cats in the garden

I tend to take close-up photos of my plants and flowers but when I took this photo of Polly Pocket I thought it would be nice to show more of the garden. Hostas in the pots and bergenia to the right, lots of globe thistles and scabiosa to the left. Apple tree at the back.

Socks, my other cat.

Jeffrey, a neighbour's cat who visits every day, on the patio.

Billy, another neighbour's cat who visits regularly, in the garden next door.

Tabby Jr, another cat that visits every day now. That makes 2 residents and 3 visitors - so far.

Types of ivy

I thought it might be interesting to see what types of ivy I have in the back garden. I tried to pick only 1 of each kind and only mature specimens to compare sizes and colours accurately.

types of ivy

This tiny viola self-seeded itself in this pot, surrounded by my delphinium young plants (hopefully will replace those devoured by slugs).

I have "broadcast" thousands of red poppy seeds and this is one of only two red poppies I've had in bloom. I was so curious to see how they got so many in bloom in the Tower moat until I read they were ceramic! No wonder - as they are difficult and unpredicable.

red poppy

Still more colours of the Tasty Pansy and Pansy Tea Party, I love this shade of blue/purple

pansy

what's in bloom now

globe thistles are finally in bloom, the bees are loving them

globe thistle

this is one of my pots where lots of things have self-seeded, including this viola

self-seeded pot

from the other side it may be easier to see what's in the pot: silver grey poppy? on the right, nasturiam in the middle, verbena bonariensis on the left, large bright green leaves I have no idea!

self-seeded pot

another viola in a slightly different colour, large foxglove leaf to its left

viola

a few of the cornflowers that I planted from seed have survived the slugs and are blooming and looking good

cornflower

the Scabiosa Oxford Blue fully in bloom

scabiosa Oxford Blue

globe thistles in the background

scabiosa

scabiosa Oxford Blue

another water lily is in bloom

water lily

this was my first water lily this year

water lily

Soapwort, I saw this growing next door like a wildflower, looks a bit like phlox.

soapwort

Agapanthus finally in bloom, Socks in the background.

agapanthus

lesser knapweed

lesser knapweed

amid blazing hot sun, the bees are out

a bee loving one of the teasel flowers

teasel with bee

teasel with

bee just taking off from the flower

teasel with bee

teasel with bee

teasel with bee

artichokes with a bee on the flower top left, another flying between the stems

artichokes with bees

artichoke with bee

I have more artichoke flowers than ever this year

artichoke flowers

artichoke flowers

a bee on one of the field scabious flowers

field scabious with bee

field scabious

Scabiosa "Oxford Blue" which I grew from seed earlier this year, finally blooming, loving those pinchushion buds, the colours are exquisite

scabiosa Oxford Blue

scabiosa oxford blue

two different types of crocosima

crocosimas

green chinese lanterns before they turn orange

chinese lanterns

midsummer - lots of colour

field scabious, beautiful flowers and a beautiful pinchushion bud

field scabious

These artichokes have self-seeded next door and this year they are blooming for the first time. My artichokes are in the background, just behind the rose bush, also in bloom. You can also see here the hollyhocks and a teasel in bloom.

artichoke flowers

pansy tea party, competing with space with the agapanthus babies (they've never bloomed)

pansy tea party

all the pansies

pansy tea party and tasty pansy

pansy tea party - lovely colour variations

pansy tea party

pansy tea party

pansy tea party

pansy tea party

I love the way there are flowers on this scabiosa Barocca in about 4 different stages all at the same time, here are two.

scabiosa barocca

lots of pink flowers next door: hollyhocks (pink and red), mallow, spear thistle, hydrangea beyond

pink flowers

These are the hollyhocks that had such striking red stems before they had flowers, now I know why.

red hollyhocks

a pot of seedlings where all different things have self-seeded: 2 kinds of poppy, nigella (of course), pansy, snapdragon, foxglove, green alkanet and and an unknown on the left with the long leaves. Looking forward to seeing what it turns into.

Lordington Lavender

I went to Lordington Lavender on one of their open days. It certainly is a spectacular sight the first time you see it- a whole field of lavender.

lordington lavender

close-up of a butterfly on the lavender

Lordington lavender

I saw some field bindweed on the lavender and have added it to the Weed Guide.

I bought two lavender plants there.

lavender

red poppies in the front gardens

I planted thousands of seeds and this is what I got, one lonely little poppy. I hope there'll be more in time. And it looks more orange than red.

red poppy

I commented recently on how nice our front gardens can be with the busy road outside but today it was even more of a contrast.

On a happier note, Socks, as usual trying to catch flies, next to some beautiful pansies still going strong and my scabiosa barocca, both in that pot.

Socks and pansies

here's a close-up of that flower above

scabiosa barocca

more pansy tea party

pansy tea party

another thistle flower has opened

spear thistle

acanthus in bloom, not as good as it was when I bought it but considering the trauma new plants go through I think I'm lucky it bloomed at all

acanthus

field scabious with red hollyhocks and creeping thistle in the background

field scabious

artichoke flowers, must re-photograph with a ladder! they're very tall

artichoke flowers

I tried again with a stool but I think I might need a ladder

artichoke flower

artichoke flower

salvia just coming into flower

salvia

the tasty pansy are prolific

tasty pansy

pansy tea party, I'm afraid they are sharing space with the agapanthus but still blooming prolifically as well

pansy tea party

latest flowers end of June/beginning of July

Centaurea Montana

centaurea montana

Spear Thistle

spear thistle

Yesterday's pansy tea party, there's just a narrow rim of white around this yellow flower

pansy tea party

two of this colour bloomed yesterday

pansy tea party

pansy tea party

Nigella, I've had masses self-seeding, I love the purple centre of this flower

nigella

Pansy Tea Party, more colours keep blooming

pansy tea party

Allium sphaerocephalon

allium sphaerocephalon

comfrey with a bee, there are always bees buzzing around the comfrey plants

borage with bee

milk thistle

milk thistle

scabiosa barocca

I love pincushion flowers (see the field scabious below), I thought this hadn't survived the winter but found it growing recently and it got some buds, beautiful ones

scabiosa Barocca

latest pansy tea party, the first appearance of this colour

pansy tea party

scabiosa

scabiosa

scabiosa bud

scabiosa bud

the iris foetidissima have been amazing this year, the seed pods are numerous and heavy, in a few weeks they will split open to reveal bright orange seeds

iris foetidissima

I thought these rose thorns looked very interesting and as I had the camera in my hand I took a photo.

rose thorns

field scabious, how fantastic to have this self-seeding in the garden, it's as good as one bought from the garden centre or grown from seed, I love these pincushion flowers

lesser knapweed

field scabious

crocosima, hardy geranium and lots and lots of chinese lanterns in the foreground with small white flowers

crocosima, hardy geranium, chinese lanterns

that beautiful purple Pansy Tea Party with all the petals unfurled

pansy tea party

Tasty Pansy, that middle flower is the first appearance of that colour

tasty pansy

These are the results of cuttings taken on holiday on the south coast. The erigeron in bloom is easy to identify. The other 2 I'm not sure. The one on the bottom right is just different enough (tightly furled rosettes of leaves), I'm not sure if it is an erigeron.

erigeron

today's Tasty Pansy and Pansy Tea Party blooms

Tasty Pansy

I think this is the first appearance of this colour.

Tasty Pansy

Pansy Tea Party

I love this colour. When that bottom petal unfurls this will be an exquisite flower.

pansy tea party

pansy tea party

The flower that has appeared from the red-stemmed hollyhock (pictured below) - beautiful. For me the darker the better for a hollyhock.

red hollyhock

crocosima, more thistles and thistle-like plants

crocosima just bloomed today (June 25th), probably helped by the hot sunny weather we've been having

crocosima

crocosima buds

crocosima bud

self-seeded scabious (will research what kind) almost ready to burst into flower

creeping thistle

creeping thistle

spear thistle

spear thistle

struggling to get some of the agapanthus to bloom, buds in the top pot, none in the bottom one

agapanthus

Below, I've had these for years, planted from bulbs/corms/whatever they are called, in a pot (they say constricting them in pots is good for flower production), eventually I put them in the ground as I didn't want to waste a pot on them and the roots were outgrowing the pot but still no flowers after about 15 years.

agapanthus

Tasty Pansy and Pansy Tea Party

every day I'm seeing new Tasty Pansy flowers, in a variety of colours, this is the first of this colour combination

Tasty Pansy flower

today there was a new Pansy Tea Party flower

pansy tea party

next day, another new flower which is another new colour

Pansy Tea Party

Pages

Subscribe to garden withoutdoors RSS