ju1i3's blog

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.

Scarecrow likes to sit on this wall,

either dozing

or looking for mice in the neighbour's garden

Crepis rubra

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

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

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

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

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. 

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

sunflowers in bud

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

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

I have one sea holly surviving from last year flowering.

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

marsh mallow in bud, behind the acanthus

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.

Atlantic poppy rosette and one with a bud

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

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

wall lettuce I saw locally, surprised it survived Veolia

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

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.

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

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.

bee on red poppy

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

lots of red poppies are blooming

viper's bugloss, bee bottom right

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.

close-up of that bee

Now the bee is on the left at the bottom.

flying bee just to the left

view of the entire acanthus

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

lots of buds so looking forward to more flowers

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

borage with buds, green alkanet behind

my clowder in the garden, Scarecrow

Rocky

Rocky, Victor and Scarecrow

Scarecrow

and in the front garden, Polly Pocket

first Lauren's Grape poppies in bloom

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

melancholy thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum) with a hoverfly

echium vulgare just starting to bloom

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)

these are from new this year Big Blue sea holly

common hogweed

lupin, survived from last year

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

Another view of my Rock

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

also in my front garden are two magnificent teasels

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)

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

meadow cranesbill

water figwort in another garden nearby

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

back garden, bees on the sea holly

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

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.

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

mixed pot of poppies

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

bird cherry

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

and inside the railings

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

flowers and lots of buds

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

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

there's a bee on this one

the basal rosette leaves are very distinctive and often persist

hawkweed oxtongue

narrow-leaved ragwort, in bud

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

bee on chive flower

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 flowers top and bottom left

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

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

self-seeded in a wall

close-ups of some flowers and buds

really strong, square, dark red stems

melancholy thistle with bees

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

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

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

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

sky-high teasel with lots of buds

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

foxglove in bloom

fringecups in bloom

iris foetidissima in bloom

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

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

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

knautia / knapweed / scabious

lesser knapweed

knautia macedonica

younger knautia macedonica plants

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.

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.

one lone white flower has appeared

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.

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.

borage seedling bitten off

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