a wonderful August. I will try and catch up with all your posts I have missed very soon!

😀

The Nepal Himalaya Park

Last week we had a bank holiday here in Bavaria – Ascension Day. This meant that an ideal spot for meeting up with friends would be open… the Nepal Himalaya Park near Regensburg.

I have never visited a garden in Germany that captivated me quite like this one! It is most certainly not a traditional ‘show garden’, where plants are placed for effect and labelled with care. No, this was more of a plant fanatic’s paradise, a playground for the owner of the park to see what he can grow, with a mostly oriental theme; a little chaotic, quite wild in places, but absolutely charming in my eyes!

The Nepal Himalaya Pavillon

Photo from the Pavillon website: http://www.nepal-himalaya-pavillon.de

The garden is set into a south-facing hillside in part of a former quarry, and the main ‘attraction’ which inspired it is the Himalaya Pavillon. This temple was actually the Nepalese exhibit at the Expo 2000 in Hanover. It was painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt here in its new home. The garden then arose around it a few years later, so is still relatively young.

My photos are not brilliant as I used my mobile phone, but I think you can get the idea of what the temple looks like surrounded by enormous trees, rhododendrons and azaleas.

I was so pleasantly surprised when I walked through the gate, as it was not at all what I had expected. Along with the traditional perennials, native wild flowers and many herbs there were a lot of unusual plants unknown to me, which I had to look up when I got home. So if you see I have made a mistake, please feel free to correct me!

Only recently I had looked up Amsonia, when Jason from Garden in a City mentioned them. Then there they were – the first flower I laid my eyes on and the first time I had seen one.

Amsonia illustris

I found the foliage particularly striking.

As we walked down a slope past a pond, I noticed Anthericum everywhere, along with patches of blue Corydalis and various Euphorbias.

Anthericum

Blue Corydalis

Euphorbia

This plant kept popping up too… I believe it is a type of Echium, although I personally only know the blue sort that grows by the roadsides here.

Echium amoenum

The Japanese garden didn’t do much for me, but as we passed that we came to a shadier area where hostas and ferns were thriving…

Japanese Garden

‘Shangri La’

Lady’s Slipper

Yellow iris, pale pink poppies and…?

Hostas and Ferns

I wonder if anyone can tell me what the tall plant is between the yellow irises and poppies… It looks kind of familiar.

Along the way there were small temples, bells and a prayer wheel – all original pieces shipped from Nepal. But I was focussed on the plants!

Lilac

The newest part of the garden is the Chinese Garden – it is very wild, overrun with native wild flowers, but still managing to make quite an impact with the wooden bridges and gateways placed at intervals and the setting itself in the rockiest part of the old quarry is fairly dramatic…

Chinese Garden

Finally, the plant of the day: Lupins!

On our way home we noticed blue ones growing by the roadsides – something we don’t see in our valley at home.

The website is unfortunately all in German, but there is a virtual tour of the garden here, navigable without any language.

And should you ever visit this part of the world, I would definitely recommend this to serious plant lovers! What kind of gardens do you like to visit best – wild and weedy or formal and tidy? 😉

In a Vase on Monday: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you!

I am joining the now famous Monday meme hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden: A single Amaryllis flower (Lemon Star) in a cocktail glass seemed to capture the spirit of New Year yesterday. The accompanying mini Sekt bottle is empty…. 😉

I hope you had a lovely break over Christmas and are refreshed and ready to start the new gardening year with optimism. It is still frozen here, with a light sprinkling of snow, so my garden will be slumbering a little longer.

Have a good week and a good start to the new year 2017!