31°C Thursday, 19°C Friday, 17°C the forecast for today. It’s raining too. You have to admire the way most plants cope; they can’t put on a sun hat or don coat and gloves, they just have to put up with it. We’ve had more rain overnight, I don’t know how much until I check the water butts. I’m not complaining too much but it would be nice to not get blight on my spuds so I don’t want it to get stuck in a rut. There’s a heap of stuff happening, I drew six straws pretty much at random.
One.
I have a Hydrangea called ‘Garden House Glory’, a selection made at The Garden House, Buckland Monochorum. It was released by Pan Global Plants and they describe it as a macrophylla x serrata hybrid with glowing red flowers. Mine has flowers that are red for a hydrangea but would be described as pink for anything else. They stay pink, even on my acid soil. I read the very detailed article that SweetgumandPines included a link to last week about hydrangea colour and I still don’t know how that works.
Two.
We’ve never had much luck with lilies but last year, probably encouraged in my wishful thinking by fellow bloggers, I added three varieties to my bulb order. Only five of each mind. I planted them in what seemed like appropriate locations in the garden and settled in for this years fabulous display. One lot have vanished. The other two I have three out of five on each. Slugs as usual were the culprit, hammering them as soon as they reached the soil surface. This one though, I like so much that I am inclined to get more and make a much bigger effort to keep the slugs from them somehow. It’s Lilium ‘Guinea Gold’, a martagon type.
Three.
Ipomaea purpurea ‘Grandpa Otts’. These were from the HPS seed distribution that I grew last year and collected my own seed from. I have several around the garden, groups of two or three in pots or in the ground. I have high hopes, they’ve grown hugely better than last year and are already flowering quite well. A challenge to photograph but I should get plenty of opportunities to practice.
Four.
Pteris umbrosa. This week’s fern is one I’ve had under my feet in the greenhouse for a couple of years, in too small a pot so frequently getting too dry. It’s native to the rainforest areas of south eastern Australia so I have no right to expect it to be hardy, but it is reputed to be borderline so I’ve put it under the edge of a Camellia canopy and will pack leaves around it for winter protection. It’s quite different from any other fern I have and if it thrives should be very ornamental.
Five.
(Correction time. It was pointed out to me that this is not in fact Malope ‘Vulcan’. I searched again and have concluded, until proven otherwise, that it’s Malva sylvestris ssp. mauritiana ‘Bibor Felho’. It’s available from Seedaholic, and no doubt others.)
Mallope trifida ‘Vulcan’. My allotment neighbour Mary gave up her plot last summer, leaving behind a small ornamental corner with a few nice things in it. One of them was this thing, flowering impressively on a bushy plant about three feet tall. Come autumn, I noticed it looked to have ripe seeds, which I collected and sowed in mid March. I had no idea what it was, noting it down as “Mallow, ex allotment”. Someone posted a picture of it somewhere and I was able to give it its rightful name. I maybe should have pinched them when they were small, they ran up tall with a single stem, now producing side shoots; and were left leaning by last weekends blustery wind. It’s the perfect filler for the bare patch left by the demise of a trio of conifers, underplanted with four varieties of magenta Geraniums.
Six.
My every attempt to construct a small paved area where we can put out a couple of chairs and enjoy a cool beer on a summer evening has been thwarted by it being temporarily filled with plants which stay there all summer. On the fence behind one such patio is Trachelospermum asiaticum, covered now with small, creamy, highly fragrant flowers. It’d be a lovely place to sit if it weren’t full of Fuchsias, seedlings etc.
It looks like it might turn into one of those on/off mizzly days where it’s no fun being out and frustrating being in. I’m working up to a video post for June, that’ll keep me occupied. I need a soundtrack that isn’t all squawking gulls. Don’t forget (as if you would) to check the links from Jon’s post to the rest of the SoS gang.
garden ruminations 
my malope are a dead loss, not sure why. i’ll have another go next year, i still have seed left. i blame the iffy compost…
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Did you pick up on Gill’s feedback (mine aren’t Malope) and their redesignation as Malva sylvestris ‘Bibor Felho’?
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Imposter!
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My I. ‘Heavenly Blue’ are finally ascending but nowhere near flowering. I also sowed pennata. The foliage is lovely, but no flowers yet. Love the fern, I wonder if it would be hardy here in North Somerset? I’m making a fern wall so may try
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I like the idea of using vertical space to grow ferns, I could get more! It’d also be a great way of showing off the ones with attractive rhizomes like Araiostegia and Davallia. Now where could I put it . . . . . .
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Gosh your temperature are getting close to rivalling Australia’s! Just kidding! Spectacular colour for a hydrangea (lovely seeing it in your garden setting in the video – yes, I viewed the video first as I’m still catching up with the SOS’s). The Ipomea is a stunning colour too. Do the Pteris ferns grow quite large? If they do then you have just helped me identify one of my ferns! Mine is a grey-green colour. I’ve only recently bought a Trachelospermum, which needs to be planted out, so I’m looking forward to its perfume! Lovely post.
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There isn’t a lot of wasted space in our garden to be sure, and not a lot of duplication either. Our Aussie offshoots in Morayfield had Trachelospermum along the fence up one side of the house. It grew like mad and flowered continuously. They got rid of it because the scent was overpowering. There was about a 60 foot run of it mind. The Pteris is still very young, I’m hoping it will get to perhaps 18 inches but I’ll be pleased if it survives.
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Oh! Good to know about the overpowering scent of the Trachelospermum! I had no idea it was so strong. I do, however, have just the right spot for it….sufficiently far away from the house so it’s not overpowering. It’s hard to visualise 60 foot of it though. Mine will definitely be confined to its trellis! I do hope the fern thrives for you.
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They’re on one of those estates where the houses are packed in and have 6 foot fences all round. On a hot calm day the scent seemed to build and build. At least you’re higher up.
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And in a pretty open area in that there are no high walls between neighbours. I’ll give it a chance. If the scent is not too overpowering, I might invest in a second plant…… (any excuse for more plants)!
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Oh yes, we’re all very good at excuses for more plants, today’s tally was two nurseries and seven plants. The excuse; I’d removed a big overgrown plant and a few stragglers in a prominent front garden position.
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I do like martagon lilies. I thought I had chucked all my Asiatic lilies last year as I grew fed up of the S&S chewing off the flowers just as they came into bud, but I must have had some bulblets in a pot I had forgotten about. They did manage a few flowers before getting chewed. I wonder if the martagons are tougher? And your mallow and ipomaea are fabulous colours.
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The slimy ones chewed the lilies as they came up but seemed to lose interest when they were perhaps 6 inches high. They haven’t touched the flowers.
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I was thinking of growing some indoors next year and only putting them outside once they were a reasonable size.
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We’ve frequently planted bulbs in pots with that intention but they never seem to make it into the garden. I’m also unsure about them being surrounded in the soil by potting compost rather than well drained soil.
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i’m somewhat relieved that your malope might not be ‘Vulcan’. Mine would have been so weedy in comparison. A bit out of sync, but I forgot to add on your video that those other hydrangeas are stunning.
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Bibor Felho is Hungarian for Purple Cloud, a name the mallow is doing its best to live up to.
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Ooh, that Trachelospermum looks very nice and I can just imagine the smell. Maybe you should clear and tiny bit of space to sit near it. Do you happen to know the difference between Ipomoea ‘Grandpa Otts’ and I. ‘Black Knight’ (which I’ve grown from seed but looks identical to me)?
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Once all of this year’s “production” is done and all the small vegetables and flowers planted, it may be possible to make some space. I don’t know Ipomaea ‘Black Knight’. I see that Seedaholic offer both so they must regard them as distinct. I suppose if you raise a variety that is just a bit darker then the currently darkest available you would stick with it and hope that the not quite so dark variety would disappear from cultivation. Not that the darkest is necessarily the best, darker colours just merge into the shadows and are often more interesting than ornamental.
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Trachelospermum asiaticum has creamy white bloom? It looks almost yellowish in the picture. (I suppose that is what creamy white looks like.) I have not seen this species in almost three decades, but I thought the bloom was white, comparable to star jasmine.
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You’ve got me doubting myself now. Mostly what’s grown here these days is T. jasminoides, imported from Italy in most cases I think. That is pure white whereas T. asiaticum has a buff tinge. I think. There may be different clones around.
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Trachelospermum jasminoides is what I know as star jasmine, with white bloom; so you are correct. I just am not familiar with Trachelospermum asiatucum, so must go with what you observe about it.
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Amazing colour on that Ipomea! We did get blight on our potatoes but I have just dug up the healthy ones and we have had them for dinner – delicious!
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My spuds were still OK when I checked yesterday. I have my fingers crossed, I’d like some bakers to store.
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I’d been hearing about your heat, Jim. Ugh. Goodness, such a beautiful magenta mallow. You’re lucky!
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It was cooler where I live than in most of the UK, just a couple of sticky days. Think I’ve finally sorted out what the mallow is, it’s a keeper.
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I forgot to grow any Ipomaea this year. Last year I grew a pink variety that was nice enough but it lacked that glowing effect that yours has. Another great looking hydrangea.
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I grew Ipomoea pennata, red flowered and cut leaved, this year as well as the blue. Disappointment so far. I think I meant to get Ipomaea sloteri. The catalogue pictures make all the flowers look the same size, the red ones are much smaller.
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I’ve shifted all the lilies to shade and done much better for not being ravaged by beetles.
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There’s not been a lot for the lily beetles to eat once the slugs have had their fill. Must do better.
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What gorgeous flowers – I love them all! The morning glory – will it get get to it full 10 – 12 foot height, or will growing in pots keep them short? I have hyacinth bean vines, both in a pot and in the ground, wondering…..
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Having seen what Morning Glory can do in Australia, 10-12 feet is not the half of it. I’m expecting 8-10 feet and will get the chain saw out at 15. At least it behaves as an annual here; for now.
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Nice six Jim, although I’m not sure that is Malope ‘Vulcan’, it doesn’t look like the plant I know. Lovely hydrangea. I have the same fern I think, in a pot, which struggles outside but I just cut back all the foliage in spring and it comes back. Firm but fair. 😀
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Well, if my Mallope isn’t Mallope, what is it? It has dark purple stained veins at the centre of the leaf, quite distinctive.
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I’ve been searching and I’ve come up with Malva sylvestris ssp. mauritiana ‘Bibor Felho’. Damn fine plant, whatever it is, except for a tendency to fall over, but who am I to judge?
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Blimey, hope you aren’t paying by the letter, what a mouthful! Just Googled it and it looks a good match. Falling over is not, as you say, always a bad thing. 😀
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Seems S&S immune and hasn’t got rust, so far, so good. I think it would stand up better if direct sown.
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Sounds just perfect.
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31° for you? I won ! Here it was 34° on Thursday, 36° in the greenhouse and 47° in the car… phew..
now the clouds and the rain have come back to refresh : the garden will be able to breathe a bit.
I really like the colour of this Mallope which seems to give a lot of flowers.
Finally , very nice pink hydrangea.
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I was seriously flagging at 31°, it never seemed a problem on holiday in Australia. The Malope seems likely to be Malva sylvestris ssp. mauritiana ‘Bibor Felho’, every week I learn something. Considering the hydrangea was moved just a few months ago, ripped out of a mat of bamboo roots, it’s looking really good.
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Lovely, as always. I have a wild mallow which appeared next to the compost bin with ox-eye daises and I just leave them to get on with it!
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An ox-eye daisy has appeared chez nous. I’ll not be leaving it to get on with it, though I will let it flower. They make me nervous, I’d rather enjoy them on the road verges.
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Stunning hydrangea – what a lovely colour whether it’s red or pink. That Grandpa Otts is a lovely colour too. Is it what I know as Morning Glory? I’m not sure.
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Yes, it’s morning glory, though it lasts most of the afternoon as well.
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