Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
August has already given us some glorious sunshine and plenty of beautifully warm days - and while there may be a little rain (OK, a lot of rain coming) - this is a combination that our plants will absolutely love. True, the evenings are that little bit shorter now and this signals a change in…
Continue reading ➞ Your garden in August – a few thoughts …
Firstly a few from home this evening - I'm particularly pleased with the lilies in the front garden, wafting their intoxicating fragrance for weeks now - and the bright blue Campanula Blue Octopus, flowering for over a month. Then (below) more from my day at Petersham Nurseries. Plenty of colour as we move into midsummer…
The double mixed/herbaceous borders at RHS Wisley in Surrey. A grand symphony! And there is still more to come, with asters just flushing into life to add more rich blue, vioet and purple to the mix. And in the adjacent Country Garden, just as much going on this early September. If you haven't been to…
Continue reading ➞ Heroic herbaceous planting at RHS Wisley – early autumn fireworks
Anemone hupehensis praecox (above) and Bressingham Glow (below) Dahlia Cornish Ruby (below) New from David Austin for 2014/15, their repeat flowering Rambler rose, Lady of the Lake. Love it. (below) Astrantia Roma, against a background of Agastache (above) Caryopteris Dark Knight (below), a very useful sub-shrub, with long-lasting blue flowers and silvery foliage. A mecca…
Continue reading ➞ Evening sunshine – exploring some cooler tones for the late summer border
If a picture paints a thousand words, there is at least a novella here and so I'll let the photographs do the talking. (These images are 'reverse engineered' from the larger Facebook Album referred to in a recent post - the originals are still hiding in the computer...) These pictures catalogue my September 2011 visit…
Continue reading ➞ Autumn at Great Dixter
Penstemon Dark Towers A change from the usual Penstemon, not so much on account of the flowers though they are delightful, but for the dark tints to the leaves and the branching habit of the stems. A wholly beautiful combination. Not as dark, perhaps, as the sticky toffee pudding I've just had, but just as…
Continue reading ➞ Dark Towers
Dinner Plate - Who Dun It Setting aside the obvious spelling catastrophe, this is a rather special Dahlia, with 6" blooms of white shaded with red/purple. Though not this beauty, I filled my garden last year with so many different dahlias after an enthusiastic late-night shopping spree, online, with Rose Cottage Plants, a nursery specialising…
Continue reading ➞ Who Dun It….
Following on from the little piece on Sneezeweeds and having mentioned the origins of the cultivated varieties in Helenium bigelovii and Helenium autumnale, I remembered this picture from a visit a few weeks ago to Kew - in the rockery beds adjacent to the Davies Alpine House. Helenium hoopesii. Gotta love the name. Originating in…
Continue reading ➞ Helenium hoopesii
Though I couldn't find a plant label for this magnificent stand of Heleniums in the Duke's Garden at Kew, it is most likely Sahin's Early Flowerer, with an Award of Garden Merit. Long ray florets are a mixture of yellow and brownish red in irregular streaks and surround a brown centre and it flowers from…
The Teddington Gardener 