Sunday 16 June 2013

A Floriferous post

 Here are a few of the current stars in the garden.  Above is anemone multifida rubra which I bought from a market stall last year. It just had seed heads on it so I was curious to see what the flowers would look like.  It has lovely ferny foliage with tall stems, topped by these small but beautifully formed, brilliant cerise flowers.
 This was sold as gladiolus byzantinus, but I am not sure it is.  It is a graceful plant and I put a few of these in last autumn so am pleased to see them flowering now.
 A crumpled cistus flower.
 Two clematis flowers (I can't remember which variety this is, but I do know it is a patio type).  I really need to pot it on a bit!
 Allium Oreophilum, which was included in a bulb pack and which I really like.  It isn't very tall and was unceremoniously planted in a pot last autumn with grape hyacinths and crocuses.
 My first Gertrude Jekyll rose of this year.  It smells wonderful!
 The astrantias have done really well, despite such a cold spring and being planted in a dry spot.
 Allium Christophii, just starting to flower.
 Allium Gladiator.
A self seeded love in a mist.
Clematis Ice Blue.
Oriental Poppy Checkers, which is tantalisingly close to flowering, but just needs a bit more sun (but then, don't we all?) 
I do enjoy watching and recording the constant ebb and flow of the plants.

Just a little addition (17th June 2013):
As I don't know what will happen with the list of blogs I follow in July when Google is going to retire something or other, which may or may not cause problems for us bloggers - you may be able to tell that I'm not really technology minded(!) and I really don't know what effect, if any, it may have - I have finally decided to join Bloglovin'.  Several bloggers I follow have done that too and said it was easy and was a kind of insurance policy against Google's changes.
I had some techno-phobe challenges to be overcome on the way, but I think I have done it. The link is here, if you would like to follow feltabulous with Bloglovin'. I think I have also managed to add a follow button down to the left under the housework image. Hope it works! I am not on facebook, so if something pops up about joining when you go to the Bloglovin' site, please don't feel you have to sign up.
(This slight worry about blog lists may, of course, turn out to be totally unnecessary, but I won't know until after 1st July.  Google really haven't made it clear what the effects will be.) 

8 comments:

  1. Oh, Ellie, I was about to do a blog post about what is flowering in my garden at the moment, but its not very much compared to yours! However, I've only been here for a year, so it will no doubt improve with time. I think I would love to visit your garden, and you remember all the names, too (or do you write them down).
    Joy xx

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    1. Dear Joy
      Thank you. I have to focus on individual plants because my garden is small and rather unkempt and it would take about two minutes to look around! I have crammed it with plants, being completely obsessive about them, and so I usually can find something flowering away happily to look at. I do write the names down (the obsessive thing again!) as I have a garden journal (sadly neglected and needing serious updating for most of this year) and if I have forgotten what the plant is called, a look on the internet usually helps me to find it again.
      Your garden is a really young one - I have been messing about with mine for 20 years (that is so hard to believe - we have been here for 20 years!)
      Best wishes and enjoy your gardening too.
      Ellie

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  2. I love your garden Ellie, wish I could see it in real life and smell those pretty flowers! Love from Mirjam.

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    1. Dear Mirjam
      Thank you. The rose in particular smells wonderful! As I replied to Joy, I'm not sure that my garden is that impressive in real life; small and messy is the best description, but in photographs, it can look lovely! However, I love it and enjoy spending time out in it.
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  3. My garden is a tiny rectangle but I do love the things in it. Today I was startled, when I opened my blinds, to see, behind my glorious Irises, a huge red Poppy. I was expecting it to be the large pink as the red one was frozen last year; but a seed must have popped to a different place and it has please me so much.

    Your flowers are rather fabulous aren't they?

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    1. Dear Toffeeapple
      Thank you. I love the way the garden can throw surprises at you. Your huge red poppy sounds wonderful. I don't have much red in my garden, although later on, my Penstemon Garnet and Clematis Rouge Cardinal may help. I really would love to have a bigger garden so that I could give the plants more room. As the raised borders are pretty full, I have used containers all over the place too, wherever I can squash them in, (much to Chris' distress when he falls over them while trying to walk/sidle/edge very cautiously down the path!)
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  4. You are so good at knowing all the names of your plants, Ellie! Were you a head gardener in a past life?? We have some poppies just on the cusp of opening and I'm dying to see them fully flower. x

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    1. Dear Gillian
      Thank you. I don't think I was a head gardener in a past life, judging from the mess in my garden - no head gardener worth his salt would allow that! I think my love of plant names was instilled by my granny who used to collect me from the bus and walk the two miles or so back home, telling me the names of all the wild flowers, shrubs and trees we passed. My love of journals/diaries also extends to gardening and I do write the names of the plants in the journal. Other than that, I think I have a good memory for things I am interested in/obsessed by!
      My white poppies have just opened today which I am really pleased by because they were looking as though they would go all mushy in the buds, due to the rain and not enough sun. I'll post a photo.
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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