garden withoutdoors

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.

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.

here's a close-up of that flower above

more pansy tea party

another thistle flower has opened

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

field scabious with red hollyhocks and creeping thistle in the background

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

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

salvia just coming into flower

the tasty pansy are prolific

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

Centaurea Montana

Spear Thistle

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

two of this colour bloomed yesterday

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

Pansy Tea Party, more colours keep blooming

Allium sphaerocephalon

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

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

latest pansy tea party, the first appearance of this colour

scabiosa

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

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

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

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

that beautiful purple Pansy Tea Party with all the petals unfurled

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

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.

Tasty Pansy

I think this is the first appearance of this colour.

Pansy Tea Party

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

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

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

crocosima buds

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

creeping thistle

spear thistle

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

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.

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

today there was a new Pansy Tea Party flower

next day, another new flower which is another new colour

I can't stop taking pics of my beautiful cats

Socks

Polly Pocket

I know I'm crazy (my gardening neighbour friend thinks so!) but I love thistles and thistle-like plants. This is a milk thistle. I've always thought it odd that slugs love plants like thistles. They adore this and it's only been through a liberal application of slug pellets I have anything left of the two I bought.

a self-seeded thistle in the front garden

another type of thistle that has self-seeded in the front garden - will research more about the types

thistle leaves to compare

There are more flowers every day of the Tasty Pansy. Fabulous.

Zantedeschia (Calla Lily)

loving this hot weather

2 differently leaved hollyhocks

hollyhock leaves to compare - will research types

I don't often order plants as I prefer to grow from seed but when I saw the "tasty" collection (of edible flowers) from a well-known company, I immediately placed an order. This is the Tasty Pansy. I am very impressed with such fast flowers.

Pansy Tea Party

not as vigorous as the Tasty Pansy and I think the slugs got to some

Sadly the Nasturtium Fruit Salad isn't doing very well. They arrived while I was away and didn't get planted straight-away  I hope they revive eventually.

ignore the smooth sow thistle weed to the left!

There are 2 self-seeded hollyhocks right by the front gate.

A few days after the pic below, a couple more are in bloom plus the pink one on the left.

The salmon-pink hollyhocks bloomed yesterday (June 11th)

I finally got around to moving that cerinthe (pictured below a few days ago) that self-seeded so close to the house. It had no room there so the root did a right angle turn away from the wall and has been growing quite happily. Plants are so determined to grow no matter what.

Red-Stemmed Hollyhocks

I never noticed before if some of the hollyhocks had red stems. This one certainly does. There's a ladybug on the leaf.

another white foxglove, to the left a chinese lantern and a poppy (the flower was orange), that holly in the background doesn't have berries - so what's the point of it!

Polly Pocket on the table in the back garden. You can just see a  purple delphinium I just bought, some snapdragons which have self-seeded, the centaurea montanas still in bloom.

Finally I have monkshood in my garden. After failed seeds a number of times, I bought a plant. It was called a "wildflower" so it was less expensive and quite small at first but it looks great now.

These Nasturtiums Fruit Salad appeared to be coming back from a really poor state with the tiniest, tiniest leaves coming out. I was devastated when the slugs ate some of these new tiny leaves therefore a generous use of slug pellets. I must take more photos as I think I'm now down to 1 plant.

I was very impressed with these acanthus in a nearby garden. I can only dream of such acanthus, compared to my one specimen bought last year at Havant Garden Centre.

It's nice being away but also nice to get back to the cats.

The place where I stay on the south coast has a fantastic clump of erigeron.

These pink flowers are in the front garden. I don't know what they are.

I posted a pic of this last year as well. I still don't know what it is.

I don't know what this is either.

Back at home, I picked a sprig of that catnip which she played with and it's on the mat next to her.

20-5-2014

Even if we're on a main road (I'm on 4 London bus routes), we can have beautiful front gardens. The ceanothus is looking great right now. I have 4 and they all bloom at different times. I showed the foxgloves on the right (below), this one is on the left. On the doorstep is a nepeta which I bought as I don't seem to have much luck with seeds and wanted my cats to have access to cat nip if they want. There's another in the back garden.

The best addition to a garden ever: 2 cats.

I just can't get enough of these foxgloves. From what I saw of early Chelsea coverage yesterday, foxgloves feature strongly in the show gardens - a classic beautiful flower! I'm glad they're being appreciated.

I can just see an iris foetidissima next door in the photo above. I have some blooms in my garden.  I never noticed before but this morning (couple days later, 22-5) these are buzzing with bees, as are the foxgloves, aquilegia, comfrey and ceanothus but especially the green alkanet. They seem to love the sun being out.

Some of the buds before they bloomed.

It's interesting to see my garden from next door and the garden from next door. I never remember so many iris foetidissima in bloom since I planted them 2 or 3 years ago (will have to check the date). That ceanothus I think looks better from next door.  Those hollyhocks look ready to burst into bloom soon.

A cerinthe self-seeded right next to the wall, not the best place to grow. I'm going to try to move it.

A foxglove and lupin in the back garden.

The magic time when the iris blooms. They don't last long but while they're in bloom they're beautiful.

Here are the iris in situ surrounded by aquilegia and green alkanet and a stachys on the right.

The thyme is in flower.

The chives are in bloom. I love these flowers.