Category Archives: plants

Brrrrrr it’s chilly out there!

29/10/2018frost, plantsJackie Elwin

So today is the first time the bird bath has frozen completely this winter, however, the pond is ok as it is situated lower than the bird bath. I still wouldn’t like to be a little bird bathing in the pond today though. As much as I detest being cold, I do love the patters that the frost makes on the different leaves. Hairy leaved plants pick up the frost sparkles on the tiny hairs, whereas the smoother leaves have frosted edges. Others can have frosty highlights on prominent veins. As a kid growing up without central heating and no double glazing, I adored the frost patterns on the inside of the windows in winter. This morning I braved the cold to get a few snaps of some frosty leaves. My hands were shaking a bit so they are a little out of focus.

Frozen bird bath

Frosty clematis Pixie

Frosty acer palmatum Garnet

Frosty hairy leaved thyme

Frosty tierella

Autumn is approaching…

03/09/2018ferns, flowers, plantsJackie Elwin

and things are gradually slowing down in the garden. When I first started the stumpery area, I filled in a lot of spaces with ferns (soft shield ferns I think) with the intention of replacing some of them later with different plants. Some of these ferns are huge now and are really outgrowing the space or hiding other plants, and not just in the stumpery. So, at the weekend, my husband dug out one of them from beside the ramp and replaced it with Persicaria amplex Blackfield – I love the colour of the flowers. I just hope it isn’t going to become a thug. I have another 5 or 6 of the same ferns so I will ask hubby to divide a couple of them so at least they will be smaller, and completely dig up the rest so I can buy some new plants for the spaces. He also dug out the Rosa rugosa which has been a big disappointment. It has been there for 3 years and only produced 3 roses! All the rest of the growth has been hight and suckers. I would really like another rose there but it is just too shady, unless I can persuade our next lot of neighbours to chop down their rather large shrubs and trees. I have acquired a bench to put in the dry shady area at the back of the garden but as not a lot will grow in deep dry shade so I will have to think about what else to put around the bench. The corner wall is in need of repair but again I will have to wait and speak to our new neighbours. The trouble with that is that the actual owners are planning on splitting that house and garden into two, but they haven’t actually started any work yet so I may have a heck of a long wait for that work to be done and the house sold.

At the Annual flower show last weekend my little Davallia canariensis Hare’s foot fern) won an award! Not only did it win first prize for the foliage plant section, but it got the Jones trophy for best exhibit in pot pants too. Dead chuffed. I am so glad I scrubbed the pot the night before and took off the not-quite-so-attractive fronds.

Ramp with overgrown fern to the right.

Ramp now with Persicaria amplex Blackfield

Davallia canariensis and Jones trophy

Duddingston Garden club Annual Flower Show …

24/08/2018flowers, plantsJackie Elwin

getting some plants ready to sell at the annual flower show. There are: tiarellas, chives, rosemary, lavender, ferns, fuschias, grasses, sempervivums and a couple of unknown things that just popped up in the garden. The weather isn’t looking that great though and some ninja showers on the way so it might put people off coming. Shame we had to get rid of the greenhouse due to the neighbours high trees and the golf course trees as I am having to do all my propagation in the conservatory and on the garden table. I keep having to move them to under the table outside when the heavy rains are due and bring them back out again once they have passed. I was going to put a couple of plants in the show myself but my Streptocarpus saxorum only has 3 flowers on it and my roses are either just gone over or just not quite open enough. I may put my little Hare’s foot fern into the foliage section.

Plants ready for the sale.

Cyclamen are stirring…

05/08/2018flowers, plantsJackie Elwin

into life already. Most of my garden cyclamen are flowering already and it is only the beginning of August. I can’t find any of my white ones but only the pink ones in flower. In the conservatory the small tubers are flowering but my huge ancient tuber is still totally dormant. I have potted it on and the soil was quite damp so I am hoping it is ok. As promised in January I measured the tuber and it is roughly 12.5cm at it’s widest and 10.5cm at it’s narrowest and it old and craggy looking. I plant it quite proud of the soil level with a moat around it so it doesn’t get water on the top. I bought some small ones last year they looked like a really dark burgundy colour, but this year they have come out red. Still attractive though.

Cyclamen seed pods

Cyclamen neapolitanum ?

indoor cyclamen tuber

Cycalmen that was meant to be dark burgundy.

I need more of…

17/07/2018plantsJackie Elwin

these Verbascums. I was promised (years ago now) that the the plants I bought would flower at the same time: Cirsium rivulare Atropurpureum, Papaverorientale ‘Patty’s plum’ and Verbascum chaxii album. But in fact, in my garden, the Cirsium come up first and flower for a good while, then the poppies and now the Verbascum. The poppies are over and have been chopped back as they were straggly and the Cirsium are going over and have only a few flowers left. The Verbascum is now looking a bit lonely. This year I will take root cuttings and hopefully get a few more and make a good clump. The Verbascum ‘Raspberry ripple’ is flowering a bit strangely this year. In previous years, the flowers at the base opened first the the gradually the others would open from base to the top. This year some are open at the base, some open half way up and some at the top. I do have a space to fill beside them so I would like to take root cuttings of these ones too.
We have had a couple of visitors at the base of the red rose Erotica under the bird feeder: brown rats. At first I saw a large rat on the tray feeder but now I have seen two young ones, bold as brass, getting the fallen seed and running behind the pond. I don’t need more of them!

Verbascum chaxii album

Verbascum Raspberry ripple 2010

Verbascum Raspberry ripple close-up

Verbascum Raspberry ripple 2018

young rat

Splashes of white…

07/07/2018flowers, plantsJackie Elwin

to add highlights in the garden. At the moment there are a few white plants in flower just now like the Astrantia that I was given by a friend but I don’t know the variety. (it might be major) I love the subtle pink centers that go really well with the backdrop of the purple Cotinus foliage. The Camassia leithtlinii white has just gone over so I have tidied away their messy leaves. The Serastium tomentosum (snow in summer) has beautiful silver foliage along with very pretty white flowers and the rose Munsteadwood looks great above it. The only trouble with that combo is that the dark purple petals fall over the silver folliage and look very messy. The Philadelphus is looking ok but the image here was taken a few years ago when I let it grow however it wanted to, but nowadays I keep it cut back a little. The perfume is fabulous. The delicate Campanula rotundifolia (harebells) come up usually in blue , but now and again a white one pops up. I just leave them there as they look quite natural. I can’t believe that my pale blue Aquilegia is still in flower. I might buy a few more white plants to brighten the very green garden up and maybe a few pale yellows too. Actually, the Primula sikkimensis (Himalayan cowslip) is looking great just now so I can divide them later on in the year. I did get out during week to buy a few Gillenia trifoliata (bowmans root) plants which have nice, delicate white starry flowers on reddish stems, which will go well with the red Astilbe , and the red rose (whenever it decides to flower). We still have very hot and dry weather with no sign of rain in the next week or so. We are not used to this in Scotland – normally we have a couple of nice days followed by a few days of wind and rain. On the plus side two months of no rain mains we have enjoyed the roses without the petals turning to mush or drying out like paper mache so that they can’t open. Also the slugs don’t like it dry. On the down side I have had an awful lot of watering to do and the dreaded mildew has appeared on many plants. I can’t sit outside and enjoy the garden as it is just too hot for me so I wait until the shade comes. My dog loves to lie in the sunshine but I have to keep him inside mostly as he would overheat very quickly. This heat also makes sleeping quite a trial. Doing a wee rain dance and wishing for slightly cooler weather.

Astrantia major

Astrantia and Cotinus

Philadelphus

Harebells

Gillenia trifoliata and Astilbe Fanal red

Camassia leichtlinii white

Serastium tomentosum and Munstead wood rose

Primula sikkimensis

Just smell those roses…

29/06/2018flowers, plants, rosesJackie Elwin

they all come out at slightly different times and they all have different perfumes too. My newest rose (bought this year) is Jubilee Celebration which has a very fruity almost grapefruit like fragrance so it is on the patio in a large pot so I can enjoy the scent whilst having a cuppa. Next to flower was Munstead Wood with it’s fabulous deep crimson flowers and gorgeous Old rose scent. Then came the climbing rose Zephirine Drouhin. It isn’t doing as well as it could because it really needs to be in full sun and I have planted it towards the back of the garden, which is plunged into shade in the afternoon courtesy of the golf course trees. I have made quite a few mistakes in the garden and that is just one of them. But it still flowers and I just need to give it more TLC than some of the others. It smells divine. William Lobb the moss rose is a lovely dark crimson when it first opens then it fades to a pale greyish violet. It also smells fab. They used to be tied up along wires between 3 tall posts but when we did away with the green house we also took out the posts. They can be a bit sprawly in habit but I am trying to keep them pruned into a more bush like form. That way it keeps the flowers where I can both see and smell them. I have a mini pink rambler in a large pot (along with the Parahebe) which scrambles up an old clothes post. It does quite well and I would like to train it along the fence too. I am not sure if I should have planted the Rosa Rugosa as it is just so unruly. It seams to just flower sporadically and they are all on the very top of the bush. Should I have gone for a dog rose instead? It is in the stumpery/woodland area which can get very shady too but I thought they could cope with almost any condition. I will feed it with rose or tomato feed as just see if that helps this year. At the back of the garden I have newly planted The Generous Gardener. It should be able to cope with some shade so I just hope it can make do with the few hours of sunshine it does get. The flowers are a very feminine, delicate pink and have a beautiful Old rose scent. I do hope I can nurture them enough to cover the arch. The last one to flower is Erotica ( or Eroica – I think that is what it is called – it never had a tag and I bought it over 20 years ago). It has deep red, highly scented flowers and is quite a tall upright bush. The foliage is quite purple/red during spring turning green later. It is always the last one to flower but then that might be due to the way I prune it. I will add a photograph when it finally decides to flower.

Jubilee Celebration

Munstead Wood

Zephirine Drouhin

William Lobb

Mini pink rambler

Rosa Rugosa

The Generous Gardener

And it finally flowers on the 10th July! Well worth waiting for as it is a colour, has a gorgeous scent and has nice long, upright stems so makes a great cut flower.

Erotica

Everywhere you look…

12/06/2018flowers, plants, seed-headsJackie Elwin

another plant is blooming – yeah! Today is lovely and warm in the sunshine but in a couple of days (just when the roses come out) we are due heavy rain. Just our luck, but we haven’t had much rain at all so the garden really needs it. But for now there are lots of plants enjoying this weather. The Honesty is a lovely bright purple, but the slugs are having a good go at them. The chives are looking lovely. My Parahebe Porlock is a great do-er and is in a pot alongside a little pink rambling rose. I just trim it back every year and it keeps coming back. I wish I had planted my Syringa in front of the Viburnum in the raised bed so that I could see the whole shrub as it is covered in scented flowers but the Viburnum is blocking the view – hey ho. The Thyme in the raised looks great under the purple Acer and next to the Saxifraga umbrosa. I do have a few Geraniums (forgotten the name of a few) which have started to flowers now, including the wild ones. The blue one is looking a bit flat. The tiny Geranium dissectum looks cute with it’s tiny flowers and hairy stems but I bet it will be a thug if I leave it to seed, so, I keep taking the seed heads off. The same goes for the herb-robert (Geranium robertianum). The Hebe is covered in tiny pink flowers and the bees adore these. The ragged robin is looking, well, ragged but pretty. The Pasque flower has gone over and I didn’t get a chance to photograph it this year but the seed heads are very pretty.

Lunaria annua purple honesty

Allium shoenoprasum chives)

Parahebe ‘Porlock’

Syringa Josiflexa Belleicent

Hebe ‘Pink paradise’

Lychnis flos-cuculi (ragged robin)

thyme, acer and saxafrage

geranium double violet/pink?

geranium blue?

geranium pink?

geranium wargrave pink

geranium cantabrigiense Biokova white promo

geranium dissectum (tiny)

gersnium robertianum (herb-robert)

Pulsatilla vulgaris (Pasque flower) seed-head

raised bed end-on

Feeling blue…

09/06/2018flowers, garden, plants, raised bed, stumperyJackie Elwin

what a week! Suffice to say we have had the builders here for a few days and the less said the better!! Scaffolders grrrrrrrr!!
I don’t have that much in the way of blue in the garden but I may add a few more blues over the next few years. The brunneras are still going strong, as are the veronicas, but the forget-me-nots are looking a bit straggly so I have been pulling some of them out. They will have self seeded and will pop up all over the place next year. My mecanopsis Willie Duncan and Susan’s Reward are doing fine now. The slugs really went for them when they were first planted last year (or was that 2 years ago?) but they are now looking good. I moved the blue iris (Jane Phillips) from the middle bed to a sunnier spot last year, having only had them a year, and although they appear much happier the slugs got them too! The centauria blue is flowering away but it looks like something has sat in the middle of it, it is just not able to hold it’s own weight. (the white one got eaten by the pigeons!!). The pale blue aquilegia is still flowering away. My proper blue bells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) that I have in little pots didn’t flower again this year so that has been 2 years now with no flowers. There are a few blooms on the blue geranium but maybe I should thin it out a little as it is spreading just a bit too much and is coming up through other plants now. I had to cut back the Jacob’s ladder as it was being used as a slug nursery and was being completely decimated. That was right next to the fennel (which was also decimated by slugs) so, now that I have dealt with the slugs they might get a chance to grow. This time last year the fennel was over a meter high! There has hardly been any rain over the last 6 or 7 weeks and I have had to keep on top of the watering which takes ages. And the poor pond too needs topping up, and with no rain water about, I have to spray tap water into it. The tadpoles don’t seam to mind. Anyway the garden on the whole is looking ok and the wee sparrows and tits have started to fledge so there is a lot of cheerful chirping about.

Aquilegia pale blue

Centauria blue

Iris ‘Jane Phillips’

Mecanopsis ‘Susan’s Reward’

Mecanopsis ‘Willie Duncan’

Raised bed

garden from patio

stumpery right side

stumpery left side

‘Sedges have edges,..

26/05/2018grasses, plantsJackie Elwin

…rushes are round, and grasses have knees that bend down to the ground.’ There are other versions of this wee ditty that I was reminded of the other day and as usual there are the odd exceptions to that rule. It may not have been the best day to take photographs of my garden grasses as it was a bit breezy. Hey ho. Grasses can really tie a garden together and make it all look very natural and can soften areas. Eve the lightest breeze brings movement and gentle sound to the garden. I can’t identify half the grasses I have but I try to take care to chop off the seed heads before they spread over the rest of the garden. Especially the ones covering the logs in my woodland area. The Briza media (quaking grass) is on the patio and the flowers turn a lovely straw colour and gently nod in the slightest breeze. The Carex pendula I have in pots in various places, some shady and some sunny and it copes well everywhere. There is a variety of grasses in and around the pond. In the chimney pot in the background is a Carex comans Bronze which will hang down over the edges of the pot. There is some kind of Juncus (rush) on the right hand side of the pond in the run-off boggy area, spouting up in the middle of the Acorus Ogori (Golden Japanese rush. In the pond is Eleocharis (hair grass) and Eriophorum Angustifolium – may also be know as Scirpus I think (cotton grass or bog cotton). And I have no idea what the grasses are on the log.

Briza media (quaking grass)

Carex pendula (sedge)

grasses and rush

grassy log

Cardesque Garden

Gardening from an ageing, paraplegic perspective.