Category Archives: flowers

view of the garden from under a cherry tree.

End of April 2026

ferns, flowers, garden, plants

We had a pretty wet and windy start to April but now there is a lot more sunshine around.  There is still a chilly breeze though, and with clear nights there is still the chance of frosts.

Sadly the Duddingston Kirk Garden Club has ground to halt now but the good news is that Jock Tamson’s Gairden (JTG) is taking over our annual plant sale (May 2nd in Duddingston Kirk manse garden). I have loads of seedlings and cuttings to take along for sale so a lot of my time has been spent tending to them.  Right now that means hardening them off by taking them all out during the day and bringing them all in again in the evening.  Once the plant sale is over I should have a lot more room in the conservatory and the patio tables.

selection of house plants for sale.
House plants for sale 2026.
selection of small plants for sale on a table.
Plants for sale 2026.
Plants for sale on a bench.
More Plants for sale 2026.

In the conservatory the cactus bumps have flowers on them which I didn’t expect.  I thought the bumps would have to get larger before they flowered.  Hey-ho.   Oxalis triangularis is just starting to bloom now with its very dainty flowers and dark purple foliage.  One of my neighbours brought some old pots that she no longer wanted and would I want any?  I spotted this deep red one that goes really well with aeonium Voodoo now that it has its deep red, summer colours.

Large fluffy, spiny cactus with small bumps with pink flowers on top.
Old mother cactus flowers.
Purple triangular shaped leaves and dainty pink flowers of Oxalis triangularis plant.
Oxalis triangularis.
Deep red colours of aeonium voodoo succulent plant in a dark red pot.
Aeonium Voodoo in a dark red pot.

It is the time of year that the vine weevil grubs are chomping their way through plant roots so we have given the whole back and front garden, patio pots, conservatory and the plants for sale, a nematode treatment.  This at least keeps them at bay.  I just need to keep the earth moist for the nematodes to do their job.

I love wandering around the garden at this time of year spotting all the new shoots and being thankful for the plants that have come through the wet winter.  The emerging fern fronds (fiddles) look especially nice and they are all very different.  My favourite one just now is the very hairy looking  Polystichum polyblepharum.  I love ferns!

Hairy new fronds on fern.
Polystichum polyblepharum fern.

All around the garden are little purple violets that have just spread wherever they want.  I do have to keep an eye on them or they would just take over.  The same goes for the ajuga and the periwinkle.

Purple violets on a woodland floor.
Viola riviniana purpurea (labradorica)

As for the forget-me-nots well they are popping up everywhere too.  The rain seems to have washed them down to the edge of the borders.  And under the rhododendron is a patch of dicentra formosa ‘ bacchanal red’   which has to be kept under control or it would spread everywhere.  The yellow erythroniums are needing dead-headed now to prevent them seeding everywhere as I already have 3 large patches of them.  One patch is under the crab apple which is now blooming away.  It hasn’t produced any more branches to the back of it so it is going to be drooping heavily to the front once the blooms have been replaced by the heavier crab apples.  I have to keep an eye on Harry otherwise he would just hack it back!  Although someone of FB told me about a method call Notching which can induce the bud bellow the notch to start to branch so I may try that next year and see what happens.

yellow flowers and mottled green and brown leaves of erythronium plant.
Erythronium yellow.
small pink blossoms on a crab apple tree
Crab apple tree Malus Sylvestris Evereste.

The berberis is in full flower now and if you peek up the right hand side of the garden you can see it with the white spirea flowers in the background and a few yellow tulips behind it and just in the foreground are the narcissi actaea pheasant eye.   Most of the narcissi have gone over except for a few Segovia on the patio, the small narcissi pipit  in the stumpery are still in flower.  Narcissi Pipit are always the last to come through.

Orange flowers of berberis with small white sprays of flowers of spirea in background. Foregreound is pale yellow narcissi actaea pheasant eye.
Berberis and spirea.

The view from the patio just before the cherry blossom fell and the narcissi had gone over,

view of the garden from under a cherry tree.
Before the blossom all fell and the narcissi ha gone over.

Most of the tulips have gone over but the ones in mum’s planter are still in flower.  They look nice next the narcissi Segovia and the pink silene Flos-Jovis Peggy.  The wild garlic looks pretty too.

Pink flowers on a dwarf campion plant.
Silene Flos-Jovi Peggy.
Pink tulips layered with pale narcissi and dwarf pink campion flowers.
Unknown tulips with narcissi segovia and silene Flos-Jovi Peggy.
white flowers on the wild garlic plant.
Wild gar;lic, allium ursinum.

Just beside the conservatory door to the patio is the skimmia japonica which has a really nice scent when in flower.  It is just about over now.

Tiny pink flowers against evergreen leaves of skimmia japonica plant.
Skimmia Japonica.

Somehow I have managed to have anemone  coronarai Bordeaux popping up in pots in amongst the plants I actually planted in the pots.  I don’t think they seeded themselves there so I must have re-used to compost that the anemones came from to top up the pots? Gardeners World had a bit about an anemone grower who said the corms get bigger with age but that you get the best flower from the smallest corms  – well I never knew that so I will keep that in mind.

And remember the marsh marigold being eaten by something – well I found the culprit and it totally demolished the plant!  Bloody wood pigeons!  This may also be the creature that has broken a few of my nepeta plants.  I have found a lot of broken off stems but nothing eaten.  It may well be a cat too as it is also known as cat mint but we get lots of cats in the garden and only this year has there been a problem.  I have had to put upturned baskets over them to protect them.  Such a pain.  But now, I am off to enjoy some sunshine while I can.

wood pigeon eating a marsh marigol plant at the edge of a pond.
Mystery solved – wood pigeon!

 

Dark pink tulips in front of white hellebore flowers speckled with dark purple.

Beginning of April 2026

flowers, plants, scent, spring

Ahhh sunshine at last – it makes such a difference.  The birds are singing and there is lots of colour and fragrance in the garden now.  In the stumpery the sarcococca and the winter flowering Lonicera fragrantisima  are smelling lovely, as is the viburnum in the raised bed and the skimmia japonica on the patio.  In the front garden it is the mahonia giving the very strong scent.

tiny bright yellow floers on a background of prickly dark green leaves of Mahonia shrub.
Mahonia
Dainty yellow flowers held on a wiry stem of the epimedium sulphureum plant.
Epimedium sulphureum

The leaves on the possibly dead witch hazel have finally tuned brown and shrivelled up.  There are flowers appearing everywhere now.  The epimedium sulphureum out the front is covered in tiny yellow flowers and although the big yellow daffodils have gone over,  the bright yellow mahonia is taking the spotlight.  The white periwinkle under the front hedge is covered in flowers and the odd little grape hyacinth is still hanging in there.  Out the back the pieris is looking good with all its little white bells, all the hellebores are in full flower now as are the fritillaria, some tulips, some narcissi, berberis, corydalis, wood anemone, pulmonaria and pink flowered heather.  The hebe always has a few flowers open.

Tiny white bell shaped flowers of the Pieris shrub.
Pieris forest flame
Bright peachy orange coloured tiny flowers of the berberis shrub with tiny prickle dark green leaves.
Berberis darwinii
Dark pink tulips in front of white hellebore flowers speckled with dark purple.
Tulips in the sun.
White wood anemone in front of a log on a woodland floor.
Wood anemone
Narcissi Actaea with large pale petals and tiny dark orange corolla in the centre.
Narcissi Actaea with only one eaten so far.
Narcissi Segovia pale petals and small pale yellow corolla.
Narcissi Segovia in a pot.

There used to be three wood anemone plants there but now only one is left.  I have a few little ones growing in a pot so once they are a bit bigger I will plant them out.

I learned the other day that the beautiful colouration on fritillaries is known as tessellation – a geometric pattern and they don’t have petals or sepals but instead has tepals like tulips and lilies!  They come in completely  white versions, pale, darker and very dark version and I have every variation in my garden somewhere even the pure white ones.

Mostly white with purple checkered pattern fritillary flowers.
Pale coloured version of fritillary.
Dark purple version of the fritillary flower against grey milk churn.
Dark purple version of fritillary.

I t hasn’t all gone according to plan though as it looks as though the choke berry  shrub has died and the beautiful flowering cherry (Shiroto Mount Fuji) is not looking very happy.  One whole limb is dead and I think it is very waterlogged and there may not be anything I can do to bring it back.

Large dead branch on a cherry tree Shiroto Mount Fuji.
Cherry tree Shiroto Mount Fuji with one dead limb.

The geum mai tai,  which is in a sunny position, is looking lush whereas the orange flowered geum, which is in a more shady site,  has been eaten down to the leaf margins.  One of the huge cyclamen out of a row has rotted so has left a large gap in the row.  There are smaller ones that I can put in its place but I am not sure why that one rotted yet none of the others did – they are all planted at the same depth and are slightly proud of soil level so they shouldn’t get waterlogged in theory.

Something – possibly pigeons –  has been eating the marsh marigolds.

Yellow flowers of marsh marigold been eaten been by something.
Eaten march marigold.

In the conservatory my ponytail plant has 3 branches and one of them suddenly dropped all of its leaves and I don’t know what to do about it.  I do know that it is pot bound and that may well be the cause but it is welded into that very large pot so it probably wouldn’t come out without damaging it further.

Ponytail plant that has lost its leaves from one branch out of 3 branches
Ponytail plant (Beaucarnea recurvata).

The good news is that in the conservatory my seedlings are doing ok and hopefully they will be big enough to sell at the plant sale in early May.  Our Duddingston Kirk Garden Club is folding but the Jock Tamson’s Gairden will be taking over the plant sale.

Frogs, newts and frogspawn in a small garden pond at night.

Mid March 2026

colour, flowers, frog, newts

Mid March and it feels like we are still in winter. Rain, more rain, wind, frost, tiny bits of sunshine then more rain.  The patio pots are all still water logged but most of the plants look like they have survived although some are covered in moss like the red astrantia.  But I am hoping the astrantia will soon pop up through the moss.

moss covering the top of a plant pot.
Moss taking over the astrantia.

The crocuses that were eaten when they flowered in the trough last year have survived as I put one of the seed tray lids over it this time.  They looked great in the little bit of sunshine that we did get.

Pale purple crocus flowers with yellow centres in the sinshine.
Crocus sieberi ‘Firefly’ in the sun.

Most of the hellebores are in full flower now so here are a few:

Pale green flowers against dark green leaves of hellebore argutifolius.
Helleborus argutifolius
White flowers against green leaves of helleborus niger white.
Helleborus niger white.
Double pink flowers of hellebore picotee with shrub berberis behind with tiny jaggy leaves.
Helleborus picotee.

In the stumpery:  the small white erythronium are almost flowering.  The pulmonaria are looking lovely with their spotty leaves and pinky/mauve flowers.  The tortured hazel looks a little half and half as the side that gets the most sunshine has the most catkins on it and the shadier side is looking a bit bare.  Even the dead witch hazel that is still clinging onto it’s dead leaves has some colour – the leaves look almost red.  There are some very fragrant flowers now on the sarcococca and also on the winter flowering honeysuckle.

Spotty leaves and pink/mauve flowers of pulmonaria.
Pulmonaria ‘Lewis Palmer’
Red coloured dead witch hazel leaves still on the shrub.
Dead witch hazel leaves clinging on.
Dangly yellow catkins on a twisted branches of a tortured hazel shrub.
Corylus avellana contorta catkins.

The best news is that we spotted the first lot of frogspawn on 6th March this year and the other day I counted at least 30 frogs and loads of frogspawn – at least 11 clumps!  And even better than that- Harry saw loads of newts in the pond at night (he counted at least 10 but they move really fast so getting a photo was tricky).

Lots of frogs and frogspawn in a small garden pond.
Frogs and frogspawn 2026.
Frogs, newts and frogspawn in a small garden pond at night.
Frogs and newts.

The mouse plant that we are trying to get rid of in the raised bed came back with a vengeance so Harry dug down and got most of the soil out of that corner.  Before we put and soil  in there we will wait and see if any more reappears.  We have already waited over a year to get rid of this stuff.  Right next to that area is a small clump of tete-a-tete narcissi and at the other side a clump of hardy geranium so I am hoping the mouse plant will not appear in amongst them.

Dainty yellow flowers of tete-a-tete narcissi.
Tete-a-tete narcissi next to the dug out hole.

With a bit more sunshine the rest of the narcissi out the back will bloom while the large yellow daffodils out the front garden are flowering away and the mahonia it just about to bloom.  I can’t wait to get out and enjoy the garden without having to  wear about 6 layers of thermals.  I have just got over a horrid cold and am still struggling to keep warm even in the house.  On the plus side – I haven’t seen any huge slugs yet this year – it is only a matter of time.

a collection of colourful plants in a wet corner of the garden.

Cutting back, dead-heading, and filling gaps in the  borders end of June.

flowers, garden

The weather has been a mixed bag over June: some hot sunny days, some overcast muggy days, showers and wind, but on the whole not too bad.

The hebe has had a trim to keep it a neat shape and to dead-head the flowers.  The tree heath (Erica arborea ‘Estrella gold’ ) has had a good chop as it was shading out some other plants a bit too much.  The deutzia ‘Mont rose ‘ has finished flowering now and has had the old flowering stems chopped.  I will have to give the mock orange (Philadelphus) the same treatment as it has just finished flowering.  As we have had a reasonable amount of rain I can put down some more mulch to help retain some of that moisture.    A few of the hardy geraniums have had a chop (later than the Chelsea chop time up here in Scotland) as there is a lot of damage on their foliage caused by the geranium sawfly (Ametastegia carpini).  The tiny holes eaten all over their leaves look like lace work.  They don’t appear to damage the flowers though so I will just have to tolerate them.

The Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ is not looking great and I might just ditch it.  The slugs have really gone for the ones in the stumpery and the only one that isn’t too bad has an upturned hanging basket over it to stop the pigeons getting at it.  I have had to move the new heucheras from the back area of the garden to the bed that gets a little more sun.  Again the slugs have really gone for them so I will need to give them a bit of protection until they get going.

Green and white folliage of Brunnera Jack Frost eaten by slugs.
Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ damage.

I have been finding a lot of mushrooms in my latest batch of multi-purpose potting compost which can be very unsightly in amongst the  pot plants, even in the house plants that I topped up with it.  I don’t normally buy Westland multipurpose but my usual compost was unavailable.  It is horrid stuff with huge lumps of wood and other bits and bobs in it, including small stones and bits of plastic, and it doesn’t retain moisture well.  I will NOT be getting it again.  The mushrooms were easily removed so the pots don’t looks so bad but the mycelium will still be in the compost.

Rogue mushrooms in a pot of poppy seedlings.
Mushrooms found in compost in a pot of poppy seedlings.
Mushrooms in compost in pot of poppy seedlings.
Mushrooms in compost with poppy seedlings.
Mushrooms found in compost of house plant.
Mushrooms found in the compost of a house plant.

There are a few gaps in the borders just now so I am moving some of my potted plants from the patio into the borders to fill in some of these gaps.  These small terracotta pot filled with succulents can cope in this area but I have larger pots with ferns in the shadier areas.  I do have to remember and move them again before any bulbs come up in spring time.

Three terracotta pots with succulents under a shrub.
Terracotta pots with succulents under a berberis.

I have removed a lot of the violets in the stumpery because, although they create good ground cover, they had loads of seed-heads about to pop, and they are competing with the ajuga (more ground cover), and covering over some of the self-seeded honesty.

Another good ground cover plant which is flowering away now, and the bees love it, is the Campanula garganica ‘Blue diamond Adrianic’ .  I should probably cut it back a bit once it has gone over.

Pale lilac campanula plants growing all around 3 steps.
Campanula growing around the base of garden steps.

There are loads of pollinators about and they are loving all the the flowers just now: agastache, campanula, cirsium, astilbe, achillea, roses, alchemilla, giant cowslips, geranium, foxgloves, catmint, lavender, heuchera, verbascum, ragged robin, astrantia, bisort, marigolds, cistus, honeysuckle, spiraea, and thalictrum.  I planted 3 yellow thalictrum from the same nursery at the same time only a few feet apart and one is growing way taller than the other two, and has more purple in the stems.  I love the fluffy, yellow clouds of flowers that  the thalictrum produce and loads of pollinators love them too. It is normally covered in them but not when I took this photo apparently!

Tall plant with fluffy yellow flowers - Thalictrum.
Fluffy, yellow clouds of flowers on thalictrum.
Pink needle-cushion like flowers of astrantia.
Astrantia

The wet corner is looking good just now but the rodgersia has not flowered this year.  I think it is too shaded out by the huge royal fern.  The soil is clay and there is a down-pipe just above the rodgersia.  The fern and weigelia are covering the rodgersia.

a collection of colourful plants in a wet corner of the garden.
Wet corner of the garden.

The moss roses and ‘Munstead wood’ rose have finally begun to flower and are looking great, but I still can’t believe how many roses I have had, and continue to have, on ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ – it is such a good do-er.

Lots of pink roses on Gertrude Jekyll bush.
Loads of roses on Gertrude Jekyll.

I have in the past regretting planting certain plants and one of them was lily-of-the-valley.  They look and smell absolutely gorgeous but they spread like mad and invaded all of the back border and the raised bed. They got right into the roots of other plants so  I had to be ruthless and take the whole lot out.  I would like to keep just a pot of them in the conservaorty for their lovely scent.   In spring I planted out some Allium hair bulbs as I was curious about the flower heads.  They look like little aliens with tentacles but when I asked facebook how far apart I should plant them everyone said that they regret ever planting because they spread all over the place!  It certainly doesn’t say that on the RHS site but now I am wondering if I made the right choice, and don’t want to make the same mistake again, so I have just put them in pots so I have easy access to them to dead-head before they produce seeds.  That is the plan anyway.

One scruffy flower head of allium hair just breaking open.
Allium hair flower head just opening.

And now the heat wave is over so back to normal for the time being – thank goodness as I don’t do well in the heat.  The heat makes me breathless but It helps my arthritis, however it wreaks havoc with dry eyes, nose and mouth, and my eyes are now sensitive to the light which means I have to wear amber tinted wrap around sun glasses in bright sunshine.  I already wear a large brimmed hat and sometimes even a nose protector!  What must I look like?  I get bitten by some beasties just underneath the brim of my hat and these bites are incredibly itchy to begin with and make little red blotches all across my forehead.  They are not midge bites -I can hear the zzzzzzz of the midges coming and their bites are raised.  So I wonder what July holds for the garden?

Golden acer leaves up close showing the red veins and tips.

Autumn colours early October 2024

flowers, plants

Late September and the beginning of October signifies the start of the autumnal, foliage  colour changes that I adore.  The weather is chilly and damp with a few sporadic sunny spells.  This is when some of the greens of summer change into gorgeous russets, bright reds and oranges, deep purples and buttery yellows. Last month the enkianthus foliage went from green to bronzy purple, but this month they have gone bright red just before they fall.

Enkianthus foliage change from purple to bright red.
Enkianthus bright red foliage

The golden foliage of the Acer shirasawanum aureum take on red tinges especially if the leave are in the sunshine.  In autumn the develop red stems and veins before they go brown and fall.

Sunshine on the golden leaves of an acer. Leaves tinged with red.
Acer shirasawanum aureum in the sunshine.
Golden acer leaves up close showing the red veins and tips.
Acer shirasawanum aureum red veins, stems and tips.

Another tree/shrub that gets red stems is the viburnum and the darkish green leaves take on a purply colour.  It sporadically flowers all year round.

Red stems on Viburnum shrub.
Red stems and leaf colour of Viburnum X Bodnantense Dawn

The fuchsia is still flowering away and there are still a few flowers appearing on the honey suckle nearby.  Once the flowers go on the honeysuckle they develop bright red berries much loved by the birds.  The leaves on the honeysuckle in the raised bed are still green whereas the leaves on the honeysuckle on the patio have  taken on purple tones.  It looks good next to the purple flowered hellebore (the only one flowering at the moment) and the bright yellowy green of the Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ grass.

Small red and purple flowers on a fuchsia shrub.
The dainty red and purple flowers of the fuchsia growing across the pathway.
White honeysuckle flowers with pink tinges on the end of the buds.
White honeysuckle flowers.
A cluster of bright red honeysuckle berries.
Bright red honeysuckle berries next to  red unopen flowers of the fuchsia.
Honeysuckle purple leaves next to hellebore with purple flowers.
Honey suckle with purple leaves next to a hellebore with purple flowers.

Soon the purple leaves on this acer will change to a bright red red colour but for now it goes well with the purple of the sempervivum ‘chocolate kiss’

Purple sempervivum 'Chocolate kiss' in front of the purple leaved acer palmatum dissectum 'garnet'.
Sempervivum ‘chocolate kiss’ in front of Acer palmatum dissectum ‘garnet’

On the patio, in a half barrel, is a small cherry tree, Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji that has lovely green leaves during summer until they take on a peachy yellow colouration before turning bright orange just before drop.

Small cherry tree with peachy orange leaves in autumn.
Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji autumn colouration beginning.
Autumnal colours in cherry tree.
Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji foliage colours of orange, peach, yellow and green..
Cherry tree autumn colours darken just before the leaves fall.
The cherry tree foliage colours darken just before they fall.

The witch hazel (Hamamelis inter Diane) leaves also go from green through bright yellows and oranges and the bright reds.

Hamamelis inter Diane witch hazel bright orangey red autumn foliage.
Hamamelis inter Diane bright orangey red autumn foliage.

The persicarias are still flowering away, as are the  astrantias, gaura  and a few roses, even this little foxglove.  It may look a bit odd but it is kind of resting on it’s shoulder.

Purple/pink foxglove flowering in October.
Foxglove flowering in October.

As much as I am loving these autumnal colours I am already looking forward to the spring colours so I have been planting a few more bulbs.  There will be some in the garden, some on the patio and a few in the conservatory.   The recently revived indoor cyclamen have  lovely fresh foliage and I expect to see flowers fairly soon.

Autumnal bronze foliage of enkianthus with green berries.

End of August 2024 in the garden.

flowers, garden, plants, stumpery

Well it hasn’t been very warm this August and we have had quite a bit of rain.  There is even  more slug damage – the echinacea have all suffered.  I just have little spikes instead of leaves, and any leaves that did manage to grow got snail damage!  I caught the culprits in action so no question of who did what.  I did think that the hairy leaves might just put the critters off eating them – oh how wrong I was.  I tried them in the garden, then in pots on the patio, then in pots on the patio table.

There is still plenty of colour about, still in flower are:  roses, Japanese anemones, verbena, selinum wallichinum, nepeta, erigeron, fuchsia, persicaria, gaura, astrantia, cyclamen, agastache, viburnum, water lilies, and even some foxgloves are still flowering.  Going over now are the purple loosestrife, oregano and lavender.  There are little carpets of purple flowers of cyclamen in various places in the garden.

Large white flowerheads of selinum wallichinum.
Large white flowerheads of selinum wallichinum.
White flowers of persicaria alba.
Tall white persicaria.
Red flowers of persicaria.
Tall red persicaria.
Tall pike persicaria flowers.
Tall pink persicaria flowers.
White with pink coloured astrantia flowers in autumn.
Pretty astrantia flowers
Dainty white, butterfly-like flowers of the Gaura.
Dainty white, butterfly-like flowers of the Gaura.
carpet of purple cyclamen
Cyclamen flowers.
view of the garden from the patio end of August 2024.
From the patio, end of August 2024

As autumn approaches (rather quickly) there is colour in the berries of the rowan, holly, enkianthus and honeysuckle.  The foliage of the enkianthus is turning a lovely purply/bronze colour that looks great with the heuchera solar eclipse.

Autumnal bronze foliage of enkianthus with green berries.
Bronze coloured foliage of enkianthus and it’s green berries.
Bronze/purple centre with green edge of Heuchera solar eclipse foliage.
Heuchera solar eclipse bronze and lime green foliage.
Fern with purple ribs and purple tinged frond ends.
Fern with purple ribs and purple tinged frond ends.

The fern here has purple ribs and purple tinges on the frond ends that go well with the deep purple foliage of the heuchera next to it.  There are still young bronze coloured fronds popping up in some ferns in the stumpery.

Bronze coloured fronds of the rosy buckler fern.
Bronze coloured fronds of the rosy buckler fern.

It is almost time to plant the narcissi and crocus so I did a quick check on the stored ones and found that some of the narcissi had some mold on them so they had to be chucked.   The little oxalis palmifrons bulbs had very long shoots already and were becoming a bit soft so I chucked most of them out and planted the few best looking ones (ever hopeful).  The cactus in the conservatory had another gorgeous flower on it just for one day – the fragrance was fabulous!  Also in the conservatory I started to water the indoor cyclamen after their summer rest and the leaves are coming through now.  There is moss growing at the base of the tree fern in the conservatory and as I was spraying the fern I thought the droplets looked good on the moss sporophytes.

Water droplets on sporophytes of moss.
Sprayed water droplets on the sporophytes.

I have made a few decisions about the ground cover plants in the stumpery: the sweet woodruff is rather rampant and is covering up other plants so that will be coming out (perhaps I can leave some behind a large log and just keep it in check), the violets are getting every where so some of them will just get ripped out, the same goes for the bugle.  The lovely little creeping fern. Blechnum penna-marina, is becoming a bit of a thug and it’s rhizomes are intermingling with other plant roots  so I will keep some in a large pot.  It has got all tangled up in amongst the saxifrage and it has taken a while to untangle it all.

Small ground cover fern coming up through saxifrage.
Blechnum penna-marina coming up through the saxifrage.

The dogwood that has been struggling in the damp corner beside the ramp has been moved to the stumpery where it should have more space.  The large fern just kept flattening it where it was.  The jobs for the weekend are putting some Blanket Answer in the pond as for the fist time ever we have blanket weed.  Horrid stuff!  Plus the usual cutting back, dead-heading and keeping up with the weeding.  I suppose I ought to do some work in the front garden too.

garden view from the patio end of July 2024

Beginning of August 2024

flowers, slugs, snails, wildlife

We have had a mixed bag of weather over July – some rain, some sun and some overcast days but over all not too bad.  I have found more plants decimated by Spanish slugs; two artemesias in separate troughs with not a bit of greenery left, one nepeta and they are still having a go at a mint plant in a pot (they are not supposed to like these plants according to the internet).  I have put a clear plastic cloche over one artemesia to see if I can keep it alive at least.  Slugs have never gone for these in the past!  And talking about slugs (as I often do) I have been watching them by the pond and found them wandering around the water lily pads.  One Spanish slug stretched itself from a pad over the moss covered stone half submerging itself in the process.  A leopard slug spent the afternoon just lying around in a little puddle on a pad like it was at a spa.  On the patio I have found the Spanish slugs like to drink from the birdbath.  I haven’t found any other slug do that.

Spanish slug half submerged between water lily pad and moss covered stone
Slug going from lily pad to moss covered stone
leopard slug on water lily pad
Leopard slug on water lily pad
Spanish slug taking a drink from the bird's water bath.
Spanish slug having a drink from bird’s water dish.

We were so pleased when we got a large jar and did a spot of pond dipping and found a tiny eft (baby newt).  Great news so we know that we at least have a male and female about and that eggs were produced and hatched.

Eft (baby newt) in a jar when pond dipping.
Eft (baby newt)

On the wall of the raised bed I found a very pretty pinkish-brown snail. Probably a Cepaea nemoralis and they are plymorphic so you can see different colours of these.

Pinkish-brown snail
Pinkish-brown grove snail Cepaea nemoralis)

In the conservatory I came across a pretty little daisy miner fly, and a frog-hopper on the basil.  The fly had gorgeous green eyes.  My photos don’t do any of the creatures justice.

Small fly with green eyes and mottled wings
Daisy miner fly (Tripeta Zoe).
common frog hopper sitting on a basil plant stalk
Common frog-hopper

I have noticed this summer that there are not as many butterflies around.  I have spotted a few holy blues, meadow browns and orange tips but not many others.  Lots of small bumble bees around but fewer big bumble bees.  There are also fewer wasps and flies around.  Some of the plants are taking ages to get going and some are just not reaching their full potential.  Even the stephanotis in the conservatory hasn’t flowered yet – not even a bud so far.  The purple loose-strife by the pond edge is not looking quite as dense as it used to and the rogersia hasn’t flowered this year.  However there is still plenty floral colour about.  In flower now: hardy geraniums –  especially Rozanne, some roses, Japanese anemones just coming into flower now, heuchera, various persicarias, geums, golden spirea, fuchsia, some meadowsweet, oregano, erigeron, cyclamen, honey-suckle, purple loose-strife, pickerelweed, water lilies, astrantia, achilea, potentilla, lavender, woolly rock jasmine and gaura.

Hardy blue geranium Rozzane
Hardy geranium Rozzane
garden view from the patio end of July 2024
View from the patio

In the conservatory the only things in flower right now are the basil and a couple of sempervivums.  The sempervivums usually have clusters of flowers but this one has had them in a V shape.

sempervivum flowers forming a V shape
sempervivum flowers
pale pink flowers on a rhododendron

Beginning of June 2024

flowers, garden

After a couple of lovely sunny days the garden is becoming lush.  The weeds have shot up along with everything else.  The wet weather has been good for some plants like the candelabra primulas, the roses and the rhododendron.  I tried moving three of the primulas over from the pond overflow area to the damp corner by the ramp.  Only one survived, two were completely destroyed by slugs.  A bit like the  Achillea millefolium ‘Lilac Beauty’ I have been trying to establish near the pond last year.  The slugs got one so I potted up the surviving two and put one pot in a different area of the garden and the other pot on the patio table. The one in the garden  only just survived overnight whilst the one on the table is still great.    The patio table is becoming a nursery for  sick plants.  I have now put the damaged one on the patio to see how it does there.

achillea foliage looking good
Achillea millefolium ‘Lilac Beauty’ before the slugs
achillea foliage after slugs got it overnight
Achillea millefolium ‘Lilac Beauty’ overnight slug damage

Some primula get ravaged by slugs but some are spared and I don’t know why.  The white primula snowflake don’t get much damage at all and they spread freely but my primula apple blossom gets some damage but doesn’t spread freely.  The primula denticulata, veris  and vulgaris just get the odd nibble,  vialii have disappeared.

pink primula apple blossom
Primula Apple blossom

Another area which has loved the rain is the raised garden.  We pruned the viburnum and  syringia last year (and a bit the previous year) so sacrificed some flowers this year but they are looking better.  I might take out the Zepharin drouhin rose entirely as it is always a bit hit and miss there.  The beautiful acer is now swamping the blue hardy geranium so I may have to find a new spot in the garden for the geranium.

plants in the shady side of the raised bed
Shady side of the raised bed
pale pink flowers on a rhododendron
Rhododendron Gomer Waterer loving the rain

Along the back wall the pink hardy geranium is looking good next to the dark leaves and pink flowers of the Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Eva’ .  The Generous gardener rose growing  over the arch has been teasing us for a few weeks with all the lovely buds but yet to open.

Generous gardener buds over arch
Generous gardener buds yet to open
pink hardy geranium against the dark leaves of elder
Pink geranium beside the dark elder

In the pond the number of tadpoles appears to be depleted.  I thought maybe the newts had eaten them all but some folk have said that they may just have found better hiding places since there are more predators about.  I still haven’t found a good flat headed flowering plant to go beside the pond – they all just get eaten by the Spanish slugs.  The little iris versicolour Gerald Derby that hasn’t flowered for a couple of years has just started to flower again – yeah!  I had been thinking of pulling it out.  It isn’t all that showy but it is pretty and dainty.

blue iris versicolour Gerald Derby against a white wall and metal statue
blue iris versicolour Gerald Derby

In the conservatory my lithops are splitting.  Sometime lithops split into two and sometimes into four.  Mine are splitting into four new leaves.

lithops splitting getting 4 new leaves
Lithops splitting.
close up of lithop splitting getting 4 new leaves
Lithop splitting – 4 new leaves

I took the very scary decision to chop my aeonium.  I didn’t want it to get too tall as the head is very large and also they look better when viewed from above.   I really hope it survives the chop and I potted up bits of the stalk too so you never know, I may get a few if I am lucky.

aeonium voodoo succulent head chopped off
Aeonium Voodoo chopped

The furry Kalanchoe tomentosa ‘Dorothy Brown’ flowered this year but I kept waiting for the flowers to open up more before I took a photograph not realising that they didn’t open any wider so now I will have to wait till next year to get a photo of the furry flowers.

As I said in a previous post my Nepeta Junior walker drowned in the very wet autumn/winter/spring that we had so I ordered three new ones form Crocus.  They have never let me down before but this time they did.  They sent one lovely looking plant, one not so good, and one diabolical plant.  Who thought it was ok to package these and send them out? I complained and was offered either a refund or a replacement.  I asked for a replacement (big mistake).  The replacement plant didn’t have a single leaf.  To be fair – the rest of my order was ok (although they could have been in better condition).  I am now going to try and buy plants in person whenever  possible.  I do still have a few good nurseries mail order to buy from.

3 nepeta plants ordered together. 1 good, 1 ok and 1 very bad condition
Nepeta: the good, the bad, and the crap
nepeta replacement in very bad condition
Nepeta replacement plant!

Let’s end on a good note:  the bees and other pollinators are loving the rhododendron. the deutzia, saxifrages, chives, honey lilies and all of the hardy geraniums and primulas.  Soon the Generous gardener will erupt in beautiful flowers.  The other roses have started to bloom and smell gorgeous (although we didn’t get round to pruning this late winter so they look a bit more straggly than usual.  The sun has just come out.

flower combinations in the stumpery

End of April 2024

flowers, plants, stumpery

Finally we have had a few nice days – still cold but not quite so wet.  The news was saying that we have the wettest 18 months till March this year since records began (maybe they just meant England but we have been very wet up here too).  I am still eagerly waiting for some signs of new growth from a few newly planted plants (last year) but so far it looks like they have died.   I had also taken quite a few Nepeta Junior Walker cuttings to sell at the Duddingston Kirk Garden Club sale but sadly they didn’t make it.  Some nepata in the stumpery also didn’t make it.  I found vine weevil grubs in one of the large pots on the patio that contained  some heuchera,  but at least I managed to take cuttings of the heuchera and saved them, I then fed the grubs to the birds.  I found one adult vine weevil in the conservatory but so far I haven’t found grubs in any of the plants in there, that may be because I put a top layer of gravel on the succulents so it couldn’t lay it’s eggs in the soil.  So, I have ordered vine weevil nematodes to treat the patio, conservatory and back garden.  I hate the blighters – apparently every adult is female and they can lay hundreds of eggs from April to September.  Just as well they can’t fly.   Trouble is, that to use the nematodes you need a soil temperature of above 5ºC and wet soil.  In Scotland we have to wait a while longer than England before the soil temperature is high enough for the nematodes to survive.  The temperature is ok now so I had better get on with it.

vine weevil grubs in a brown saucer
Vine weevil grubs

Most of the narcissi have gone over now except for the narcissi Pipit  Most of the tulips are over, as is the cherry tree, mahonia, spirea Bridal wreath, rosemary and  the epimediums.  Now taking over are the saxifrage mossy white and saxifrage andresii carpet purple along with the purple honesty, white wood anemones, bluey purple pulmonaria and yellow erythroniums in the stumpery.    The bright orange berberis is looking good just now and the ferns are all just beginning to unfurl their fronds.

flower combinations in the stumpery
Colour in the stumpery
saxifrage mossy white
Saxifrage mossy white
red coloured saxifrage plant
Saxifage andresii Carpet purple

There are loads of little splashes of purple all around the back garden from the Viola labradorica.  Not only does it have delightful little purple flowers but the leaves take on a purple tinge too.  They will self seed everywhere but I love them.  People do say that to make your garden feel more cohesive it is good to do repeat planting, either the same plant in various places around the garden or a similar colour repeated throughout.  I have done this with a few plants such as the viola, bugle, perrywinkle, hellebores, geraniums and aquilegias.  I was hoping to do the same thing with nepeta and erigeron but a few of the erigeron just died leaving empty spaces in some areas.  One of my spirea japonica white gold died too but the one right beside it is fine – I have no idea what happened there.

violet flowers of viola labradorica with purple tinged leaves
Viola labradorica

I am glad to hear that the weather will be getting a little warmer soon so I will be able to get in the garden a bit more, although the colder weather has maybe kept the number of slugs down as I haven’t seen that many – yet.

view of the garden from the patio

Moving plants around in the garden.

flowers, wildlife

If a plant is struggling to cope with the conditions in its allotted area it is better move it to somewhere it will thrive rather than just survive.  So I have moved a clematis over the to the far side of the garage wall where the roots will be in more shade but the plant itself will be in the sun for a good part of the day.  In its place is a more vigorous clematis which should cope with the conditions better but I will put something over the root area to protect the roots from getting too hot.  The periwinkle which was way too overgrown was removed as I have loads of periwinkle around the garden.  The blue centauria has now gone as I was sick of it being covered in mildew.  It is a shame as the bees loved it, but,   I will find something else for them to enjoy, although in the mean time I have put a colourful fern in its place.  The fern was originally over by the wall and although it did like it there  it was hidden from view by the foxgloves.  I have dotted some erigeron seedlings (left over from the plant sale) in various places that looked a bit bare.  Now then, the dark leaved hardy geranium is a conundrum – I have two planted about a foot apart and only one is mildewy and the other is just fine.  I think I will dig up the sick one and give it some TLC on the patio.   Both the red astrantia and the pink one are looking great just now as I dug them up from the garden and put them in pots on the patio where they are less likely to get damaged but the huge slugs.

Red astrantia in a copper pot
Red astrantia Gill Richardson group
red astrantia single flower
Red astrantia flower

There is still a lot of colour in the garden – the Japanese anemones are out in their full glory, as are the persicaria, purple cyclamen, fuchsia, and the phlox.  Still going are the heuchera, erigeron, gaura, oregano, sellinum and there are sporadic flowers still on the roses, hebe, viburnum, and low growing campanula.  The grass flowers of the miscanthus ‘Red chief’ are just coming out and they look great next to the deep purple of the acer palmatum dissectum.  In the pond the purple loosestrife is just going over and there are still some pink water-lily flowers, blue pickerel weed and some yellow monkey flowers.  The deep pink berries of the rowan are looking splendid and the deep purple – almost black berries of the elder will soon be picked off by the birds and squirrels.  The dark purple foliage of the cotinus, heuchera, elder and acer really stand out amongst the greens and golds of the other plants and for bright highlights there are the silvery leaves of the snow in summer and the wormwood.

Gaura with one white flower
Guara lindheimeri The bride
view of the garden from the patio
From the patio

Indoors there are still flowers on the stephanotis and a few of the sempervivums.  There is one indoor cyclamen which is in full flower while the others have yet to get going.  I have one little flower on one of the lithops which is exciting as I didn’t think I would get a flower so quickly.  I also found a couple of bright pink cactus berries this year on the Old lady cactus (Mamillaria hahniana).  Apparently the slugs like the berries – I took one berry off to photograph it and the next day it was almost all eaten.  The colour scheme indoors reflects the garden colours with the deep purple shades coming from the foliage of the sempervivum chocolate kiss and the aeonium voodoo.  The variegated leaves of the cheese plant, spider plants and mother-in-laws-tongue  bring some brightness and the echivera have a lovely pale silvery aqua colour with a soft pink tinge.  Kalanchoe tomentosa ‘Dorothy Brown’ may look boring to some but I love the hairy green leaves tinged with brown.  Of course you can add more colour with your containers too. Upstairs during the summer I need to keep the blind closed to prevent the room overheating so only plants that do well in shade can cope so they are all the dark green foliage plants like Dracaena fragrans and Dypsis lutescens, the peace lily copes well too.  My air plants do get a day light as they wouldn’t cope at all in the deep shade.

stone plants with a little bud showing
Flower bud in a lithop
a lithop (stone plant) in flower from above
Lithop 1st flower
lithop (stone plant) flower from the side
Lithop flower side view
fluffy spiky cactus with a pink berry on top
Mamillaria hahniana (old lady cactus) with berry.
pink cactus berry - seed pod
Pink berry (seed pod) from Old lady cactus
green furry succulent with brown tinges on the leaves
Kalanchoe tomentosa ‘Dorothy Brown’
green succulent plant in a colourful plants pot
Crassula ovata cutting in a bright colourful pot

Just now the tiny baby frogs are all around the garden so before doing any work in an area ii is best to just ruffle the vegetation before cutting or digging anything up.  They are so well camouflaged and so very tiny!

tiny baby from camouflaged on a rock by the pond.
Tiny baby frog on a rock.
Tiny baby frogs beside the pond.
Two tiny baby frogs by the pond.

And to finish August with a lovely butterfly.

Red admiral butterfly on a rose leaf
Red admiral butterfly.