I missed last week. Well Him upstairs decided to deliver a deluge of rain and I wasn’t going to risk committing the camera to an inundation episode. A broken pair of glasses added to the general confusion as did the developing process leading to ending up with one tooth less than I started the week with.
But not to worry. I’m back this week with a variation on a theme – some “things” rather than just pretty plants. Sorry I’m a bit late. It’s surprising how long it can take to put things right after you’ve posted something to the wrong blog!
It’s dahlia time again. This one is called “Electric Flash”. When I bought an off-the-shelf selection of cactus types, I had no idea what this would look like but I’m pretty pleased with it.
This is one of my things – a pain in the a***! The other side of the fence is effectively “no man’s land” and a mass of bramble, blackthorn and who knows what else. Every year, in late winter, I hack back the invading overgrowth to about a yard behind the fence and about two feet below the top. And every year, by mid August, it’s regrown. This year it’s gone ballistic. Methinks next year it’ll be time to remove a stretch of the fence and get behind it to chop the growth down to ground and a bit further back from the boundary. Or maybe use napalm?
Another dahlia, this time “Bishop of Oxford”. I knew what this one would look like. I find the orange against the dark leaves very attractive, even if it’s turned out a bit floppy. It was a small tuber and is its first year in the ground. Maybe next year it’ll stand up. And maybe by next week the remaining bishop, of Llandaff, will have got over its surprise at becoming a female bishop and get round to flowering.
I’ve been invaded! This is one of the wall planters I’ve put up all round the house. Each has a few multi-sown plugs of Lobelia “Monsoon” in them. With about 6 plants to each plug that works out at about 360 Lobelia plants. I’m a stickler for colours being right where I want them to be. But there’s always one rebel! This isn’t Lobelia Monsoon though I think I prefer the colour to the “true” blue. But I don’t know what the variety is or, indeed, if it is available as a single colour. Damn and blast!
Not sure about this. Lavatera “Barnsley Baby”. I’ve always liked Lavatera but the trouble with them is that they grow big and then suddenly die, leaving you with one hell of a digging out job. This variety is a fairly new introduction and is intended for patio containers. Size-wise, I’m happy but the promise of excellent first-year flowering hasn’t really been kept. And it’s not the stiff upright promised either, flopping over almost to horizontal. I tangled the stems a bit together to get them to stand up for this photograph. Just after, there was a puff of breeze and they all flopped over again. Ideally, container plants should stand up properly on their own. Having to add supports makes the container look ugly. Still I’d already moved this one from the patio to the edge of the woodland area where it doesn’t look so bad. I’ll see how it does next year.
This is another “eeek” thing! I dug the pond out about 18 years ago. In all that time I’ve never had any blanket- or duck-weed. This year, all of a sudden, the shallow-planting end has got it big time. I wonder why. No new plant introductions that might have carried it in and you may notice that the weed infestation ends sharply at the end of the planting area and the water on the right is quite clear, save for a rogue bit of grass that’s popped up, As everything’s in pond planters, it should be fairly easy to lift it all out and clean it off. Fingers crossed that roots haven’t spread between the containers though if they have, my Niwaki Hori-Hori (sorry, product placement there) will make short work of them.
So there we are. If you’re into reading blogs, you might like to have a look at my blog list web site. There’s a link to it up a bit on the right of the window. Someone has suggested that a memes page would be a useful addition so I’ll be working on that over the coming weeks. You can bet your bottom dollar that this meme will be first on that page.
Thanks to The Propagator for hosting this meme. You’ll find his contribution and lots of links to others over at his blog.
Your wall planters are amazing, I like the rebel, and it compliments the other colours beautifully. Also The Bishop is lovely, I am fond of a dark leaved dahlia. I bought an unnamed one from Aldi early in the year and it has become a dark pink beauty. One to keep, definitely!
Thank you, kind madame! The effect is down not so much to me (although everything in them is home grown from seed or plugs) but to the genius who designed the planters. Must write a review and get everyone buying them. And Llandaff has decided to bud. I’m hoping for next Saturday …
I missed last week. Well Him upstairs decided to deliver a deluge of rain and I wasn’t going to risk committing the camera to an inundation episode. A broken pair of glasses added to the general confusion as did the developing process leading to ending up with one tooth less than I started the week with.
Your wall planters are amazing, I like the rebel, and it compliments the other colours beautifully. Also The Bishop is lovely, I am fond of a dark leaved dahlia. I bought an unnamed one from Aldi early in the year and it has become a dark pink beauty. One to keep, definitely!
Thank you, kind madame! The effect is down not so much to me (although everything in them is home grown from seed or plugs) but to the genius who designed the planters. Must write a review and get everyone buying them. And Llandaff has decided to bud. I’m hoping for next Saturday …