mid-July 2016

My first morning glory in bloom.

My first scabious in bloom, not sure if this is "House's Novelty" or "Ebony and Ivory" (obviously Ivory if it's that variety). Lots of knautia Melton Pastels in the background - they've been a great success. I do love pinchusion flowers.

a week later, more of the white flowers, none of the other colours sadly

the agapanthus are just starting to bloom

the new sea hollies on the left are looking good but the one I previously had and recently put in the ground on the right is not doing well at all, sadly

nepeta with buds and a few blooms just starting to open

more water lily blooms and a nice fat bud there are on the right

that fat bud starting to open

the patio next door has the most amazing plants growing in the cracks between the paving stones: agastache,

stem coming up from between the paving stones

passionflower

I have moved some of my experiments with seeds to a separate page, Seeds, as I really wanted to know, easily, how long from sowing seeds until a plant flowers. I also wanted to show my lupins finally blooming here too. There are 2 more green buds to the back of that pot on the right. The flowers (and buds) are small as I grew them from seeds. These plants are from a spring sowing this year. I also had lupins in bloom recently from a late sowing last year. And I had a B+Q small lupin which grew enormously and flowered well, see mid-June 2016 below.

here is a close-up of that lupin flower

something very surprising, a surviving veronica sprouting

Before I had seen that veronica above I'd bought one with the sea hollies (4 perennials for £12). I usually get Royal Candles or something that looks good but doesn't last, anyway I thought this one, just called Veronica Spicata Blue, with that really strong stem looks tough enough to survive the slugs.

Close-up of that larger stem on the right, just now considering, why does it have that stem like that? Does it actually help it have any more flowers? Would it really help it survive the slugs? They slither up anything. Not sure my thinking on that is sound but will plant it and see how it does.

I planted the veronica in the flowerbed. Sadly I managed to break those 2 verbena bonariensis when I bent over to do the planting. (I'm the clumsiest woman in the world!)

I put the broken tops in a vase

luckily, after overnight in the vase, they've recovered a bit, I hope they'll bloom and be available for insects

the verbena bonariensis is showing strong shoots after the main stem was broken

I finally made an effort last night to go out and look for slugs - challenging as I usually go to bed quite early. There were loads - making a beeline for the sea holly and lupins. I wish I'd done it sooner. It was a busy half hour picking up slugs and a few snails which I put in a plastic bag, tied and threw away so no problems of killing them. - later - decided I needed to humanely kill the slugs so subsequent nights I now wrap them in a paper towel and cut them in half (sure Bob Flowerdew is right, that's the best way)

more Pink Fizz poppies

I've had a few Pink Fizz poppies from the plants in this pot (above and left) but no Seriously Scarlet - so far. There are still a few buds.

one more poppy is about to bloom, I assume Seriously Scarlet, one flower from an entire packet of seeds, disappointing

This unexpected self-seeded delphinium is now in bud although it's still in a small pot and somehow I've managed to keep it away from the slugs on the table.