5ftinf: hydrangea

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Tuesday...Garden Round Up

This last week has been so hot here in Brighton, that I’ve barely been out in the garden during the day. It’s South facing so everything gets scorched...even if there are thunder storms at night.

So this army of cans provides not only the garden with water but me with good weight lifting exercise!

I’m going to be away for a week from tomorrow and although there will be someone here to keep an eye on everything, I’m sure things will look different on my return...

So I wanted to do a bit of a garden round up before I leave to do a bit of a compare when I’m back...

I really hope these dahlias will survive the snails...

...and hopefully there’ll be lots more Japanese Anemones in flower too

The bronze fennel I rescued from a crack in the pavement last year is completely fantastic and hasn’t been attacked by greenfly like the other normal fennel...

...but this Cow Parsnip or Hogweed, which came from a seed head from the side of the road is amazing...

I’ve never grown this before, although when I was younger my mother and I nabbed some Giant Hogweed seed heads from the side of the road and she then grew one which was well over 6 ft high!

It has a very strange smell which seems to constantly attract hover flies, bees and ordinary flies but a sneaky spider has cunningly made a thick web underneath the flowers in this one...

...I also found 2 strawberries this morning!

The Sedum may possibly flower while I’m away, but the flowers will last for ages...

I bought some stems from a florist last year and had them in the house all through October and November. I had kept them in water for such a long time that they'd rooted... so a complete bargain!

These are the Heuchera I re-potted a few weeks ago ( the ones I’d rescued from the tip ) which are recovering really well...

...and my favourite bud of the moment: Chocolate Cosmos

Also when I wrote the post about saving seed heads a couple of weeks ago I had also just scattered some Calendula seeds in this pot to see if they would grow and now I’ve got 3 seedlings ( they’re the ones with lighter green leaves...I don’t know what the other one is yet )

This nasturtium leaf which I’ve had in a jam jar of water for a few weeks has mysteriously rooted!

I really don’t understand how that can happen especially as it has been devastated by black fly, but I’ve potted it up, just to see what happens...

...and I’ll keep you posted of ‘looking about me' while I’m away too!

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Wednesday...

I have one buddleia in my garden...a very light purple one.
But neighbours on either side have two slightly different shaded dark purple buddleias... which overhang into my garden!
I picked two massive bunches from my own garden this week and they are making the house smell amazing, so I thought I’d snip some of the overhangers too...

the selection of neighbourly purples...

...combined with sweet pea, lavender, perennial pea and bronze fennel ( I’m very proud of this purple fennel, as last year I picked a teeny seedling from a crack in a pavement, planted it in the garden and now it’s about 5ft tall and just about to flower! )

...I thought that the valerian, hydrangea and heuchera flowers added to and complimented the buddleia textures...

with the heuchera leaves echoing the purples and pinks, and the poppy heads acting as a good contrast...

I chose one of my favourite ceramic vases...

...and started with the buddleia and hydrangeas before the adding the valerian and the other green textures and props.

I really like the bold geometry of this black and white pencil as it often works as good visual punctuation, and this aqua colour always sits so well alongside pinks and purples...

I also have a strange little doghnut vase which belonged to my other grandma ( Florence ), and which is hugely useful for little snippings which I either I cut off and don’t use in the large arrangements or for flowers and leaves which I rescue after a flower and petal composition...