Weeding the Web

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: the year's first camellia

Isn't this gorgeous? I'm so proud of my £5 find at the local annual plant sale. I've been waiting all summer to see what it does. I was promised an unusual camellia that blooms from October to Christmas, and it's swung into action right to schedule.

 

Its buds are a lovely pink:

And the flowers retain a pink edge as they open:

It's even got a delicate scent. Even better, it had a label and I know which one it is: Camellia sasanqua 'Rainbow'.

According to Noel Kingsbury's article on How to Grow Camellia Sasanqua, it will take more sun than other camellias, but still does best against a west or south-facing wall with shaded roots.

Now all I have to do is find the perfect spot in the garden. And you know how hard that is to get right. 

To see what else is blooming around the world this month for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, visit May Dreams Gardens.

GBBD: Cyclamen never stops

Well, this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day I'm hoping for some advice. Here's what I've chosen for this month:

I featured this plant at the beginning of the year when I reviewed its Ebersankey Glossy Self-Watering Pot from Fiskars.  The string wick that draws the water from the reservoir has, incidentally, suffered no further diminishment and, as you can see, the plant has at least doubled in size. It has also flowered non-stop - and I'm not exaggerating; it's had bushels of blooms - since last Christmas.

The question I'm asking is, Can it flower itself to death? Should I take it out of its pot, let it dry out and give it a rest, or just let it get on with it? If the latter, I really feel I ought to start feeding it in some way - perhaps a drop or two of plant food in the water.

Any advice would be much appreciated. What do you think?

NB See what's happening to blooms around the world this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: tough as old boots and dancing on the breeze

I was about to pass these over as my GBBD contribution this month. They're hardly new or unusual. But they're looking gorgeous as they dance in the gentle breeze:

As a garden stalwart you can't do better than Autumn (or Japanese) Anemones. No maintenance, no fuss. Tough as old boots. Flower for weeks on end (ours started at the end of July).

For a long time we had a group just outside the dining-room window. We still do, but others decided to insinuate themselves further down the bed. I groaned - have you ever tried to dig out an unwanted autumn anemone? The roots go down forever.

But then I realised how having a more distant group really enhanced the view - in late afternoon, the near group is in shade, the further in sunshine, and two groups make the bed look longer.

I don't know why I bother really - I should just let Nature get on with it.

This is my contribution to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Visit May Dreams Gardens to see what else is blooming around the world.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: sunny colour

I first encountered mesembryanthemum when my mother ecstatically pointed them out to me during a holiday on Jersey when I was eighteen. They don't tally with my normal style of gardening, but after my visit to Ball Colegrave I'm coming round to the idea of some self-indulgence with pots. Combine this with the fact that a local nursery was selling these half-price, £1.75 for twelve plugs at the beginning of the month, and I found them irresistible.

These are a particularly vibrant combination and I love their dedication to sunshine - wide open in full beam, but beginning to close, even while sitting in a sunny spot, at five in the afternoon.

I queried the possibility of keeping them going through the winter and the nurserywoman told me that you tend to think you're doing very well by keeping them going till February, when the short days get them and they give up the ghost. "Give it a try, though," she said encouragingly, but I know my limits. 

This is part of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, run by May Dreams Gardens. Pop over and see what else is blooming in gardens around the world.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: rambling with roses

Roses have been superb this year, everywhere I've looked. Including my garden. Actually I'm moderately chuffed as I like to think the particularly good performance of the rose featured here is down to my pruning (OK, it's probably the weather, but I can dream...).

The question is, What is it? Well, feeling suitably chastised by Helene's query as to my type of tulip, I've done a lot of ferreting.

It was originally planted by my father (who loved roses and was always rooting cuttings in jars), which means it must have arrived in the garden in the 70s or early 80s. It's a rambler, fuchsia-pink (as you can see) with clusters of smallish-sized flowers, not repeat blooming, but flowering over several weeks (it's just gone over now, but we've had at least a month of flowers). Not really very scented.

Forearmed with the information that "It looks like a David Austin rose," (thank you, Fryer's), and armed with the meagre description above, I accosted one of the men on David Austin's stand at Hampton Court Flower Show last week.

He looked resigned (how often do people ask this sort of thing over the week, I wonder) and came up with three possibilities: Alexandre Girault, American Pillar (definitely not, that's a single), Excelsa.

I thought he must mean Super Excelsa (which shows the dangers of relying on Google) and I plumped for that as it doesn't have the strong fragrance listed for Alexandre Girault. BUT a play on the  find-yourself-a-rose feature on Peter Beales's site told me that Super Excelsa' s date of birth is 1986 (too late).

A play on Ashridge Nurseries' website brought up Crimson Showers, looking perfect, EXCEPT David Austin says this flowers to September. No good.

However, Crimson Showers was born from a seed of Excelsa in 1951 (a theme has developed). And - ta rah! - more ferreting on Peter Beales reveals that Excelsa burst into the world in 1909. Which just goes to show you should trust the experts and not get confused by Google.

It never really did particularly well in its original position, on a north-facing fence that grew progressively shadier over the years, so I took a cutting (rooted in a jar of water) about four years ago and planted the result in full sun, weaving it into a flimsy support. (The rose was what kept it upright during the high winds last winter.) 

It looks great against the neighbour's pink-tinged bush behind.

I think my father would be chuffed too.

GBBD is hosted by May Dreams Gardens. Pop over and see what other gardens are doing this July around the world.

 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: Carpenteria californica finally flowers!

It was Wisley's fault. We saw this glorious bush - glossy leaves, dazzling flowers the size of fried eggs - and thought, We could grow that. The warning was there, had we actually listened to the nurseryman who told us he didn't bother to grow them himself now, as he found them temperamental.

No, we had to have a Carpenteria californica.

Also known as the Bush or Tree Anemone - in the Hydrangeaceae family but the only plant in its genus - it likes full sun and a sheltered position, so it went into the sunniest, most sheltered spot in the garden.

And what did we get?  Two years of a miserable plant that barely grew, the leaves of which became dull, dark and mottled, just like this old one you can see in the picture. And not a flower in sight. Not one.

Meanwhile, on return trips to Wisley, where the Carpenteria had been in a warm corner against the walls of the house, we were dismayed to find it gone. Removed. Completely. 

Ours certainly couldn't stay where it was, but a last-minute reprieve on a death sentence moved it to a spare patch at the back of the garden, north-facing, moderately shaded. And what do we get? An explosion of bright green growth and flower buds all over.

It'll need a bit of pruning to get it back into shape, but it's sprouting from the bare wood at the bottom, so that's no problem.

And what made the difference? Well, as well as liking full sun and shelter, it also likes moist soil. It got watered in the other place, but it was generally hot and dry. Now it's nicely moist, if somewhat shaded and cooler.

Which all goes to prove that in a list of cultivation instructions, some parts are more important than others. The problem, as ever, is working out which one you can't ignore. Now we know. It looks as if the Carpenteria is here to stay.

 
To see what else is blooming in garden bloggers' gardens around the world, nip over to May Dreams Gardens.

 

GBBD: Solomon's Seal lights up a dark spot

There are some plants that refuse to do as they're told. Solomon's Seal, warned against as invasive by some sources - or, at least, spreading - is certainly not that in my front garden. It's supposed to do well in shade (check!) and moist soil (check!). So, my tiny clump has sent up one flower spike per year for goodness knows how long. This year, though, it's sent up two and there are are couple of smaller ones on the way.

The flowers look superb and the leaves take to back-lighting like an aging diva. This can only be another plant which has lapped up the heavy rain over winter.

Must water more often.

Why not pop over to May Dreams Gardens to see what else in blooming in bloggers' gardens?

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: a torrent of tulips

I swear when I planted them in 2009 I only put in 6 bulbs, 8 at the most. Now, five years later, after a shaky start, I have a small forest.

None of this ridiculous modern idea of treating tulips as annuals for me! To see what else is blooming bloggers' gardens, visit May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: blooming lovely Camellia

A completely sodden winter seems to have suited the Camellia 'Donation' that Husband chose for my father-in-law's garden. We've never seen it look so sumptuous.

To see what else is bursting into flower, visit May Dreams Gardens for this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: Amazing Amaryllis

Big and blowsy and always subject some ribald remarks while the sturdy flower stalk extends itself upwards, (anxious observation from mother - "I do hope it'll flower soon."), an amaryllis hasn't graced the windowsill for several years. But this Christmas I was given this one, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy them.

I've never tried to keep one going past its first year, but this time I'm going to give it a go, according to instructions.

For more blooms growing this month, visit May Dreams Gardens for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.