Resilience in the garden (part two)

Following on from my previous post, here are a few more plants which have done well during this hot and dry summer.  Above is Clematis heracleifolia Wyevvale, which is a perennial non-clingy herbaceous plant.  This one is in a pot, so it has been watered this summer, but I divided it in the Spring and put the division into the border and that has not had any extra water.  It has pretty blue/purple flowers and a scent which reminds me of soap.  Not unpleasant, just soapy.

This is Clemaris heracleifolia New Love which is in the border and had no extra water. It has flowered for a long time and is still going strong. 

I forgot to put this photo in my previous post - this is the back of a flower of Japanese Anemone Ruffled Swan - so pretty.

The ever reliable Asters or Symphyotrichum as they have been re-named (they will remain asters to me as it's much easier to say and spell!).  Above is Aster/Symphyotrichum novae-angliae September Ruby.  I love the helpful way their flower centres change colour once the pollen is gone.

Here is  Aster/Symphyotrichum novae-angliae Mrs S T Wright.  These two are great and don't get the powdery mildew that others may succumb to (yes, Aster/Symphyotrichum Little Carlow, I'm looking at you! To be fair, that plant is probably planted in the wrong place with not enough moisture at the roots...)

Liriope Muscari is the unsung hero in my north facing border. It is reliable, comes back every year, (needs dividing, but I am a bit worried about doing that in case it upsets it) and gives me the green strappy leaves to enjoy as well as these purple flower spires at this time of year.  

The flowers are really interesting too. 

Hydrangea Arborescens Annabelle, my favourite hydrangea, who usually appears on this blog at least once a year, will not be making an appearance. The heat and lack of water did her no favours and she is a shadow of her former self.  I may have to address that for next year...

Resilience in the garden (part one)

 It has been another hot summer (for the UK), with very little rain.  I have again been surprised by the resilience of some plants, so here's the ones that have done well, with either no or very little extra water. 

I know that cyclamen hederifolium are late summer/autumn flowering anyway, but they are very reliable plants.

The japanese anemones have done well, also late summer flowering plants.  Above from left, going clockwise are Pretty Lady Susan, Ruffled Swan, Bressingham Glow and Pretty Lady Maria.  Bressingham Glow has been flowering since July.

(Photo collages created with https://www.photojoiner.com/ )

Salvias have also done well.  Three of these are in pots and the Salvia Amistad (top left) came through the winter. Hot Lips (top right) is ubiquitous, but rightly so. I bought it for the allotment, but am thinking I may keep it! The white one (bottom right) is one I bought about a month ago.  Peach Sorbet (bottom left) is planted in the border and has coped pretty well in a very dry border. 

Helianthus Lemon Queen is a reliable, tough plant but can be a bit of a thug, although it hasn't been in this garden.  It is very happy now that the big rose bush has gone and is looking good.

Finally for this post is a Hibiscus. This is planted in the sunniest (and driest) part of the garden and has been flowering for over a month now. It hasn't had any extra water. This particular plant is the triple one, bu I have only seen two different varieties this year - a pink and this white/pink one. The flowers look so delicate and exotic but it is a tough shrub.  More good value, reliable and resilient plants in my next post. 

Slow Drawing journal - double page spreads

Following on from my previous blog post about slow drawing, I have been working on a journal to put some of my slow drawing pieces into for a little while now. It's one of those things that I do every now and again.  There are lots of interactive bits, like flaps, doors, pockets, windows etc, but I have a number of double page spreads that I would like to decorate without any of these, as the journal is getting quite chunky!  So I decided to use some of my favourite patterns.  Above is Poppy.

If I have the name of the pattern, I will add it in. This is Burst.  I really enjoy slow drawing as it uses minimal supplies (watercolour card, pen, ink, watercolours) and the whole point is to slow down and concentrate on what you are doing.

This doesn't have a name, just marks made with a paintbrush.  

Here is Blossom. I really enjoy patterns like this with lots of repetitive lines.

This is one of my own patterns, although no doubt influenced by other slow drawing patterns.

Here is Crowd, which took me about three or four sessions to complete as I needed to rest my eyes often.  It does look really good though.

This is Artichoke.  I enjoyed how this pattern seemed to move depending how I drew the shapes.

This was a Youtube video pattern and I am not sure what the name is.

Here is a bigger version of the Dot one I did for the Smallest Things challenge.

Finally, we have Holes, done with a nice fat Quill brush, which gave the thin and thicker lines.  It reminds me of water drops.

I still have another eight double pages to fill, so I shall keep going!