Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
A curious time just now, with daffodils flowering brightly next to equally blooming Lavender (the dark arts of the nursery trade), primroses next to summer darlings such as the osteospermum with spoon-shaped petals. Not long ago these South African daisies were an unusual feature but they are a common bedding plant today from spring onwards…
Continue reading ➞ Beautifully mad – Osteospermum Whirligig
Magnolia Black Tulip, a hybrid raised by Mark Jury in New Zealand and released in 1998. It was selected out of 150 seedlings that were grown from a cross between Magnolia Vulcan and Magnolia Iolanthe. The colour of the flower is an exceptionally dark ruby-red, with a large goblet shaped blossom. The foliage is dark…
Continue reading ➞ Magnolia Black Tulip
A very beautiful ranunculus, quite gorgeous. One for a container display. Make it sophisticated with black grass, ophiopogon Nigrescens maybe, or brighten things up with other ranunculus, neon oranges and pinks.
Hailing from Northern Turkey, Fritillaria michaelovskyi is a bulbous perennial with delightful, nodding, dark purple-brown flowers with distinctive yellow tipped tepals. There is a diamond pattern to the flowers, though apparent only when looking inside these little bells, with the light shining through. In matters of scale, the tepals are between 20-30mm long, on stems…
Continue reading ➞ Fritillaria michaelovskyi
Such an extravagant place, Petersham Nurseries, a short walk across the water meadows from the River Thames, near Richmond. Items of immense beauty, artisan crafts and heights of sheer luxury - cheek by jowl with plunder from the skips of the Mediterranean and all conjured up into a heady mix of bohemian rapture. It never…
Continue reading ➞ Petersham Nurseries – Pure escapism
Another image of this beautiful little pasque flower, Pulsatilla vulgaris from the Pinwheel series. Rarely can I settle on just one image which captures by itself, what I like about a particular subject... and so rather than the previous 'profile' image, but showing off stigmas and stamens inside the silky-hairy bell shaped flowers, the finely…
Continue reading ➞ Pulsatilla Pinwheel Series II
Our common cowslip, Primula veris, is looking delicious at the moment, with nodding, fragrant, deep yellow flowers. I have a book which recommends pickling the flower-buds (in layers, with distilled vinegar and a little sugar) for use as a piquant chutney. Hmmn. Another little beauty is this scented viola, Columbine, which stands no more than…
Continue reading ➞ A little afternoon sunshine and three plants, small in stature but big on impact
While bemoaning the prolonged period of cold which has beset the country this year to date and putting on my deeply rose-tinted spectacles for the thoughts of better years past.... I am reminded that April 2012 was the coldest April since 1989, the dullest since 1998 and the wettest since 2000. More remarkably, it was…
Continue reading ➞ April showers….
Prunus Kursar. I've posted about this particular tree before, though the picture I was using was from 2012. This image was taken a few days ago. Flowering ornamental cherries are a fine sight in the spring, though this year, few specimens are giving any hint of the show to come. They can be excellent specimen…
Continue reading ➞ Cherry Blossom Time
The Teddington Gardener 