Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
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
On this first day of spring, with a gusty southerly wind blowing along the Thames, an opportunity to call into Ham House & Gardens. We've been neighbours since moving to Teddington in 2000 and the gardens are a familiar haunt - but it was only last year that the interiors were explored. They are a…
Continue reading ➞ Ham House & Gardens
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
Paeonia mascula subsp. russoi has lovely large, violet-pink flowers over greyish green biternate leaves. It comes mainly from Mediterranean islands, from Spain to western Greece. It is sometimes labelled P. russii, but the name russoi is correct, and refers to a Sicilian botanist, Father Joachim Russo. It has also been called P. corallina var.…
Continue reading ➞ Species paeonie at Wisley
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
A glorious sight in full flower, forming a large open, evergreen tree with fern-like glaucous to silvery foliage. Fragrant racemes of spherical yellow flower heads from winter through to spring. Coming from Australia and New Zealand, mimosas need a sheltered site, in full sun, but can still be caught out by prolonged cold and wet.…
Continue reading ➞ Acacia dealbata (Mimosa, Silver Wattle)
The trademark chequered markings to the nodding flower heads of this bulbous perennial, most often this purple/pink colouration, though sometimes white, held singly or paired, with slim linear leaves. Best naturalised in grass. I seem to recall planting, in a pot or two, last Autumn, Fritillaria michailovskyi AGM. I ought to look these out, to…
Continue reading ➞ Fritillaria meleagris (Snake’s head fritillary)
The Teddington Gardener 