Cool Jewels

Cool Jewels February 2012

Up in the ‘cooler’ section of the garden everything has been benefitting from the rain as well. Yes, black spot included.

The pot of petunias is a strong mix of red, purple and magenta. Step aside Gertrude Jekyll, magenta is in here. In sun these would have been glowing. They are striking nonetheless.

 Souvenir de St Anne’s has scaled the wall and is draping itself around the bird bath . It is backed by Tanecetum ptarmiciflorum and flanked by Eucomis commosa and the skeletons of agapanthus blooms.  The flowers to the right are Alstroemeria pulcella which I much prefer to the more showy  Princess Lilies Alstromeria.

Here is Souvenir de St Anne’s looking demure. Actually she is peering above an impenetrable tangle of her own making. Fear and sheer exhaustion at rose pruning time meant that she was not pruned last year.  This year the chain mail will be donned, and she will be pruned first.

Here is another view of Souvenir de St Anne’s. She is like the ‘little girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead’ .It must be said that when she is good she is really beautiful and her fragrance is pleasant. I am sure with a little more persuasion (read secateurs) she will prove to be less horrid than she has been allowed to be to date.

This young hydrangea was pink when bought but of course in our acid soil it is turning blue. Applications of lime were made to the left side only to see what would happen. What happened is that the lime was leached out by the rain. Nevertheless the faded flowers look pretty.

Seduction is always better in the autumn in my opinion. Here she is gearing up for her autumn display backed by the leaves of Cotinus ‘Grace’.

New this year and planted very late Dahlia ‘Little Pet’ has made great headway. It is planted in front of the Tanacetum hedge and works very well with the grey of the hedge and the muted pinks of the Arctotis which is planted in the same area.

‘The Fairy’ has to be one of my favourite roses. It flowers prolifically and the blooms are really pretty. The magenta Lychnis has seeded itself around this bed after a slow start. (It has also seeded itself around more of the garden too. I shall have to keep an eye on itand not allow too much leeway.)

Delbard’s ‘Villandry’ Dahlia is in its second year. It cost a lot and, although obviously a strong and floriferous grower, it does not seem too out of the ordinary to me. Maybe it will grow on me. Meanwhile I know it cannot continue to grow in this bed. It has too much yellow in it.

The ‘Green and bronze bed’ is not looking very green right now with the Sedum 'Autumn Joy' flowers turning pink. In the background is bronze-leaved Eupatorium ‘Chocolate’. In the foreground a Eucomis flower is just managing to enter the photo. A big storm earlier this month blew the Eucomis flowers forward on to Rosa ‘Green Ice’ which is looking a bit disconsolate right now.

What is my favourite flower? At the moment it is the Fuchsia. Their form is so delicate and yet their colours can be such a knock-out. Not this one of course. I bought it (unnamed) because I wanted one as close to white as I could get. The slight pink flush and delicate veining do not detract in my eyes. I would still like a white fuchsia though.

It is a shame that our climate is not the most congenial for fuchsias. We only have two in the garden beds and they are protected and have to be molly-coddled. The rest are in pots. They make such a pretty show dripping over the edges. It explains the old name for fuchsias: Ladies Ear Drops. When the weather deteriorates these and their sisters will make the journey by wheelbarrow up to the greenhouse for the winter.

The Cosmos have seeded themselves from last year’s planting. I hoped they would. They create an airy froth of white above the more stolid Dimorphotheca. The touch of grey from the Artemis ‘Powis Castle’ sets them off. When the white rose ‘Mt Shasta’ flowers above them we have 3 layers of white.

Finally the shade garden. This is still a work in progress but the idea is there. The white flowers behind the tree fern are Impatiens  which do well in the shady areas under the trees. Further in, several large-leaved ivies have been planted. They will spread and become ground cover bringing light to the gloom below the Chamaecyparis trees.The pot of violas flowered all through winter and is still going strong in this cool summer.