garden withoutdoors

so many plants have self-seeded between the paving slabs but the most amazing is the passionflower

the trunk (and it is a trunk not a stem) is thick, like a tree

surprisingly, there's and old man's beard self-seeded by the passionflower and climbing up it

it looks good but didn't bloom this year

the cats are a big component of this garden (as well as my garden), here's Victor

in front of Victor, cleome flowers, verbena bonariensis and honesty brown dry seedpods to the right, white verbascum flowers in the front

Jeffrey surrounded by plants, clockwise from Jeffrey's back, green alkanet, plastic pot with an eaten (by Jeffrey) catnip, terracotta pot with an uneaten catnip, nepeta faassenii, clover, knautia macedonia, ox-eye daisy pot, more green alkanet, pot with snapdragon and ox-eye daisy

that agastache has had great flowers this summer

close-up of that ivy-leaved toadflax

huge knautia macedonia Melton Pastels, foxglove in the pot to the left, green alkanet above, aquilegia below, spreading honeysuckle? to the right, I think

verbena bonariensis

Bear, just as I was trying to take this photo, Bear's mum, Stitch was on the wall so both would have been in the shot but she jumped down before I snapped

It rained the other day so the ground wasn't totally rock hard so I made the effort to plant out some of the plants that are ready: chicory, wild bergamot, calamint and scabious. Anything in a pot needs watering so whatever I can get in the ground I'm trying to.

3 chicory plants planted out, 2nd wild bergamot on the left behind planted out, the one on the right I had previously planted in the ground. Not sure what to do with the pot of ox-eye daisies on the left behind. They took over that pot. Eventually, next Spring, they'll probably took great. Then I can move them for best effect.

the small scabious plants behind the bricks self-seeded in  pots, ready to plant them out, and make sure the bricks were in place along the path

it wasn't long before Victor used them as a pillow

the calamint was in a pot for ages but every pot needs watering so trying to get everything I can in the ground

My late delphinium has opened fully and the bees are loving it. I can see pollen baskets on the bees.

The whole slug thing has gotten so discouraging, the only place left to move anything is inside or on the stairs to the garden. There's another small delphinium that I rescued from slug destruction by keeping it inside for a while. Now it's on the stairs, along with that Black and Blue salvia which has buds after I also had it inside for a while. I can't keep the whole garden on the stairs. 

new flush of greater knapweed flowers looking great - and not bothered by slugs

borage also is pretty tough

Maybe it's crazy to even attempt plants like delphiniums and lupins - or hostas! when plants like Japanese anemone can grow and thrive completely untouched? Maybe I should just stick with plants like that. 

something special on the shelf amidst the passionflower and morning glory

I can't believe the summer is coming to an end already. It seemed like there'd be plenty of time for sowing seeds and growing things but it's almost Autumn.

After it rained, after the drought and heatwave a few weeks ago, some plants came back to life including this delphinium which has a second flower spike. Behind it is the sunflower which has some new small flowers off the main stem.

another delphinium has come back from slug damage and now has buds

the new batch of borage is blooming and attracting bees, although I only seem to have a few in my garden

some of the sea holly flowers dried up and died but new ones have bloomed

snapdragons have self-seeded, above a pink one on the right and below a white and lighter pink and a calendula

a pink water lily in bloom and 1 bud that's either going to open or is finishing, I can't tell which

I haven't seen a yellow water lily in bloom this summer so far but I see there's a bud

the morning glory has a good flush of flowers today and the passionflower has intermittent blooms

cleomes and Polly Pocket

the sedum just below the cleomes is in bloom now, I thought it was called something like "rhubarb and custard" but on googling I can only find "Stewed Rhubarb"

and just below that, a perlargonium - best value from the garden centre - free for loyalty card holders, been going strong for months

There were lots of chicory flowers in St Pancras Old Church churchyard and lots of bees enjoying them. Difficult to get a photo in focus but on the left is a bee with white pollen baskets either side.

also lots of bristly ox-tongue with bees

I usually just hack away at the ivy as it usually seems to grow pretty fast but the other day I just pruned the stems without buds and was careful to leave the buds to produce flowers for the bees.

If only the fruits of the passionflower were nice. They aren't.

My early borage died in the drought and heatwave, then I had a couple small plants, now I have a lot of borage buds and flowers. I just wish I had bees enjoying them. I don't have many bees this year, sadly. There's been a huge construction site nearby (and a number of smaller but still large ones, as well) and I do wonder if it's disturbed the environment to such an extent that I have fewer bees in my garden.

my neighbour's squash is spreading over another neighbour's garden and into mine (vine on the left)

it's the only thing they grow in their garden and they built that monstrosity (with the posts sticking up) just for it, it's growing up that olive tree

and down the other side

my mint started to bloom, see more about mint at my Lamiaceae page

This salvia was blooming when I bought it earlier this year, then the slugs got to it and it was a bare stick, then I moved it inside and it recovered but no flowers, not until next year I imagine. I think it was something like "Salvia Blue and Black" but I'll have to see if I can find the label.

a delphinium I thought was too slug-damaged has new buds

the heat has brought out the water lily flowers

I always have honesty self-seeding around the garden but last year I planted the seed myself and had spectacular results. This was one of them. I'm going to plant some of those seeds again.

a lone viola has appeared in the sea holly trough, the agapanthus to the left have not bloomed this year and there's no time to now, that sea holly in the foreground hasn't sprouted flowering stem - hopefully next year, I didn't notice the slug in the flowerbed to the right when I was taking this photo

Please don't use cut plastic bottles as cloches in the garden. Animals can get them stuck on their head. I mentioned this before but it's worth repeating.

I can finally do something in the garden as the heatwave has cooled down. I've been tidying some things and was going to prune back these dried stems of the poppy when I realised the new flower is growing from the dried stems. We shouldn't be too much in a rush to clear things away. (catnip at the front, honesty to the left, sea holly behind, nasturtium on the right)

I continue to notice Japanese knotweed locally

surprise viola springing from a pot

For the last couple of years I've been doing pots for my neighbour round the corner. One pot had agastache, another had a hollyhock. I removed those and replaced them as they died back. Now agastache and a hollyhock is growing between the paving stones.

A neighbour nearby has a whole row of mint along the edge of their front garden and right now while it's in bloom it looks amazing. That hoverfly is enjoying it as well.

After seeing that fab mint, I pulled mine out from the crowd of pots while I was tidying up a bit and looked carefully and it has buds. Looking forward to some flowers.

I've seen gipsywort before but this example yesterday along the canal was so fresh and new I just had to photograph it again.

The weather has been so extreme so many plants are out of their natural rhythm. I don't know if the ivy should have buds right now or not but it seems quite early to me.

These are in my garden.

These are along the canal.

I love greater knapweed. Now that it's rained a bit, they are looking so much better than during the heatwave drought.

The comfrey has come back as well now that it's not so hot and dry. And the bees are enjoying it.

Difficult growing conditions have meant some plants have not bloomed and won't be blooming at all this year and some have bloomed incredibly early. My Chinese Lanterns are a disaster. The first orange lantern weeks ago, months early. I did try to grow some in pots and as I watered my pots, they have done well, unlike the ones in the ground, which I can't share a photo of as they are so heart-breaking.

also in a pot, some self-seeded borage with lots of buds

I wasn't sure how the morning glory would cope with this shady corner of my neighbour's patio but it's been fine. Not as shady as I thought. (Scarecrow on the chair under the table)

the toad lily has lots of flowers but they're small; I'm afraid I'm underwhelmed

beginning of July the toad lily didn't even have any buds, I guess the hot weather really accelerated things

The globe thistles bloomed early and are already past their best. In previous years, August was their prime time.

the lupin has only bloomed because I've been watering it - a lot

but all the watering has helped the slugs, they've started on this hosta which I've been keeping out of their reach recently - but they've found it

and they went for the hyssop seedlings which had been doing so well, I just see a slug trail

even though it's so small, this nepeta has buds, some plants react to difficulties by blooming - to ensure seed production and long-term continuation (prickly sow thistle on the right)

I have no idea why this poppy is so small (in a 9-cm pot) and so much later than the others (nipplewort or smooth sow thistle seedlings in there as well)

the heat has helped the cleomes which have some prominent buds

a couple days later, the flowers have started to bloom

the ever reliable Japanese anemone, appear totally unaffected by the heatwave

a self-seeded calendula

a few days later, the first bud has opened

I love green alkanet and have it all over the garden in the spring but it's totally unnecessary to have any in pots. My agapanthus didn't bloom this year, whether because of the weather or being crowded out by the green alkanet, I don't know. It's time to remove all the green alkanet from pots. I'll start on that when the heatwave ends, in theory tonight (August 7th).

It's been a very difficult time in the garden and wider environment. It's hot and dry. So hot and dry I don't even want to think about it. I refuse to waste water watering the entire garden and have only been watering pots and the recently planted rhubarb and a few others recently put in the ground. I only planted the wild bergamot in the ground recently after growing them from seed sown last summer. I could not even begin to get that larger pot in the ground until it rains and softens the rock-hard ground. If this weather continues, these are the kind of plants I will need to concentrate on.

the morning glory flowers are here and there on the patio

this sunflower was from free seeds with a seed order, only 1 germinated and grew but for free - I'm happy

close-up of the sunflower, which just opened this afternoon since I took the photo above this morning

the next day, a bee has found the sunflower

I wish I could say the cats are enjoying the catnip but it's been so hot and they seem so uncomfortable they've only had a bit of it. At least the bees are enjoying it.

it was hit and miss with the slugs but I did manage to achieve 10 catnip plants from seeds (sown in May)

this was a catnip plant I had grown from seed in a previous year - and it survived

finally a lupin flower spike, after repotting this a few weeks ago

a few days later the flower are opening, revealing my favourite colour

I've never grown toad lily before so looking forward to seeing the resulting flowers from these buds.

10 days later the first flower is open

I saw this beetroot in a neighbour's vegetable plot in their front garden.

I could see the similarity with the sea beet I saw on Hayling Island recently.

As well as the sea beet above, I saw a few other plants on Hayling last week, thistle

horned poppy and thistle

a certain amount of woolliness

sea holly

hottentot-fig

wild carrot

echium vulgare

the spent echium was all furry

also saw sea purslane, golden samphire, rock samphire and sea kale, see South Downs and Coast

the artichokes in the front garden are amazing - magnificent purple flowers beloved by bees and growing without any rain, I planted them originally in my garden, bought a very small plant for my neighbour 2 doors down (far right in the pic) and they self-seeded themselves next door, the garden in between

Sadly, not everything can stay undeveloped so it's good when a new development has a decent wildflower area, as the new Crick Institute does, not far from St Pancras Old Church and the canal. Those are bees on the globe thistles. This area has full sun so the globe thistles are in bloom, mine aren't quite yet.

there were dusky cranesbill

close-up of some of the globe thistles

helenium

I didn't know this euphorbia before, google tells me euphorbia griffithii.

I don't know if it's attractive to bees. I didn't see any around it. But then I'm seeing a lot fewer bees.

contrast that with this epic fail at Gasholders

they've put in flowerbeds - in a very controlled way

great burnet and yellow yarrow ?

but it hasn't stopped them from using weedkiller nearby

thank goodness red valerian can still self-seed by St Pancras Lock

just to the left of the lock, my most frequent non-plant photographic subject, the Post Office Tower, in the distance (railway line out of St Pancras just beyond the canal, new Somers Town pedestrian bridge to the left)

and further along the canal there are some wildflowers that haven't been chemically treated or controlled

purple loosestrife

woundwort?

great hairy willowherb

wild buckwheat, not sure how "wild" it is, I've had it in my garden from bird seed

large drifts of common orache and

fat hen

huge teasels

bees on the lesser burdock

This large-leaved plant is at the edge of the canal, I'm not sure but I think it's white butterbur (petasites albus or maybe the other butterbur, winter heliotrope petasites fragrans). I guess flowers would be definitive but not sure when they'd appear. Must note specifically where it is, in case the leaves die back, so I know where to look for flowers.

the morning glory is producting new flowers every day, exquisite colour

new morning glory bud

this SylvaC pot had various self-seeders a month ago, since then the deadnettle has died as there are cracks in the pot and it dried out, I put the verbena bonariensis in another pot

the foxglove was dry enough I could ease it through the crack and I repotted it in this pot, I'll see how it does

in spite of the slug holes in the leaves, the Big Daddy hosta is blooming

the garden is dry dry dry, I'm watering the pots but I can't water the entire garden

The 5 pots of scabiosa Perfection Blue seedlings have been a magnet for self-seeders, I guess because they're getting watered, this pot has a nasturtium, a verbascum, a green alkanet and a violet? I'll look at them carefully today. -update- also snapdragon and viola self-seeding in these pots

willow? seedling in the pot on the left, deadnettle, foxglove, verbascum, agastache in the next 2 pots in the middle and surprisingly nothing else but the scabiosa seedling in the pot on the right

Victor seeking some shade in the garden, echium Blue Bedder on the right, sea holly on the left

I've put 4 of the largest cleomes in that black pot on the left (up on the table to avoid slugs) and put each of the nepeta cataria in a large pot. That one was partly eaten by a cat (visitor Jeffrey) and Polly Pocket also ate a few leaves..