ju1i3's blog

first colour on the knautia buds

comfrey flowers

comfrey buds

lily of the valley

The idea was to honour the memory of my grandmother with one of her favourite flowers around this tree, marked by bricks (now sunken into the ground). Their growth is inconsistent - great bare patches and extending - but outside the bricks! Very uncooperative of them. I have to clear out other plants periodically, even if I love green alkanet I want a small patch of the lily of the valley.

late bergenia flower

I pulled this pot of cerinthe out of the flowerbed. The mild winter has been great for cerinthe - too great - I will allow these flowers to develop seeds and then plant out somewhere or cut back.

the only surviving (from the slug attack) milk thistle, hidden by the green alkanet or I would have snapped sooner, I hope I can get some seeds from these to grow more - maybe with slug pellets??

tulips still looking great, some on the left have lost their petals and pot at the back is still in bud

the iris in this pot are looking good, along with foxglove and ornamental artichoke which have self-seeded, not sure how they'll all cope in this pot but I don't have any room for it in the front garden to put it in the ground

not sure what these are or where they came from (freecycle pot?) but look a little iris-like, will try to grow them on to flower and therefore identification - and flowers to enjoy

moving teasels - and other plants with strong taproots

In the past when I've tried to move teasels, green alkanet and hollyhocks which have strong taproots,  they've proved impossible to keep alive, the latest try being the potted teasel in the pot on the right. I like teasels and want to grow them but they are aggressive self-seeders so sometimes they end up in the wrong place. I wanted to try again to move one and had a spare pot handy so popped it in. Result: unhappiness. I had another teasel I really wanted to move so dug it up but didn't have a spare pot but did have that trug with wet strulch handy so just put it in temporarily. Result: happiness.

various things have self-seeded around the tulips, I wonder if those thin seedlings are muscari, they look similar, only thinner, than the muscari following

I had excellent muscari flowers in recent years, on the shelves near these pots. The wooden trough many were in literally fell apart so I re-potted them, about 2 single flowers only this year. I don't know what's happened with them all. I guess they don't like being disturbed. I took all the bulblets I had from various sources and potted them up. No idea how long until they flower, if ever.

muscari bulblets

I was sweeping up the patio and noticed some seedlings (below), I rescued them and put them in a pot, I *think* that lesser knapweed dried seedhead has a lesser knapweed seedling growing from it, I'm just surprised as I've never seen one self-seeding before

Scabious seedlings, very disappointing, from an end of March sowing: on the left only 3 seedlings from a packet of Scabiosa House's Novelty Mix of 35 seeds for £2.99 from T+M, on the right only 6 seedlings from a packet of Scabiosa Ebony & Ivory of 100 seeds for 99p also from T+M. At this point it's not just the cost but the waste of time at this crucial time when I've lost the chance for more flowers this year. 

not sure of these, maybe honesty? will confirm

I've put markers by the cornflower seedlings

a close-up of those cornflower seedlings

large seedling is foxglove, on the right is a cornflower as above

the tiniest agastache seedlings (I think, will watch as they develop)

I trimmed back the cat grass in this tray which has been on the windowsill inside. How did all these plants self-seed when it wasn't even outside? Large middle left (and smaller below it and middle right) verbena bonariensis, largest globe thistle, under globe thistle nigella, top towards the left oxalis, bottom towards the left and middle foxglove, top edge cornflower?

dahlia tuber or so I've discovered, I've not grown dahlias before but had a pot from a neighbour and when I was cleaning it out found this, those are tiny white sprouts in the middle

when digging weeds up with a spade just cannot be avoided

When confronted by a monster like this dockweed, one can easily see the advantage of identifying weed seedlings when they are small and easy to pull up rather than when they have grown into an enormous multi-stemmed shrub that requires digging out with a full-size spade and wrestling with tenacious taproots. This weekend, so far, I have tackled this and 1 small dockweed in this back garden next door, about half a dozen in the front garden next door and at least a dozen in the next garden along. I know how difficult this task is to get round to doing so am happy to do it for neighbours who are working full-time while I'm not working.

some of the Little Princess tulips - open in the sun and I was warm enough to be outside to take a pic

Borage

The borage seedlings are looking great. I started separating the compartments of the egg carton, the roots are growing right through the cardboard - which is the idea - then the roots do not get so disturbed.

I don't think the slugs eat them so I'm able to keep the small pots on the ground, in the tray just to make them easier to carry.

I love lupins and, aside from the slugs, seem easy enough to grow. The seeds germinate well. Unfortunately I managed to drop this tray with the seedlings. 

I picked them up from the ground and in spite of the breakages planted them in these 5 pots, 3 to a pot. I put them on the patio next door which is drier than mine and I think the slugs will struggle to get to them. After these pots I plan to put them in larger pots, keeping them on the patio. After recent disasters I never plan on putting lupins in the ground again.

from an entire packet of delphinium seeds sown last summer I have one seedling, I had about 4 at one time but this is the only one around and it hasn't really grown or it's a new seedling from a seed that did not germinate last year, it's in the pot with that unknown small plant which I thought had died but it's back!

I have two lupins from last year which I grew from seed. Getting them to this point is not difficult in a pot - as long as the slugs cannot get to them. This first pot is huge. The lupin I transplanted here had self-seeders around it, eg centaurea montana and foxgloves and then I added more foxgloves as the pot had room, not that the foxgloves need slug protection, they seem to cope okay. Victor there on the path above it.

This pot also has a verbena bonariensis and I had put some crocus bulbs around it. That plant stand has 3 shelves and the lupin is in the middle. When it was on top the pigeons landed on it numerous times and I see the leaves still have not fully recovered.

I have quite variable success with seeds. These globe thistle seedlings, from seed I collected from my own plants are looking great, germination has been great - too great - I have way too many seedlings.

I started potting up 1 to a pot, then made it 2 and I have lots of seedlings left.

these are some globe thistles from last summer, they are great for bees, there are 3 bees on that one flower alone

centaurea montana

This is what I dreamt of when I planned and executed the rearranging of this flowerbed, moving the globe thistles to the back along the fence (left) and removing any remaining bluebell clumps: room for the centaurea montana (right front) to expand and hopefully self-seed. They seem to have self-seeded but I haven't seen those small plants bloom yet. I look forward to those flowers soon. Close-up of buds in the next pic and subsequent pic the knautia from the centre. Self-seeded forget-me-nots back right, lesser knapweed front left.

I see buds! they look like black balls

and there are also buds on the self-seeded ones in the lupin pot

knautia with those pincushion buds on the taller stems on the left, times like this I wish I knew more about plants, why do the knautia have those pincushion buds and flowers but are completely different from scabious? to an amateur gardener (like me) they seem closely related, 3 important things I do know: I love them, the bees love them, the slugs don't love them - the essential criteria for any garden plant! (and I grew these from seed so cannot be very difficult)

One thing I'm not seeing in that flowerbed is any trace of the veronicas I've bought from the garden centre as plants. Like the centaurea montana I've had difficulty growing them from seed so thought I'd treat myself with one full-size plant at the garden centre. As far as I know they're perennials so an investment (yea, right). I have bought so many veronicas now in the past 10 years because they don't come back. I guess I'm doing something wrong but don't know what or maybe, what the British horticultural industry is doing is wrong.

close-up of those Comfrey buds from a week or so ago which I forgot to post, will post an update on progress this week

I heard about the plant sale at B+Q and couldn't resist going but wish I hadn't bothered. The quality was quite poor but I managed to impulse buy 4 plants (which I didn't need) for £10. This lupin (back left) actually looks pretty good and for only £2.50 I thought it was worth it for a plant to flower this summer whereas my new seedlings probably won't flower until next year. The delphiniums look ok but when I potted them up they hardly had any roots so will need to wait and see if they establish themselves. The Johnsons Blue hardy geranium (front right) I will put in the back garden. I have some in the front but none in the back. I have a Rozanne hardy geranium but it's been totally pathetic and I'm not sure it's still alive so would prefer a known variety.

potted up that lupin is looking pretty good I must admit

It seems I've been cold for weeks but it's probably not been that long. When the sun is shining, you want to go outside and do some gardening or walking to look at gardens and plants but it's too cold! unless you steel yourself.

I have no idea what kind of tulip the red and yellow one is as I did not actually choose it and think it was included in a pack by mistake. It's bloomed well both last year (the first I recall it being in the front garden) and this year. Looks like there's a small snail or something inside it at the top which I did not notice when I took the pic.

these Little Princess tulips have been very confused, sun comes out and they open then next day cold and they close up

the Honesty is fab this year, I've had some very very small plants that are blooming before they go through the usual stages with the large leaves, etc so wanted to have some better pics of the flowers so I can identify the plants earlier

here is that very small honesty, about 12 cm tall

same small honesty showing a large honesty in the background

a view of that large honesty from the other side, about 60 cm tall

the large honestys above and below, they developed large heart-shaped leaves on the bottom half of the plant before flowers were even considered, unlike that small one above with very few leaves and certainly no heart-shaped ones, about 80 cm tall

I ordered 5 bulbs of tulipa whittallii, but I only have 4 that have grown, to me they are indistinguishable from the Little Princess tulips

a close-up of those 2 on the left

some of the Little Princess tulips in bloom, that pot on the right still has one in bud

will add a pic of the remaining 5 flowers today (bought a pack of 10, half in bloom above)

new Taylors Narcissus Green Eyes - how very unimpressive! from a pack of 10, 5 have grown, 2 buds visible, it's almost May, shouldn't narcissus be in bloom by now??

a tiny, tiny chinese lantern sprout which I didn't notice until I stepped on while pruning, still growing - I think - will try to look out for them better

update on the hostas, still amazed I have some, in spite of the slugs

as it's so cold, everything is late this year, including the hostas, they are the spikey purple sprouts, the small green plants are green alkanet

hosta 1 think it might be Sum and Substance

hosta 2

hosta 3, seems to be doing the best of the ones I have

hosta 4 is the one sharing a pot with a large foxglove, which unfortunately provides shelter for the slugs, last I checked the slugs had eaten the tops of the sprouts, will take another pic and add it here

hosta 5 still in a small plastic pot but doing well, will repot it this summer

hosta 6 was in a small plastic pot last summer and I don't see it right now, I must have planted it in the garden or in another pot, not sure where right now but I'll find it and add a pic

the Honesty has been fantastic this year; the green alkanet is always fantastic! but compared to a neighbour's garden in the sun (shown at the bottom of the bluebell page) my Honesty flowers are sparse

They were talking on Gardeners Question Time about the difference between comfrey and foxglove. I happen to have them near each other, also with green alkanet which is sometimes confused with foxglove so all 3 for comparison, left to right foxglove, green alkanet, comfrey:

right in the middle of those textured comfrey leaves some buds can be seen

close-up of those buds

I haven't sown cerinthe seeds for years but they are appearing regularly and fabuously

these flowers are usually visited regularly by bees but it's so cold I'm not seeing many, sure when it warms up there will be lots of bees

I think these are Little Princess tulips but I must check. I guess being in the cans has warmed the roots and they are blooming earlier than the pots.

the tulips in the terracotta pots are still in bud

I see a fat ripe pincushion! I've got lots of these new scabious 'Melton Pastels' (Knautia macedonica) from seeds I sowed the end of last summer but this is the first one with buds. I'll love them as will the bees and butterflies.

Early flowers are blooming in the garden: honesty and green alkanet:

forget-me-not:

A deadnettle (the bees love them) has self-seeded in this pot which I had planted up with a foxglove seedling. Foxgloves are bienniel so will bloom the following year and I did sow the seeds last year but many of the seedlings are so small I think they may well consider this year to be their first and I won't have flowers from them until next year (2017). Luckily I have some much larger foxgloves which will bloom this summer. I must have planted them in 2014. Foxgloves are one of those self-seeders which will give you fab flowers every year if you just leave them to get on with it.

the cerinthe self-seeded from last year is looking magnificent, in additon to those purple flowers which the bees love, the leaves are a gorgeous glaucous green with shades of purple

looking forward to the tulips blooming, I've pressed into bulb service lots of containers

some mushrooms have been encouraged by recent rain

my handsome boys

I went to the garden centre yesterday and bought 3 weeds! ok, we can call them "wildflower"s. As soon as you call a plant a "wildflower" they are less expensive at the garden centre, in this case £2.99 each. Last year I got some good wildflowers there: milk thistle, viper's bugloss and sea holly, although only 2 of the 3 sea holly bloomed. I'm hoping the 3rd will bloom this year. These are Fox and Cubs which I've never grown before so was curious to try them.

I planted them today as I had room in the flower bed after some rearrangement

The milk thistles from last year did well and I was able to collect seed and grow more. Unfortunately the slugs devoured them all except this one:

Victor enjoying the sun

Victor in the pussy willow tree

Victor on top of my mini-greenhouse

Fitzy who visits every day. I have never heard him purr. He hardly lets me pet him or hold him. Behind him, on the other side of the wall can be seen some building work my neighbour has been doing. He has a new landscaped patio like something out of Monty Don's Big Dreams Small Spaces. My garden is more like Blue Peter compared to it!

time for the tulips to replace the crocus

muscari in the front, my 5 remaining auriculas behind

honesty with the pink flowers, green alkanet on the right, teasel top right

Bergenia is as tough as old boots. Sometimes I don't appreciate it but other times, such as today, I remember how great it is for early flowers and how it survives any conditions. This morning I saw the pink from the front path and thought it was rubbish that needed picking up, only to discover a bergenia had self-seeded there - and bloomed! What a nice change from the usual rubbish and cigarette ends I see there.

anemone and narcissus in the front garden - first year from new bulbs - always the best results (one of the combos from deJager)

this pic shows the orange cups of the Jetfire narcissus better than the pic above

3 hyacinths in this pot, 2 bloomed early and are now brown, 1 in full bloom, aren't plants annoying like that!

that tulip bud on the left above a few days later

the taller narcissus - also first year from new bulbs, think from bins at Camden Garden Centre, Polly Pocket to the left

the other cats in the back garden (Victor and Socks) with more blooming bulbs

narcissus Tete-a-tete blooming in the compost pile, I've removed them and planted them in the garden

close-up of those beautiful hyacinths

that bulb with buds bottom left was looking good but it is now rotten

these are previously forced hyacinths from previous years blooming in the garden

it's cold and windy but the crocus are making a spectacular show in the sun

A very dark purple hyacinth, Kronos?, Peter Stuyvesant? these are the replacements from J Parkers for the Sky Jacket hyacinths, but they aren't Sky Jacket either! I did force the other bulbs I received (that's how I knew their colour) but received these later so planted them outside.

the flower on the right looks more uniformly purple than the one on the left which has blue at the base of the florets but I'm not sure

muscari

large Dutch crocus

tete-a-tete daffodils and crocus

some of the indoor hyacinths got planted outdoors, think they were from a bulb bowl? will check

this is a better view of those fat fab hyacinth buds, Miss Saigon bottom left, other 2 Delft Blue

White Pearl hyacinths at their peak

the crocus are blooming like mad (end of February)

the early daffodils are in bloom as well, tete-a-tete I think, those hyacinths are spent after blooming indoors

I still have lots of bluebells in the front flowerbed, the hyacinths are blooming so the leaves that look similar to hyacinths but without flowers are bluebells and I'm going to work at removing them

these are the "Sky Jacket" hyacinths which J Parkers sent me when the original bulbs weren't Sky Jacket - neither are these!

spring bulbs outside

The pot of crocus (bottom right) are all the bulbs from the crocus vases and bulb pot (see gardenwithindoors) that did not bloom; I got tired of them on the windowsill so put them outside and planted them. Not sure if they will bloom but think they have as good a chance outside as inside. The hyacinths on the bottom shelf are prepared White Pearl but I ran out of room indoors for them. They are looking nice and fat and have big buds.

The pots on the left have muscari bulblets.

These were last year's crocus, blooming in a pot outside.

I love moss. I noticed this on the front garden wall yesterday.

my average self-seeded pot, clock-wise from the top cente: green alkanet, thyme, campanula, deadnettle, foxglove, forget-me-not - and - a bit of moss

even though the echium seedlings were doing well, they've been eaten so now they are NOT doing well

bergenia flowers

some unknown plants seen on a recent walk along the Regents Canal

It's cold today but the past week has been pretty warm for the time of year. I noticed a flower and buds on one of the blackberry plants. Much as I enjoy not being cold it is crazy weather and very confusing for plants.

the nasturtiums are still coming out with the odd flower, they've been a great success this year: easy growing from seed and lots of flowering over a long period of time and they are self-seeding

The easiest identification is a seedling like this where you can see the distinctive seed, in this case globe thistle.

nasturtium: another seedling straight from a distinctive seed and nasturtiums have distinctive leaves as well

This is a knautia melton pastels which I bought earlier this year in bloom, it has a new flush of  flowers late in the year. I love those pincushion flowers which the bees love so I bought a pack of seeds which are doing well as young plants so hope to have lots of flowers next spring/summer. I want some scabious as well (they're all the same sort of plant to me even if they are different scientifically) so will be sowing those seeds in the spring.

I'm having more success with the echium and monarda seedlings, maybe the ones I planted earlier, in the summer, were overwhelmed by the self-seeded oeonothera.

Narcissus Green Eyes. I could not resist this pack of bulbs yesterday, the colour is intriguing - blue shading - but possibly just in the pic, in the spring I'll see what they really look like.