Purple in the garden

 

 The vibrant colours of the tulips have gone, to be replaced with delicate shades of lilac and purple.  Above, Clematis Ice Blue starts to unravel its petals, showing just the faintest hint of lilac/blue.

 The alliums are in flower and looking wonderful (they always seem to flower for Chelsea Flower Show week!)

 They are amazing in close up too...

These alliums (Christophii, I think but am not sure) are just starting to explode into life.

 Reliable and beautiful geranium Rozanne (complete with a coups of aphids - yuck- which are plaguing my roses and pretty much everything else at the moment.

 Here's a more tropical flower.  It's more on the pink side than purple, but I am delighted because it is flowering for the second time!  I am not that good with house plants, so when my Mum gave me this orchid, I was rather concerned.  I put it in the bathroom because I thought it would like the humidity and I think it does.  It probably needs a bit of food now though.

Nothing to do with actual flowers, but I was intrigued by the pattern the sun made shining through the net curtain this morning. It has been lovely to enjoy the sun, but all my pots now need watering!

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.) 

Raindrops on roses...and clematis and pinks and snapdragon and everything!

 Oh my goodness, this rain!  It seems to have been raining for at least a month and although everything looks lush and green, the weight of the water is starting to make the flowers look bedraggled.  Before it all turns to some revolting mush, I took some photos of some of the plants I have flowering at the moment, despite the rain.  Above is a Gladioli plant which I planted last year and promptly forgot about, only to be surprised and pleased by its appearance this year.

 Rosa Gallica Versicolor (Rosa Mundi).

 Clematis 'Perle D'Azur'.

 Snapdragon 'Black Prince'.

 Rosa 'Molineux'.

Clematis 'Ice White'.

 Rosa 'Constance Spry'.

Dianthus 'Coconut Ice' to finish with, flowering bravely in difficult conditions.
 I know we are never satisfied with our weather here in the UK, but it really seems to have gone a little crazy this summer.  At this very moment, it is sunny, with dark grey clouds in the distance and with temperatures of at least 21degrees centigrade and high humidity.  Not conducive to a good night's sleep, I think.

Midsummer blues - or should that be pinks?

 Here we are, at Midsummer.  Drought conditions have now been lifted in this area and parts of the North are under flood warnings - just a typical English summer.  However, I am pleased to say that my garden is doing well, despite the rain and wind and occasional sun.  Above is Poppy 'Checkers' which I grew from seed and is now in its second year.  The flowers aren't quite as big as they were last year, but still delight me.

 Clematis 'Ice Blue' with a hint of lilac on the petals...

 ...contrasted with Clematis 'Rouge Cardinal' and its deep luscious velvety tones.

 Cistus pulverentus 'Sunset', with a fiery glow.

 R. 'Rosa Mundi' which combines the pale and vibrant pinks to great effect.

 The delicate pastel pinks of R. 'Blush Noisette', which has small sprays of ruffled flowers...

 ...and R. Cottage Rose continues this pale theme, but with larger flowers.

Finally, R. 'New Dawn', with a flush of pale apricot amongst the soft pink.  Midsummer is a lovely time of year, despite the vagaries of the weather.

Clematis seed heads

The title to this post doesn't in itself sound very interesting. However, when I went out in the garden this morning, I was amazed by the beautiful patterns and textures within the seed heads.

These are all from the same plant - Clematis Ice Blue, I think - and the swirling shapes that the seed makes really caught my attention.

The seed head above has the most wonderful feathery texture and looks completely different from the one above it.

This one falls somewhere between the two but still has its own beauty with curving lines and feathery texture. These seed heads have stayed on the plant throughout the winter so far and there is evidence of the plant beginning to bud further down the stem. On a bright and sunny albeit cold day, nature amazes me once again.