GBBD September 2010

This is my first foray into ‘Garden Bloggers Bloom Day’, so I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Confused, too, as it is also Wednesday, so in theory I guess I do another post for ‘Wordless Wednesday’?! Anyway, here goes…

The first thing I see when I venture out the patio door is this pot with the last of my outdoor Tomatoes (‘Minibel’) and their wonderfully cheerful companions. At least it ensures a bright start to the day, even if it does also highlight that I am lousy at getting round to dead heading…

Cheerful though they are, my true ‘Plant of the Moment’ has to be Crocosmia ‘Emily McKenzie’. The plan was to have her in a pot this year and then plant her out in the border, once I’d worked out where she belongs. But. The flowers are so stunning that I think I am going to keep her in a pot, at least for now, so that she can be enjoyed up close and personal in all her glory. I underplanted with Californian poppies, which worked really well, so same again next year please!

This has been my year to play with colour, and much of that playing has been done by growing things in pots on the patio. Early on I had tulips and primroses, then poppies, a Nepeta, now it is the bedding dahlias (the seed was a gift to my in-laws at a wedding reception!), Arctotis and Gazanias, still all going strong.

The bed tucked behind my brand new greenhouse gets lots of sun, which is a rare thing in my garden so I’ve been using it as a kind of mini cutting garden. As things have turned out, I’ve been so busy this last month that I have rather neglected it, not cutting or dead heading, so I’ve not had as many blooms as I would have done. I do love the contrast in form between ‘Bishop of Auckland’, ‘Rip City’ and ‘Hillcrest Royal’, though ‘Rip City’ is so dark that it is hard to capture how sumptuous it is on camera, and ‘Hillcrest Royal’ appears to need each and every stem supported.

This latter came as a surprise, as my first experience of growing Dahlias was on Anglesey a couple of years ago, and I hadn’t appreciated the difference in climate. None of them even needed staking there, and only grew to about 1.2m. Here they have been rather more rampant. Daft of me really, as we were right on the coast in Rhoscolyn, and although it has a lovely (relatively) dry micro climate, it was very exposed.

You may have spotted the single “embrace your vulgarity” Gladioli (Gladiolus?) in the background. The plan was that this bed would have fuschia pink, acid green and deep purple Gladioli growing in amongst the Dahlias for an unsubtle riot of late summer colour that Dame Edna would be proud of. So far, however, the Gladioli have not really materialised…

I haven’t entirely forsworn subtlety though! The Sedum ‘Frosty Morn’ has never looked better, probably due to the fact that I finally remembered to do the Chelsea Chop thing, so it hasn’t flopped this year. I only have this because Cotswold Garden Flowers didn’t have the one I wanted and persuaded me that this would be even better. I’m not generally a fan of variegated leaves, but this is so pretty I am thrilled they gave me what I needed, not what I asked for! The Pelargoniums are a departure for me too. My Mum used to grow the very pungent deep red ones when I was a child, and I always hated them. When I first got a garden I became very snobby about people who talked about Geraniums meaning Pelargoniums, and declared myself a fan of the former and rejected the latter. A friend on Anglesey showed me the error of my ways, and once I got a greenhouse I couldn’t wait to start a collection. These two are ‘Madame Layall’ and ‘Lara Jester’.

Perhaps most subtle of all are the grasses that are starting to come in to their own. Sadly I long since lost the garden journal that documented which grasses these are, but I love the structure and dynamism they add to the borders, and the play of light on the flowers is utterly beguiling.

Whew! That was fun, but also took a lot longer than I thought it would. I love the way that blogging is making me look more closely at the garden, though I’m not sure that I will be out in my pyjamas at 7:30 am next month taking photos, perhaps I’d better plan a little ahead, rain allowing…

Huge ‘Thank You’ to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.