GBBD – July 08
This is my favourite flower in the garden at the moment. Its a form of Salvia which I grew from some seed last year but as ever I have mislaid the label – any ideas? My garden is going through a colour pallette transition at the moment. We are moving away from the soft pastels of early summer and spring such this annual Phlox Leopoldii
This plant is new to me and I cant decide whether I will grow it again or not. It is providing quite good ground cover for areas where I have gaps – but in my mind eye the Lobelia and Phlox would merge together to cover the ground and create a tapestry of underplanting – oh well best laid plans.
Pale undertones are provided in the garden by lots of hostas such as the one above and this Astilbe. I hadnt realised how good these pale flowers are for lighting up areas which are patially shady.
Then the colours start to brighten. A typical example is this Pacific Giant Delphinium – however this ‘Gaint’ is only 2ft tall. It was grown from late last year and I am thrilled to have got it this far, this is the best I have done with growing Delphiniums from seed.
There is a growing yellow theme in the garden as well at the moment, provided mainly by Inula hookeri (which I havent got a photo of) and these Centaurea macrocephala (yellow thistles). I also love the plant on the left which I cant remember the name of. May be I should rename this blog to ‘The forgetful gardener’!
The Fuschia above was given to me by a friend of my mother and had been growing in her garden for years and therefore she didnt know what variety it was and I havent tried to find out, after all I would only forget! I love the Lychnis, which again I grew from seed last year. I have far too many of them and they are completely taking over in some areas but I will thin them out for next year and then I can plant something else with them.
I was initially pleased with the Ammi majus above – this is very easy to grow from seed and is a great cut flower. However I dont think it is sturdy enough for my garden as it has been blown all over the place by the recent winds. It has also attracted alot of blackfly.
This is the best year so far for this Clematis viticella Etoile Violette (see I do know some names!)
These two Dahlia buds are on the same plant but seem to be very different which is strange and I seem to remember the Dahlia being more white than yellow – ha ho! It is very attractive though.
So there you have a cross section of the flowers in my garden this month – there is much more but these are the ones that particularly took my eye today.
Off to let Carol at May Day Dreams know I have done my post.
Lovely pictures.I like the Centaurea.
Is the yellow flowered plant a variegated Lysimachia punctata? I’ve got the plain green one in my garden.
Lychnis! I just put up a photo in my post of these but couldn’t for the life of me remember the name of the plant. My parents gave me two of them this year as they prefer pastels and I love bright colours. Love that yellow thistle – that’s a new one to me.
Hi easygardener – I think you are right it is a Lysimachia – amaxing how when someone tells you the name you think oh yes!
Hi Amy – I love the Lychnis as well. If I manage to collect some seed from the yellow thistle you can have some
Lysimachia punctata ‘Alexander’, Variegated Loosestrife, if we want to be picky about it. I do!
Pale astilbes are great at lighting dark corners aren’t they. The salvia is lovely (sorry don’t know its name). I am totally enchanted by the Ammi majus – apart from the blackfly bit.
Lovely pictures of your planting.
Regards
Karen
Lovely flowers, and I’m very jealous of the Ammi majus and the Lychnis. I’ve tried growing Lychnis two or three times, but it always ends up with powdery mildew.
I’m envious of your Delphinium, Helen. I’ve given up growing them at all as the slugs got them every time. It’s great to pause and stop for GBBD and note how the garden’s changing isn’t it?
What a lovely GBBD post. Your blooms are fantastic! I love the delphinium, I can’t see to grow them in Virginia. Too hot I guess. I love the yellow thistle too. That might work here. Thanks for sharing your lovely garden with us.
Wonderful blooms! I love your Pacific Giant Delphinium~ That’s my favorite delphinium color. You did well growing it from seed.
Hi Ben – thanks for telling me the correct name I will make a note of it and try to remember it.
Hi Karen – Yes I like the Ammi majus but the blackfly is a problem, especially if you want to use them as cut flowers
Hi Victoria – I didnt know Lychnis had a problem with powdery mildew – I get it on other plants but these have been OK
Hi VP – for some reason my slugs dont like Delphiniums!
Hi Perennial gardener – you are welcome – I enjoyed putting the post together and it is a good way of making you take stock
Thanks Chey – this is my 3rd attempt to get them to grow from seed so I am really pleased
Hi Helen,
Just been looking back at my Comments from my Arte y Pico post. Don’t feel obliged that you have to display the award in your sidebar. I just disply it when I’m thanking the donor and passing the award on. You can bend the rules to suit yourself or ignore them completely!
Hi Helen,
If you put your mouse arrow over the Arte y Pico picture on my blog and right click on your mouse, you should get a little box appear with the word Properties at the bottom of it. Hover you mouse over it so the word goes blue and then left click your mouse. Another box will appear the first line of it should have a filename ending in .jpg. Now right click with your mouse again and select the Save As option. This should show a new box with details of the folder where you last saved something on your computer. If you want to save it somewhere else, then select the new folder you want. Make sure the file type box at the bottom is showing JPEG or JPG. If it isn’t, then make sure you select that file type. You can then click on the Save button and hey presto! you should now have the image available for you to load into your blog just like you do with a picture!
If that doesn’t make sense or work – I think you can get hold of my email address from your Comments and ask for more info that way rather than doing it via our blogs?
You have so many beautiful flowers right now. I wish I could grow astilbe. And I really admire that yellow mystery flower with the variegated leaves.
I’d be happy with that Delphinium, even if it is a stubby dwarf. That color just glows. I’m also drooling over your Clematis. I have a few, but the Earwigs shred every flower. I know not everybody likes magenta, but I do, especially with the grey foliage of the Lychnis. It looks fabulous growing together with its white counterpart.
All the plants are spectacular, but the yellow thistle really caught my attention!
Best,
Philip
Hi Pam – Ben says that it is a Lysimachia punctata ‘Alexander’, Variegated Loosestrife
Hi Mr Mcgregor’s Daughter – it wasnt intentional to grow the white and magenta Lychnis together – they were from the same packet of seed and where all meant to be magenta but I do think it looks good
Hi Philip – I have to say I am in two minds about the yellow thistle but lots of people seem to like it. I think I need to find the right spot for it and the right plants to go with it.
I have finally sussed out what the Salvia is – Salvia transsylvanica. From searching on the web for it, I think this might be right. It describes it as a tough plant good for problem spots – so that is most of my garden!!! It says that if I cut it back after flowering I will get a second flush of flowers. Its meant to be hardy
Hi Helen, a lovely bloom day post. I don’t remember the names to all my plants either.~~Dee
Those are eye catching flowers. You have a lot of variety in your garden, it looks great. Thanks for joining in for bloom day.