ju1i3's blog

first Amazing Grey poppy in bloom

I shouldn't be so surprised but I am when the seeds I sow eventually flower. It seems so hit and miss so much of the time.

amazing grey poppy

Scarecrow likes to sit on this wall,

either dozing

or looking for mice in the neighbour's garden

Crepis rubra

crepis rubra

before these flowers bloomed I'd forgotten I'd sown these seeds so I planted more so now I have another pot

crepis rubra

hosta with buds, surprised still some existing are some were eaten by slugs and snails

hosta

this pot is full of poppies, I guess they grew to fit their space - the Lauren's Grape poppies are smaller than the ones in a larger pot

poppies

I'm still waiting for these poppies to bloom and I'm not sure which they are

poppy

I look after my neighbour's garden next door. It used to have lots of hollyhocks but then they got infected with hollyhock weevil. Then the ox-eye daisies took over the garden blocking out any struggling hollyhocks. I decided to try to revive the hollyhocks. I bought bare root plants, I think it was 10 but only got 9 surviving. I potted them up and they've grown well in tall pots. I also grew some from seed with 10 plants resulting. Time to plant out so I cleared the ox-eye daisies but the ground is rock hard. It rained last night but the ground is still rock hard. I worked hard today trying to get them in the ground and was gifted some home-made compost which I used to give them a little something to make them happier. I planted out 14 so have 5 more to do tomorrow. I'm thinking of putting some garden waste on the rock hard flower bed for a little while to soften it up, a couple weeks? I'm not sure if that method would help. 

hollyhocks

salvia sclarea var turkestanica, one plant surviving after having about 3 last year

salvia sclarea var turkestanica

sunflowers in bud

little dorrit sunflower

self-seeded viper's-bugloss - so difficult to grow from seed

vipers bugloss

my best poppies this year were the Lauren's Grape that self-seeded

lauren's grape poppy

I have one sea holly surviving from last year flowering.

sea holly

and one very very slug-damaged sea holly which does not have a flowering stem

sea holly slug-damaged

marsh mallow in bud, behind the acanthus

marsh mallow

I love green alkanet and have masses of it in my garden. In the spring it blooms, the bees love it and it provides colour in the garden before other plants get going. It dies back in time for other plants to take over. Below is an example of one of them wilted plants. They all die back like this.

spent green alkanet

Atlantic poppy rosette and one with a bud

atlantic poppy rosette

a green alkanet looking very rosette-like, they don't usually, green alkanet is not a plant that tends to start with a rosette

green alkanet rosette

evening primrose seedling I discovered behind some other pots, didn't know I had it, presume it self-seeded from plants I had last year

evening primrose

I'm not sure what this is, it self-seeded, not sure from where

wall lettuce I saw locally, surprised it survived Veolia

wall lettuce

Crepis rubra pink hawk's-beard

I am loving the Crepis rubra pink hawk's-beard. Grew well from seed.

crepis rubra pink hawk's-beard

crepis rubra pink hawk's-beard

crepis rubra pink hawk's-beard

crepis rubra pink hawk's-beard

The salvia sclarea var. turkestanica I grew from seed a few years ago. I guess they flowered the 2nd year. Only 1 has survived this year. Must take a better, close photo.

salvia sclarea turkestanica

I had a couple cornflowers self-seeding. I tried sowing seed this year but the slugs and snails got all the seedlings.

cornflower

I love viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) but find them difficult to grow from seed. So happy one self-seeded and I have flowers the bees are enjoying.

viper's bugloss echium vulgare

poppies, acanthus, pink hawk's-beard and friends

bee on red poppy

bee on red poppy

finally the bees have started visiting the Lauren's Grape poppies 

lots of red poppies are blooming

red corn field common poppy

viper's bugloss, bee bottom right

bee on vipers bugloss

blackcurrant sage appeared to be almost dead but I've been watering it well and it has revived, lots of flowers

Acanthus in bloom, best flowers in years. Last year no flowers as they were devoured by slugs. This year, putting in this new fence requred extensive clearing of ivy where I guess the slugs and snails were hiding out. This year, nowhere to hide. Three flowers, must get a better photo of all 3. I wanted to show the bee here - bottom flower on the right of the left flower.

acanthus with bee

close-up of that bee

acanthus with bee

Now the bee is on the left at the bottom.

acanthus with bee

flying bee just to the left

acanthus with bee

view of the entire acanthus

acanthus spinosis

Crepis rubra (pink dandelion / pink hawk's-beard) I grew from seed, first flower 14-6-2022

crepis rubra

lots of buds so looking forward to more flowers

crepis rubra

crepis rubra

 

I have lots of poppies in bloom now but so far no bees on them. I have some bees but I guess not enough to get to all the flowers in the garden.

hogweed, I'm hoping I can see a bee on this soon

hogweed

common hogweed

borage with buds, green alkanet behind

borage with buds

first poppies in bloom

my clowder in the garden, Scarecrow

Rocky

Rocky

Rocky, Victor and Scarecrow

Scarecrow

and in the front garden, Polly Pocket

first Lauren's Grape poppies in bloom

laurens grape papaver somniferum

Lauren's Grape Papaver somniferum

Laurens Grape Papaver somniferum

red / corn / field / common poppy (Papver rhoeas)

red common field corn poppy Papaver rhoeas

melancholy thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum) with a hoverfly

melancholy thistle hoverfly

melancholy thistle with hoverfly

echium vulgare just starting to bloom

echium vulgare

echium vulgare

echium vulgare

a sea holly in bud, this is one I bought last year (Magical Blue Lagoon), it's been badly slug damaged, they never seem to survive very well  so I bought 2 new ones this year (below)

sea holly

these are from new this year Big Blue sea holly

sea holly

bee sea holly

bee sea holly

bee sea holly

common hogweed

common hogweed

common hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)

lupin, survived from last year

lupin

I'm still trying to get better results with my phone's photography, so far, difficult to get the entire flower spike in the photo

lupin

Another view of my Rock

Rocky

beginning of June 2022

in my front garden, Atlantic poppy, first a hoverfly was on it, then a bee, then another hoverfly of the same one came back

atlantic poppy hoverfly

atlantic poppy bee

atlantic poppy hoverfly

also in my front garden are two magnificent teasels

teasel

my other teasel, artichokes and my black and white cow kitty enjoying the sun

sometimes the bees fly around too quickly for me to photograph them, the bee below was on the green alkanet flower but it moved before I captured it actually on the flower

lambs ear (Stachys byzantina)

stachys byzantina

mahonia, you can see why it's known as Oregon grapes

mahonia oregon grapes

meadow cranesbill

water figwort in another garden nearby

water figwort scrophularia auriculata

water figwort scrophularia auriculata

this is an example of buds I find more attractive than the resulting flowers, potato tree (Solanum crispum)

potato tree solanum crispum

back garden, bees on the sea holly

bees on sea holly

bee on melancholy thistle

looks like the bee is on the scabious which is wilting but I guess there was enough left to interest the bee

iris foetidissima with bee

lupin (wow! it survived the slugs and snails)

acanthus

acanthus

hogweed

hogweed

I have lots of poppies. These large grey-green glaucous ones are opium poppies (Papaver somniferum). These are the result of self-seeding so they are more advanced than any of the others that I sowed seeds for myself. I guess I should have started my seed sowing earlier.

opium poppies (Papaver somniferum)

red common poppies on the left, 2 pots of poppies in the centre, 2 pots of poppies on the right

poppies

mixed pot of poppies

poppies

Camden Highline Concerns Along the Railway Line

I am very concerned about the Camden Highline and what it will do to the wildflowers and wildlife along the railway line here in Camden. If you're reading this before June 11th 2022, please object at the planning application, 2022/2019/P at the Camden website. I'm sorry but direct links to the application are difficult.

end of May 2022, railway line, lots of red valerian at this time of year

railway line wildflowers

railway line wildflowers

bird cherry

railway line wildflowers

lots of yellow melilot, both on the railway side of the railings

yellow melilot

and inside the railings

railway line wildflowers

the only place I've seen yellow melilot is along the railway line here and future along it at Camden Road station

yellow melilot

flowers and lots of buds

yellow melilot

yellow melilot

yellow melilot

hoary mustard grows very happily local to me, near the railway line

hoary mustard Hirschfeldia incana

the fruits are appressed close along the stem, only 1 of two brassicas that are, the other being hedge mustard

hoary mustard Hirschfeldia incana

hoary mustard Hirschfeldia incana

hoary mustard Hirschfeldia incana

there's a bee on this one

hoary mustard Hirschfeldia incana

hoary mustard Hirschfeldia incana

the basal rosette leaves are very distinctive and often persist

hoary mustard Hirschfeldia incana

hawkweed oxtongue

hawkweed oxtongue

hawkweed oxtongue

narrow-leaved ragwort, in bud

narrow-leaved ragwort

narrow-leaved ragwort

bees on the melancholy thistle

I am lucky enough to have some bees in my garden this spring.

bee on chive flower

chives with bee

The bees are visiting the green alkanet and nepeta mostly. I've been trying to photograph them but they don't stay still for long - until the melancholy thistle started blooming. The bees stay on the melancholy thistle flowers, even appearing to be asleep in the first photo (purple colour is an effect of the light, the flower is pink like the others).

bee on melancholy thistle

bee on melancholy thistle flowers top and bottom left

bee on melancholy thistle

bee on melancholy thistle

bee on melancholy thistle

water figwort

Water figwort, actually doesn't need water. I see it growing in a very dry environment. It's very determined.

self-seeding in the road, 18-5-2022

water figwort seedling (Scrophularia auriculata)

small plants self-seeded in a garden, 24-5-2022

water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata)

water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata)

water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata)

self-seeded in a wall

water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata)

close-ups of some flowers and buds

water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata)

water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata)

really strong, square, dark red stems

water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata)

water figwort (Scrophularia auriculata)

end of May 2022

melancholy thistle with bees

melancholy thistle with bees

one of the greatest views in the garden, a bee going into a foxglove

foxglove with bee

the lupin has survived the slugs and grown a bud! - a miracle

lupin bud

acanthus in bloom, amazing after no flower last year because of slugs, two flowers this year

acanthus spinosis

echium vulgare buds, echium vulgare are so fiddly for me, usually I have to buy small plants as growing from seed is so difficult but didn't see any plants for sale this year but this one self-seeded, so many miracles in the garden this spring

echium vulgare

sky-high teasel with lots of buds

teasel

closer view of the water in those cups formed by the leaves on the stem

teasel with water

foxglove in bloom

foxglove

fringecups in bloom

fringecups

iris foetidissima in bloom

iris foetidissima

these dandelions were all that was left after the poppy seedlings were eaten by slugs but I guess some of the poppies were actually these dandelions but that's ok, I have dandelions in my garden and I want to practice identifying them

dandelion seedlings

slug damage can be soul-destroying, my only chinese lantern shoots this year and eaten by slugs

chinese lanterns slug-eaten

my kind of front garden: full of Crepis vesicaria / beaked hawk's-beard

crepis vesicaria

knautia / knapweed / scabious

lesser knapweed

lesser knapweed

knautia macedonica

knautia macedonica

younger knautia macedonica plants

knautia macedonica

mid-May 2022

I love sheepsbit. I first tried growing it from seed April 2020 and only got 1 plant - but what a plant! gorgeous flowers (the next year June 2021) which the bees loved. I collected seed last year and sowed it Sept 2021. I think these 2 seedlings are a result of that sowing. Do I try to separate them? I decided to leave them be in case I disturbed them too much. Going from previous experience, I won't get flowers until next year.

sheepsbit seedlings

This red campion has been amazing. I grew them from a pack of wildflower seeds, a bee promotion? last year but they didn't flower until this year but what an amazing number of flowers! and the bees have been loving them. I haven't grown red campion before and I didn't know bees liked them so much.

red campion

one lone white flower has appeared

white campion

The pot that the fringecups were in broke and for a while the plant sat without a pot. I finally repotted it recently and I see it has recovered enough to grow a flower spike. Only 1 so far. I can't remember exactly when the pot broke but I see from photos there were lots of flowers June 2021 so probably last autumn.

fringecups

We had rain once and the slugs are out in force. I've also had bird damage or I think it is bird damage. Plants have been bitten off.

anchusa damaged

borage seedling bitten off

borage seedling damaged

it's fun to do a bit of botanizing while going to the dump, this eastern rocket with those very long fruits and catsear with its distinctive rosette and yellow flowers were growing by the entrance to the dump yesterday

eastern rocket and catsear

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