Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
A cousin to the common roadside mullein, this is an unusual and showy plant for the well-drained sunny border. Green leaves are held in a low rosette, bearing tall upright spikes with delicate blooms of soft apricot orange with a magenta eye. May require staking. Remove faded blooms to encourage more buds. Needs good drainage,…
Continue reading ➞ Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Clementine!
Wisteria, trained as standards - show stopping specimens, filling the air with rich, peppery perfume. Spirit-lifting indeed.
Geum Mrs J Bradshaw Ursula Buchan to the rescue again, writing in The Telegraph on 7th June 2003, with far more information than I could pithily relate on this charming perennial. No biography of Mrs B though. Some plants just have everything that a gardener could require: good looks, long flowering season, trouble-free personality and…
Continue reading ➞ But who is Mrs J Bradshaw?
Name: Clematis 'The President' Hardy: Fully hardy Height: 3 metres (10ft) Flowers: RHS Award of Garden Merit. Bred by Charles Noble in 1876, clematis 'The President' is a hybrid between C. x jackmanii and C. patens. The deep purple flowers (do not easily fade in the sun) are 15cm (6in) with silver on the reverse…
Continue reading ➞ Clematis, The President
Hosta 'Liberty' Now I am taking text from another source, but superlatives aside, find little to fault in the description, except for the reference to Hummingbirds, which in London at least, is a stretch. The extraordinarily thick, dark green leaves of Hosta 'Liberty' are edged with an astonishingly wide, golden yellow border, changing to cream in…
Continue reading ➞ Hummingbird friendly..
“We are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by which the universe understands itself.” Brian Cox. Ah. Wrong 'Cosmos'... That other Cosmos is one of my very favourite 'filler' summer-flowering annuals - I used it last year in the newly planted borders of the Roehampton garden, where it quickly provided colour and…
A very lovely tender (half-hardy) climber, the Morning Glory, Ipomoea Star of Yelta, with the most intense blue trumpet flowers. Not bindweed, but in the same family, Convolvulaceae. In the summer, it can be used as an annual climber on walls, fences, over arches, or as ground cover. The large flower buds open to reveal deep…
Continue reading ➞ Love me tender..
Sometimes, you just have to work with what you've got. In this case, a new delivery of flowering alliums, Pinball Wizard, and a background provided by our Biffa refuse skips... Works for me. http://www.thegardencentregroup.co.uk/item/Herbaceous-Perennials/Pinball-Wizard/VBQ
The Teddington Gardener 