Category Archives: plants

view of the garden from the patio with trees in the background.

Scent in the garden mid June 2025

garden, plants, wildlife

You can smell the scent from almost anywhere in the garden and I am sure it has enticed the bees.  Last month I mentioned that I hadn’t seen that many bees about but I am glad to say there are loads around now!  I do try to have something in flower each month for our pollinators and there are usually flowers in abundance in June for them.  They are all over the lavender, deutzia, elder, philadelphus, weigelia, primroses, honeysuckle, syringia, hardy geraniums, erigeron, foxgloves, astrantias,  geums and some of the roses.     In fact I was watching bees going in and out from one of the holes in the raised bed wall.

a bee flying into a hole in a wall
Bee flying into the hole in the wall.

Clematis Montana is over but the large purple flowered warszawski Nike  is still in flower.

large purple clematis flowers
Clematis warszawski Nike
small orange flowers of a geum against a terracotta chimney pot.
Geums next to chimney pot.

The periwinkle, veronica  and syringia have just gone over as have the aquilegia and some of the primroses so I am in the process of cutting those back.

The ‘Generous gardener’ rose over the back arch is looking great especially beside the pink flowers and dark purple leaves of the elder.  ‘Zepharine drouhin ‘is still hanging on over the side arch – I keep saying I will just get rid of it as it has been pruned badly in the past and doesn’t look great.  ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ is looking very healthy and covered in blooms and buds as is the little pink rambling rose growing up an old post, and rose ‘Jubilee celebration’ is looking great too in the large pot.  The moss roses, ‘William Lobb’, have lots of buds on yet to open as well as ‘Munstead wood.’  They get a bit more shade than the others.

pink rose Gertrude Jekyll against a wall with patio above.
Gertrude Jekyll rose.
Dark pink rose Zephrine drouhin on an arch
Zephrine drouhin still hanging on.
Honeysuckle flower buds about to open over an arch.
Honeysuckle on the arch.
Pink and orange primula flowers next tp white philadelphus flowers
Primula and philadelphus.

I love foxgloves in the garden and I have planted out some ‘Sutton’s apricot’ this year.  I know they will be rather promiscuous with the others I have but that is ok.  Just now I have a couple that have pale pink flowers at the bottom that look very pale yellow in bud.

Pretty pink and pale yellow foxgloves against trees.
Foxgloves with pale pink flowers and pale yellow buds.

The ferns have all got going by now and are looking as fab as ever.  I have been trying to get rid of the Arisarum proboscoideum (mouse plant) in the raised bed as it is getting rather rampant and despite being sprayed half a dozen times it is still managing to grow?  It has escaped the raised bed and has got into the border and now it has popped up in amongst a geranium.

yellow green fern fronds with purple stems.
Athyrium otophorum okanum fern.
Dryopteris erythrosa orangey yellow fronds of fern.
Rosy Buckler fern.
Bright green fronds of polystichum fern against pink flowers of duetzia.
Polystichum setiferum plumosa and deutzia.

I love hardy geraniums as they can cope with almost anything and I have quite a few different varieties:’ Rozanne’, cantabrigiense ‘St Ola’, ‘Birch double’ (lilac),  cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’, Himalayense  blue , ‘Wargrave pink’,  macrorrhizum ‘Bevan’s variety’, pratense ‘Midnight Reiter’, Geranium x riversleaianum ‘Mavis Simpson’, and my newest addition is ‘Vision’ light pink (after seeing it on Gardeners world).  Some of these have other names but that just confuses everything. Here are a few of them.

very pale pink/white flowers of hardy geranium Biokovo.
Geranium cantabrigiense Biokovo.
Pink flowers on geranium wargrave pink
Hardy geranium wargrave pink.
small pink flowers on geranium maccrorrhizum Bevan's variety.
Geranium maccrorhizum Bevan’s variety.
blue flowers on large geranium Rozanne.
Geranium Rozanne.
Double lilac flowers on geranium himalayense Birch's double.
Geranium himalayense Birch’s double.

Years ago I planted a hydrangea petiolaris beyond the wall at the end on the garden, against the wire fence.  It gets very little in the way of maintenance and it has suddenly decided it likes it there and is thriving.  I am hoping to train it all the way along the fence eventually.  It might keep some of the weed seeds from the golf course out.

White flowers on climbing hydrangea petiolaris
Hydrangea petiolaris beyond the back wall.

In the conservatory I noticed a few weird looking areas on my old lady cactus.  It may be about to produce pups – why now – I have had it for many years and I don’t think I have changed anything in its care routine?

Strange marks on old lady cactus look like whorls.
Strange whorls on old lady cactus – possibly pupping?
close-up photo of strange whorls on old lady cactus.
Close-up of whorls.

A couple of ladybirds and a butterfly from today.

Orange ladybird with black spots on an achillea plant.
Ladybird on achillea.
Orange ladybird with black spots on a pale pink flower.
Ladybird on ligusticum scoticum.
Red admiral butterfly on white flower of philadelphus.
Red admiral on philadelphus.

Right now it is sunny, muggy and windy but tomorrow is meant to be very different indeed.  Rain, thunder and lightning are predicted so I have moved a few more vulnerable plants under the table just in case.

view of the garden from the patio with trees in the background.
View of the garden from the patio.
Collection of potted plants on the right side of the patio.
Right side of patio.
Left corner of patio with a small collection of potted plants.
Left corner of patio.
Crocuses indoors in pots on a table.

Mid March waiting for spring proper.

frog, plants, pond

It is still very chilly out there with threats of frost.  We did have a couple of lovely mild, sunny days and it was so good to get back out in the garden.  We  chopped the pond lily in half as it was taking over the pond and we dug out half of the rush too as it was getting too big.  Just in time too as the frogs started to arrive – this year 8/3/25  I have been keeping a not over the last few years of when the first spawn appears in the pond:

22/3/18

27/2/19

05/2/20

15/3/21

18/3/22

13/3/23

19/3/24

08/3/25

The photo isn’t great but I counted about 20 frogs and can see about 8 or 9 dollops of frogspawn so am happy with that.  I haven’t spotted any newts this year yet.

frogs collecting in a small garden pond
Frogs in March

There are a few splashes of colour now mainly with the hellebores, some narcissi, crocuses and viburnum.  There are a few low branches of the viburnum with lovely scented flowers that are within my reach so I can really get a nice whiff going past. There are big yellow daffodils out the front but tiny yellow narcissi out the back.  The tiny ones are the Tete-a-tetes and the clump in the raised bed are doing well, whereas the clump just a metre or so away in the border has had the flower heads eaten.

Low branch of pink viburnum flowers over a wall.
Viburnum flowers on low branch.
small narcissi Tete-a-tete in a raised bed
Tete-a-tete in the raised bed.
small narcissi Tete-a-tete flower heads eaten.
Tete-a-tete flower heads eaten.

I am blaming the wood pigeons but it may actually be mice or slugs too.

The same goes for some of the crocuses flower heads  The ones in the garden are doing well, but the ones planted int the small trough on the patio have been eaten.

Crocus bulbs just about to flower in a small trough.
Crocus just about to flower in the small trough.
Crocus flower heads eaten.
Crocus flower heads eaten in the small trough.

At least the crocus indoors came up without being eaten by anything giving some colour indoors.  I did order some ‘Gypsy girl’ and was given ‘Cream beauty’ instead which was rather annoying but they are pretty.

Crocuses indoors in pots on a table.
Crocuses in the conservatory.
Pale yellow crocus Cream beauty in a pot.
Crocus Cream beauty.
Pale yellow crocus Cream beauty.
Crocus Cream beauty – very nice but just not as nice as Gypsy girl.

I had also planted some in the garden in front of my favourite stone which is covered in blotchy lichen.

Crocus Cream beauty in front of a tall stone covered in pale grey lichen.
Crocus Cream beauty in front of lichen covered stone.

Although the sun is out just now it is still bitterly cold so spring proper will be a few more weeks yet so still in my thermals for the time being.

 

 

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.

pink generous gardener rose at the top of an arch

Beginning of July 2024

garden, plants, slugs

Finally the Generous Gardener rose is in full bloom over the arch at the back of the garden.  It looks great along side the dark foliage and the pink flower heads of the Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla ‘Eva’ (PBR.)  There is perfume everywhere from the various roses, honey suckles and philadelphus.  However, the philadelphus flowers are now going over and there are white petals all over the ground beneath it.

pale pink rose beside deep purple leaves and pink flower heads of sambucus nigra
Generous gardener with sambucus nigra
pretty white flowers all over the philadelpus

The astrantias are flowering their socks off but the slugs have decimated the foliage of the white one which is in the garden.  The pink and red astrantias are in copper pots that the slugs dislike so they have been spared. And speaking of damage: the hellebores are in a bit of a state, as are the brunnera Jack frost.  Slugs and snails are not meant to like astrantias, hellebores and brunneras but nobody told the ones in my garden! To be fair I think most of the damage to the brunneras has been caused by the wood pigeons tearing bits from the foliage.  They have been pecking away at the honey suckle too.

half eaten foliage of astrantia by slugs
Slug damaged astrantia foliage. (I took that photo a day or so ago and when I went out on slug patrol today there are NO leaves left and I found 6 slugs on it!)
damage caused by pigeons, slugs and snails on brunnera foliage
Damaged brunnera Jack frost
slug and snail damage to hellebores foliage
hellebore damage

And here are some of the culprits:

tub of Spanish slugs that cause damage in my garden
Tub of Spanish slugs

If I don’t do a slug patrol daily then these ones would grow to this kind of size or even bigger!

big Spanish slug on the palm of my hand
Big Spanish slug
big Spanish slug on the palm of my hand
Big Spanish slug

I have resorted to putting some copper mesh around some plants but I have found slug trails over that too so now I will have to make copper hats to cover some plants until they get a little higher and tougher.  I had no problem at all with slug damage on the Gypsophila paniculata ‘Compacta Plena’ but this year it just can’t get started without being chomped.

large clay pot with copper mesh around a plant that has been eaten by slugs, shows slug trails over the copper mesh
Copper mesh with slug trails on it.

The rhododendron and duetzia have gone over now but the sambucus, spireas, hardy geraniums, thalictrums, astrantia,  lavender, cirsium, verbascums, verbena, alchemilla, gaura, erigeron, fuchsia, geums, cowslips and roses have now taken over.  There are still a few foxgloves hanging on and one clematis; Clematis warszawski has a few flowers on.

pink generous gardener rose at the top of an arch
Generous gardener rose (excuse the barbed wire of the fence in the background)
pink mini patio rose climbing up a pole
Mini pink patio rose
damp corner of garden with astilbe, fern and alchemilla mollis
Damp corner
tall yellow thalictrum flowers
Tall Thalictrum flavium Glaucum yellow

It is back to being cold and wet today so we are still waiting for summer to appear.

the view from the patio end of June 2024
the garden from the patio at the end June 2024
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.

oxalis palmifrons succulent plant with white flowers.

Beginning of October in the garden.

plants, wildlife

I know that I am forever going on about the weather but we have been having quite a bit of rain just now and all my small plants in small pots are waterlogged.  I have been trying to keep them under the table during the worst of the rain but then we had the strong winds so I had to turn the plastic table upside down so it wouldn’t blow away.  Then I put them under the bench with a sheet of black plastic over the bench, with large stones holding it in place, and that helped a bit.  They are still waterlogged so I really want some nice sunshine and gentle breeze to help dry them out.

I do like how the garden looks after a rain shower though and there is still plenty of colour around.  We did get a few nuts from the tortured hazel tree (corylus avellena contorta), the squirrels missed a few, and there were plenty berries on the elder (sambucus nigra ‘Black lace’).  The newly planted crab apple (malus sylvestris ‘Evereste’) has a few tiny, orange crab apples on it,  the rowan (sorbus hupehensis ‘Pink pagoda’) has loads of deep pink berries and the variegated holly ( ilex aquifolium ‘ variegata’) has a few berries too.  We trim the holly to keep it in shape so we can get past it without being jagged, but that can mean we don’t get many berries.  We tend to leave them all for the wildlife.  You can tell it is autumn by the huge number of spider’s webs about that catch the mist and look fabulous.

rowan berries with spider's web
Deep pink rowan berries with spider’s web
hazelnuts from contorted hazel tree
hazelnuts from corylus contorta (contorted hazel)

The astrantias are still looking good in pots on the patio although the dark red one is turning purple as it is going over.  The pink one is a seedling from a white variety ‘shaggy’ and it is quite a lovely pink shade.

dainty pink astrantia flowers
Dainty pink astrantia flowers.

After the rain the view from the patio is quite nice.  I don’t like the very white garage so I cropped it out, maybe one day we will get it painted  a nicer colour (except the house is also bright white so maybe not).

view of the left of the garden from the patio
View of the left of the garden from the patio.
view of the right side of garden from the patio.
View of the right side of garden from the patio.
view of the garden from the patio.
View of the garden from the patio.

In the conservatory I have planted a few purple crocus and some tiny narcissi for some colour in late winter.  My cyclamen have had their summer rest and are staring to flower now.  one in particular is in full bloom while the others have yet to catch-up.  The oxalis palmifrons is looking lovely just now.  The little bulbs were planted just a few weeks ago and they are flowering now.  I love how the flowers untwist.

Single white oxalis palmifrons flower
Single white oxalis palmifrons flower.
oxalis palmifrons succulent plant with white flowers.
Oxalis palmifrons

The small unnamed cactus has had a few fluffy buds on it for the last few months and despite food and water they have failed to open.  It did have a few that opened into fabulous large white flowers that smell divine earlier in the year but not these ones.  I will leave them on and see if they do something next year.

Fluffy buds on a small cactus.
Fluffy buds on the small cactus.

I found some damage on a couple of plants during my checking and watering of the plants.  It is good to catch things early so any diseases don’t get passed onto other plants.  One poor little lithops has damage at the base of a leaf but I don’t know if it is slug damage or perhaps there was a bit of water sitting there.  I probably don’t need to worry about that as these leaves will wither and it will produce new leaves after that.

Lithops damage caused possibly by slugs.
Lithops slug damage?

There is something on one of my Christmas cactus cuttings that I think might be botryosphaera dothidea that causes a kind of canker.  Just in case it is that I binned the plant, washed my hands, then checked all the other seedlings and plants in the conservatory.  The good news it that it was only one plant that had it.

possible botryosphaera dothidea infection on Christmas cactus
botryosphaera dothidea ? on Christmas cactus

The conservatory attracts many pollinators into it but sadly some of them can’t find their way back out again.  I have seen loads of different hover flies, bees, wasps and other insects happily buzzing around the flowers but this  male (I think) twin-spot centurion fly (Sargus bipunctatus) caught my eye with its metallic colours.  It has gorgeous metallic  green, copper and blue on its body and iridescent wings.  In the first photo I was trying to capture the colours in its wings.  The second photo it had sadly died and the wings were apart revealing the beautiful colours on its body.

Sargus bipunctaus fly iridescent wings
iridescent wings on Sargus bipunctatus.
Sargus bipunctatus metallic green, copper and blue colours on body
Metallic colours on the Sargus bipunctatus.

It is now getting colder so we are getting fewer insects in the conservatory, although it wasn’t plagued by the usual greenfly this year.  I have to remember to water more sparingly now and I still need to check the plants daily for any signs of disease.  Slugs are still coming in so I also need to check underneath the plants.

Mid July, flower combinations that work.

flowers, plants, wildlife

You often hear that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but within the garden there are certain plant combinations that work better than other.  I happen to think that if there are too many different textures, colours and shapes all together then you can lose the overall effect, they all battle for your attention.  I usually have a picture in my head of what the overall effect should look like when I pace my plants together and sometimes things workout the way I had imagined them and sometimes they don’t.  For example I planted a purple leaved cotinus behind a pink climbing rose and a white astrantia: the flowers of the astrantia have a pinky/purple colouration in the centre when young  and the zephirine drouhin rose is a nice pink and these should look great against the purple leaves of the cotinus.  The dog had other plans and crashed around behind the cotinus and broke a few branches and it is still only about 30cm high.  The rose doesn’t appear to like that spot and is struggling.  I will replace the rose with a honey suckle to grow up the arch instead as it has purple tinges to it’s leaves but has vibrant flowers which should look good against the cotinus (once it does get going).

The pale pink climbing rose Generous gardener looks good against the purple leaved Sambucus nigra ‘Black lace’ and picks up the pink of the flowers too, but I will have to make a decision soon of how high I want the sambucus to grow as I don’t want a huge tree.

Generous gardener and Sambucus nigra

The relaxed habit of the moss roses go well with the rather straggly foxgloves in the woodland stumpery, and the purples look good together.  The purple of the moss roses fades to almost lilac as the rose goes over.

Moss rose William Lobb with foxgloves.

The dark purple of the Munstead wood rose is picked up in the verbascums (possibly Raspberry ripple) behind it.

Rose ‘Munstead wood’ against Verbascum ‘Raspberry ripple’.

By the patio I have a pink combination that works well.  I did have a struggle to get the Cistus parviflorus to thrive as the rather heavy wood pigeons kept trashing it.  That area is quite heavy clay that holds the water well and these all thrive there now.  The rose Gertrude Jekyll is still quite young but I do like the way that even though they are all pink flowers – all the pinks work together as the flower shapes are different,  and each plant has a very different habit  and leaf shape, so it keeps the combo interesting.

Gertrude Jekyll, pink astilbe and Cistus parviflorus combo.

Beside the ramp into the back garden is a shady,  damp corner.  The front of the corner gets a bit of sun and the cowslips enjoy that area.  Being yellow they add a bit of colour in what could be rather a dull area.  They go well with the ferns.

Primula sikkimensis with Osmunda regalis ‘Purpurascens’ and other fern.

As you wander around the garden your eye should travel easily along as the colours repeat themselves on the way.  I have dots of deep purple in every bed, pinks, and blues with highlight plants with white or yellow or gold.  It doesn’t matter if the colours are in the foliage or the flowers or even the containers or background.

Colours working together around the garden.

It goes without saying really that this applies to the pond too.

Purple Lythrum salicaria with Thalictrum flavium Glaucum yellow.

I just had to show a few other photos of plants that caught my eye this month.

I planted this fern (Dryopteris erythrosa ‘Brilliance’ or Japanese Rosy Buckler fern) a couple of years ago but the shrub along side it grew right over it so I moved it last year.  It has taken a while to get going but I just love the vibrant copper colour it brings to the shady woodland area. It really shows up against the predominantly green background but goes well with the purple/bronze  shade of the heuchera in the front.

Dryopteris erythrosa ‘Brilliance’ (Japanese Rosy Buckler fern)

In the conservatory it is the flower spike of the Sempervivum Mint marvel with the white flowers with reddish/purple centres  that stands out amongst the pinky/peach colour of the other sempervivums.

Sempervivum ‘Mint marvel’ flower spike.
White and reddish/purple flowers of Sempervivum ‘Mint marvel’

Wildlife I have spotted in the garden (and managed to get a photograph of) in the last couple of weeks include: a seven spot (?) ladybird larva, a mottled grass hopper (Myrmeleotettix maculatus) and a few meadow brown butterflies (Maniola Jurtina).  The photographs are not great (taken quickly with my phone) and I have yet to see a meadow brown on an actual plant – I only see them when they have come into the conservatory).

Seven-spot ladybird larvae (Coccinella septempunctata)
Myrmeleotettix maculatus
Maniola jurtina (female I think)

Now it is back to rain, rain, and more rain so not much gardening happening just now.

stephanotis floribunda flowers

House plants and cuttings update.

house plants, plants

Some good and some sad news about the cuttings I took back in April.  I will start with the sad – the lovely big Easter cactus was in a very sad state, it did bloom but the leaves were never turgid and just got more flaccid as time went on.  I took the plant out of its pot and it still had roots but the main ‘trunk’ was very damaged so it has gone in the bin.  I had taken a few cuttings and they looked like they were doing ok and had roots but a couple didn’t make it.  I have one cutting left that looks ok and I stuck a few leaves into a pot of compost so we shall see if they survive.  I am upset that I couldn’t keep that large parent plant alive as it was one of Stephanie’s plants (who was terminally ill when she gave me it and has now very sadly died).  Kate’s petrocosmia is not doing well.  I removed it from the pot and could see a material-like pot surrounding the plug plant (from the nursery).  The roots had not been able to penetrate that and had been trying to go over top of it.  It also didn’t have any roots coming from the centre of the base.   I took this material away and tried my best at re-potting it in a way that the remaining roots could reach the soil.  I am not hopeful though.

The good news is that  Stephanie’s palm is doing well, and my attempts to propagate Kate’s echveria have all been successful.  I tried a few different propagation methods:  taking heads off and planting them, taking the middle part of the long stump that was left and laying them sideways on damp compost,  leaving the cut stump ends in the pot to see if they would grow again, and single leaf cuttings.  The stumps are all sprouting, and one of the leaf cuttings is sprouting, a few of them have roots but are not yet sprouting.   The heads are all thriving now and have put down roots.  Some of the leaves look a bit shiny but should soon get their coating of farina on them to give them that soft matt look.  The farina gives the plant protection from the sun and it also repels water to help the plant avoid rotting.

echeveria hybrid cuttings
echeveria hybrid cuttings
middle part of echeveria hybrid stump laid on its side to make cuttings from sprouts
middle part of stump sprouting
echeveria hybrid sprouting from old stump
echeveria hybrid sprouting from old stump
echeveria hybrid sprouting on old stump
echeveria hybrid sprouting on old stump
echeveria hybrid leaf cutting
echeveria hybrid leaf cutting

Also, I  saved another of Kate’s plants recently  that no-one else had wanted, and it is doing well.  I was reluctant at first to take this one on as it is a stephanotis floribunda and it can be tricky to give it the correct situation all year round.  I have been waiting for weeks for it to open it’s buds and now it is creating a glorious scent in the conservatory.  I will have to move it from  the conservatory during the winter as it will be far too cold there so it may come into the dining room over winter.

stephanotis floribunda flowers
stephanotis floribunda flowers

And here are some of my own succulents in flower and about to flower.

a collection of sempervivums in flower
collection of sepervivums

This sempervivum Chocolate kiss doesn’t look like it is going to flower yet though.  It is such a great colour as it is.

deep chocolately/ purple coloured sempervivum 'chocolate kiss'
sempervivum ‘Chocolate kiss’

In flower mid August

flowers, plants, wildlife

There are still plenty of flowers for the pollinators to make use of in mid August: cyclamen are beginning to flower just before their foliage comes up, persicaria, Japanese anemone, nepeta, erigeron, plox, selinum, potentilla, heuchera, tierella, geum, salvia, sweet peas, roses, verbena, lamium, wooly rock jasmine, some hellebores, some verbascum, honey suckle, fennel and oregano all still going.  Just going over now are the  purple loosestrife, pond lily and pickerel weed.  There are a few sporadic flowers on the astrantia and hardy geraniums and campanula.  Some shrubs and small trees think that autumn has come early and are colouring up and leaves are falling so it is time to get the pond net out to start clearing the fallen leaves off the surface.  The rhododendron still looks poorly. Everything needs a good drink but we are still just getting the odd small shower that is hardly getting very deep so I am still having to water certain plants.  The white phlox is looking great but the label says Phlox paniculata ‘ice cream’  but when I googled it they should be pinkish flowers or white flowers with pink centres.  This may have been wrongly labelled and could be ‘White admiral’ instead.

I have moved the succulents that were in the conservatory onto the bench now as we did have a start date for getting the conservatory fixed in August.  That has now changed  to September so I have just left them on the old bench for now.

The front garden is not looking great just now as the perriwinkle is all dried and brown and there is nothing in flower except the weeds.  The mahonia and epimediums are looking ok as is the hedge so there is still some greenery.  The Virginia creeper is doing well so it should colour up well in autumn.  I would like to get more lavender and a few other drought resistant flowering plants out in the front garden for next year.

While I am out in the morning doing the watering I usually come across some bug or other.  I was watching a wasp trying to get a grip of a dried mealworm that had fallen from the bird food.  It had a real wrestle with it but gave up.  I try to look up the Latin names of the beasties I find but they can be hard to identify so I have no idea if they are what I think they are.

brown forest shield bug
Pentatoma rufipes (Forest shield bug)
small wasp trying to get a hold of 1/2 dried mealworm
wasp wrestling 1/2 dried mealworm
Tachina fera flies mating on selinum plant
Tachina fera flies mating on selinum
Athalia rosae turnip sawfly on miscanthus leaf
Athalia rosae (turnip sawfly)
trailing babies breath and unknown rose in pots
Babies breath and unknown  rose
Phlox paniculata White admiral perhaps
Phlox paniculata White admiral?
Honesty seed heads backlit
Honesty seed heads backlit
flowers in pots on the patio August 2022
Pots on the patio August 2022
Succulents on the old bench
Succulents on the old bench
View from the patio August 2022
From the patio August 2022

Excuse the photo of the view from the patio – yes it has the bottom of the bird feeder on it!  You can see how the deep shade creeps up the garden from the back due to the trees in the golf course.  By 16:00 most of the garden and part of the patio is in deep shade.  We used to be able to have BBQs in the afternoon in the summer sunshine, and have our dinner out on the patio at 18:30 but sadly not any more.  This year however, the shade has been a blessing in during the heat waves.