Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
Above - the lipstick pink of Paeonia Honor, with an unnamed white form, below Below - Paeonia officinalis subsp. officinalis Above and below - Paeonia rockii subsp. atrava Above, Paeonia clusii Above - Paeonia officinalis subsq. officinalis against Iris Red Zinger (also below) Two unnamed Iris Below - actually tinted more lilac in reality, and…
Continue reading ➞ Iris and Peony at Kew Gardens – positively glowing on a damp Thursday afternoon
This time last year, nothing. Barely a bud, nothing even closely resembling a flower. The month-long Sub-Zero ºC that was March 2013 put back the roses until July. This year, after a mild winter and some early sunshine (and the possibility of a long warm summer), I think it will be a good year for…
A jaunt around the Duke's Garden at Kew - the Arum Lilies in the last entry are to be found here, in some shade and immensely happy. As indeed are all the herbaceous plantings here. I remember the searing quality of the Hemerocallis Burning Daylight - brighter even than the Geums here and in great…
Continue reading ➞ Delighting in the Duke’s Garden at Kew
A chance to stop off at Kew Gardens this afternoon - between rain showers happily - and to see what surprises there might be (for there are always surprises in these very varied gardens). Having paid up for an annual membership (given that they need the money and since I haven't found my way back…
Continue reading ➞ Glorious Zantedeschia in the Duke’s Garden at Kew
Poppy, rock rose (the pink Cistus), climbing rose Cecile Brunner and a large shrub rose (and I will look up a name for you!) Out-and-about today and just a few pictures this time...
We’re coming into the Rose Season and I thought I should refresh my memory by re-reading this piece on Fragrance… I hope you don’t mind the repetition.
Jude the Obscure – with a strong citrus scent, fruity, with guavas and white wine
This article is by Robert Calkin, originally published in The Royal National Rose Society Historic Rose Journal Autumn 2013. If you are not a member of the Historic Rose Group, articles such as these are just one reason to join! All the photography is mine.
The weather this afternoon is so foul, I’ve enjoyed the excuse and opportunity to transcribe the article and choose a few photographs from my ‘back catalogue’ to brighten my day.
The description of fragrance is fraught with difficulty. To begin with there is no definitive vocabulary of smell in common use, as there is for example for colour; we can only describe a fragrance by association. But this in itself raises a problem in that people have both different perceptions of small and different associations based on past experience…
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An unnamed perlargonium in the glasshouse at Petersham - giving me the thought I should check on the scented perlargoniums at home - and maybe add to them? And so, giving the camera a clean this morning and having a look around. Scented Pelargoniums (Smellie Pellies) from the Fibrex stand at the last RHS Spring…
Continue reading ➞ Smellie Pellies Rule, OK!
The buttercups are gilding the water meadows but in amongst the trees, cow parsley is Queen - well Queen Anne's Lace - Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris Cow Parsley is a hollow-stemmed, tall plant that grows rapidly in the summer before dying back. It likes shady habitats in particular, and can be found decorating woodland edges,…
Continue reading ➞ If you go down to the woods today… a regal study in light and shade
A rather beautiful rose in bloom today - as it is in the gardens of Petersham House - but a chance here to study it up close. Large-flowered climber Origin -Nabonnand, 1903 Parentage - 'La France de '89' x 'Mme. Marie Lavalley' Color - Pink & white blend/gold stamens Foliage - Medium green Thorns -…
Continue reading ➞ Lady Waterlow – a perfect rose for a pillar, post or low fence…
The Teddington Gardener 