Category Archives: foliage

Mid May 2024 Colour in the garden.

19/05/2024foliage, Uncategorized, wildlifeJackie

Hooray – the sun is finally shining and it is warm! The plants (and weeds) are romping away. There are lots of colourful flowers open now, the aquilegias with all their different pinks, purples and whites, and the foliage colours are just as amazing. I do love the bronze foliage of some of the younger leaves especially some of the ferns and the rodgersia.

bronze foliage on Osmunda regalis 'Purpurascens' fern. — Osmunda regalis ‘Purpurascens’

Bronze leaves of Rodgersia podophylla — Rodgersia podophylla

There are different green and purples in some other ferns and browns in the ones with ‘hairy’ fronds. I think the hairs are actually called scales although they don’t look like scales.

green and purple foliage of Athyrium otophorum var. okanum fern — Athyrium otophorum var. okanum

Green fronds of Asplenium scolopendrium 'Cristata' — Asplenium scolopendrium ‘Cristata’

Close croziers of Dryopteris crispa congesta fern. — Dryopteris crispa congesta

Bushy green croziers of Polystichum setiferum Cristato pinnulum fern. — Polystichum setiferum Cristato pinnulum

'Hairy' fronds of Polystichum polyblepharum fern. — Polystichum polyblepharum

Silvery and purple fronds of Athyrium niponicum 'silver falls' fern. — Athyrium niponicum ‘silver falls’

The tree heath Erica arborea is flowering it’s heart out and the bees love the tiny flowers the centre of which a purple. It has come back very well after it got big chop in 2021. The rowan was covered in blossom last year but this year is very disappointing. You can just about see a few clusters at the top of it in the left side of the next pic.

White and purple flowers of Erica arborea alongside the pink flowers if the Hebe Pink paradise. — Erica arborea and Hebe ‘Pink paradise’.

White flowers with purple centre of Erica arborea. — Erica arborea close up

The amazing purple (garnet) foliage of the Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’ is looking gorgeous just now contrasting well with the bright greens around it. Although it looks very purple, the closer you get to it you can see a green tinge to it.

Deep garnet foliage of the Acer palmatum 'Dissectum Garnet' — Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’.

The stumpery has plenty of colour with the white primula Snowflake which has a pink tinge to it, blue ajugas mixed in with white galium odoratus, purple honesty, pale blue forget-me-nots, a few pulmonarias and the pale blue Veronica Gentionoides Blue streak and more dark purple foliage of the huecheras. We have borrowed the dark foliage of next doors tree. The lime green of the Acer shirasawanum aureum really shines.

Colourful plants in the stumpery mid May 2024. — The stumpery in mid May 2024.

Blue Ajuga reptans bugle mixed with white Galium odoratum in the stumpery. — Ajuga reptans mixed with Galium odoratum.

A few beasties that I found this month were a Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana) which looks absolutely beautiful. The RHS says just to live with them unless they become a problem.

Purple and green shiny Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina americana). — Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana).

A rather lovely white-legged snake millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger).

We are always told that slugs and snails don’t like moving over sharp objects but I have found slugs and snails going up the very sharp prickles of my moss roses. This slug doesn’t look bothered at all. I have found the tell-tale slime trails all over a very prickly cactus in the conservatory before too.

Slug going up prickly moss rose stem. — Slug on the very prickly moss rose stem.

And lastly for now the heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis). Apparently it wasn’t just my garden they were swarming into but even on beaches elsewhere. It isn’t a great photo. They have been quite a problem in the moorlands so I am hoping they are not going to be a problem here too.

I have seen plenty orange tip butterflies and holly blues and a few speckled wood butterflies so far. And the usual bees, wasps and flies are around, but so far, no more wasp nests in the raised bed. Our next-door neighbour had a lovely garden visitor the other day. Our gardens back onto a golf course where the is a small herd of deer, and one of them got through her broken gate. On the one hand, I would love to have them visit our garden, but on the other hand, they may cause a lot of damage. I have no idea what plants they would eat. It is back to chilly weather and overcast skies now. It was nice to see the sun while it lasted.

Noticing what is around you.

21/06/2020flowers, foliage, foxgloves, plantsJackie Elwin

I have found that most of the time while working in the garden or doing slug patrols, you tend to be so focused on the job in hand that you may not notice what else is going on in the garden. It is a good idea just to wander around and really see what is happening around you. Our rhododendron is flowering quite happily after it’s move last November so it never went in a sulk after all. Mind you, I did keep it well watered just to make sure, then gave it a wee feed just before flowering. We planted a couple of new shrubs (Enkianthus companulatus and Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophyla ‘Eva’). And to fill in a bit of space, added all the foxgloves that were found in the wrong place (just till I figure out what should go in there long term).

Rhododendron Gomer Waterer

Just along from the corner is arch that I have been trying to grow a rose over (Rose Generous gardener), in place of the Clematis montana alba that died. It is not an ideal place for them as they can only get the sun in the morning, and they are under the sycamore trees of the golf course. I need to keep them well watered and that has meant watering them almost every day this year. They are looking good so far, and once the elder is bigger I think the contrasting colours will look even better.

Rose, geranium and elder.

The foxgloves are the tallest they have ever been in this garden. Harry is a about 6′ 1” and he is standing next to one that looks about 7′ tall. There is one in the middle of the stumpery which is even taller. Although I read (Guiness world records) that the tallest ever foxglove was grown by Lydia Foy in Ireland in 1997 – 10’10” (3.29m) WOW!

Harry and the tall foxgloves.

In the conservatory there were a few nice colour combinations or just nice colours that I liked. I had a vase of roses and honeysuckle together and the buds of the honeysuckle were a bright deep red colour before they opened to release their exquisite scent. Little things catch my eye, like the purple foliage of the axalis against the pale green velvet cushion. Dangling roots of the sempervivums, and the little tufts of hair at the points of some of them. Others have web-like hairs across them, and some go through a colour change from green through to a mahogany brown. The tips of other sempervivums are very pointed and look like they have been dipped in ink.
It is always worth taking a few moments to do nothing but look and be aware of what is around you.

Purple oxalis leaves against pale green cushion.

Purple oxalis leaves against purple cushion.

Honeysuckle buds beside purple rose in vase.

Honeysuckle buds.

Seedling against purple rose.

Sempervivums (mixed).

Sempervivums.

Sempervivum with hairy tips..

Sempervivum roots and web/hairs.

Still cold…

14/04/2019crow, flowers, foliage, plantsJackie Elwin

but the weather is supposed to warm up starting from Wednesday. I went into the garden this morning with great intentions of feeding and mulching the roses but I was just feeling too cold so I just took a few quick snaps. A couple I took a few days go when the sun came out. A few plants are going over now like the cherry and the pink corydalis. Even some of the hellebores are looking a bit ropey. Some of the narcissi are flowering away, like Cheerfulness, whilst others are not up yet, like Erlicheer and Pipit. Some of the brunnera and forget-me-nots are flowering but the brunnera ‘Jack frost’ is very nearly in flower, (the foliage look fabulous though). The cowslips are looking cheery but I had thought they would have self-seeded a bit but looks like I will have to divide it to get another clump.
My friendly crow followed me round the garden again so I blathered to him while he was pecking away at the old log.

Crow

Astilbe leaves

Brunnera ‘Jack frost’

Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji

Corydalis solida pink

Primula veris (cowslip)

Corylus avellana Contorta

Narcissus Cheerfulness

Who needs flowers…

23/05/2018foliage, plantsJackie Elwin

when you can have fabulous colour from foliage? Young leaves especially can be quite bright, but don’t forget the stem colours and buds too. My little Acer shirasawanum ‘Auereum’ has fabulous pink and green colouration when the leaves first burst through, which turn bright golden/lime green later, and the dark green nettles behind provides a good contrast. The Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’ has beautifully dark garnet foliage, and when planted next to Thymus lanuginosus (which has lovely deep pink bud and tiny hairy leaves), Saxifraga umbrosa (with it’s succulent bright green leaves, pink stems and pale pink flowers) that not only contrasts the colours but also the textures and leaf shapes. The golden oregano is looking splendid just now and the leaves of the Pieris Japonica ‘Forest flame’ have now faded from bright orange/red to golden. The young foliage on some roses can look very pretty too. ‘The Generous gardener’ has very bright young red/bronze leaves, while the red flowered rose (could be ‘Erotica’) has deep purple leaves. Astilbe ‘Fanal’ red has bright red stems, some green leaves and some bronze/purple leaves just before the red flower spikes appear. The Hebe’Pink paradise’ picks up the purple colour of the Heuchera (Rachel) in it’s stems and the pinks buds go well with it too. Another combination that I love for both colour and texture is in the corner by my ramp: The huge bronze leaves of the Rogersia podophylla along with young bronze of it’s neighbour, Osmunda regalis ‘Purpurascens’, and the green of the Polygonataum multiflorum. The pond too has a variety of leaf colours and forms. I would have liked to show you my Cotinus ‘Royal purple’ and Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack frost’ but they have only just been planted and they don’t look great yet. I would have loved to show you the ferny bronze foliage of my Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’ (bronze fennel, but something has been eating it!! I have never had this problem before but this year the fronds have not been allowed to grow bigger than an inch or two (showing my age now). Snails, slugs, mice, I don’t know but I have been getting rid of all slugs that I find on my morning slug patrols, and the black birds and thrushes are dealing with the snails. Do mice like fennel?