On thursday I was sowing cyclamen seeds, then yesterday I planted up some of the bare space in the front garden. It felt way too early to be sowing seeds and way too late to be planting. I have Cyclamen and Japanese anemones flowering. It seems like the chronological signposts have been removed.
At least I’ve got Dahlias flowering now, both in the garden and up the allotment. That’ll keep me in SoS flowers for a few months and anchor me in mid to late summer. Talking of which:
One.
Dahlia. I don’t know its name but it’s a mid height fierce red and the camera can’t cope very well. Should have done it in RAW so I could tweak it but didn’t.
Two.
Geranium pratense ‘Plenum Violaceum’. This old double form of meadow cranesbill is a delight, which I probably wouldn’t have thought 10 years ago. Geraniums have crept up on me. The flowers are made quite vibrant by the red veins in the centre but my favourite take on it is backlit in the evenings when it is central to the view from our back door.
Three.
Alstroemeria ‘Inticancha Sunshine’. This was the second of the two Alstroemerias I bought at our local garden centre a couple of weeks back. It’s a miniature, getting around 8 inches tall, but it looks so far to be free flowering and vigorous. It will stay in a pot. I took the picture with evening sunshine slightly exaggerating its pinkness, but it’s pretty bright in any light.
Four.
Begonia sp. U614. The Prop featured a hardy Begonia a fortnight back and here’s another. This was introduced from Arunachal Pradesh by Michael Wickenden and distributed incorrectly under the name Begonia sikkimensis. It seems to be a new species but no one has given it a name yet. I have had it in the ground outside through the last two winters and it has survived, just. It comes up around June and doesn’t get very big before winter arrives again. This plant was a division that I brought on inside last year and planted out this spring. It’s about 8 inches high, twice that across, and it is starting to flower, white, bottom right. It seems to me that even if they are hardy they may be better treated as if they are not. I will lift this for the winter. It will die down anyway, it’s not like I’m missing out on anything.
Five.
Indigofera pendula. I think I only planted this in spring last year. It got up to about 6 feet last year; I cut it back early this year to about 3 feet and it’s put it all back on and has been flowering for weeks. The racemes are up to 16 inches long but the flowers are not very bright so it can’t compete with Dahlias and the like.
Six.
Every week I get to number six and have to decide which of several contenders to run with. This one is an unplanned coming together of two plants that I thought rather pleasing. The flowers are Hypericum calycinum, which was dying out in most places 30 years ago from rust but seems to have survived untroubled in our garden. The fern is the hardy maidenhair Adiantum venustum, which just might finally be becoming a bit more widely available. Can there be another plant that looks so delicate but is actually so tough.
That we’re going out for a pub lunch today is a matter of little importance or interest, though more so in these weird times. There’ll be no gardening done this afternoon, I’d better do what needs doing this morning, whatever it may be. Pumping water was part of it.
Many more sixes, another part of it, are to found here.
I love the double geranium and I’m amazed by thar Maidenhair fern being hardy. I thought it only grew in bathrooms!
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I don’t think the maidenhair fern that grows in bathrooms would last long outside, though it is very similar in appearance. Adiantum venustum is very hardy in spite of its appearance. It won’t grow from spores and only works from division if the pieces are a fair size, so it hasn’t been common in the nursery trade.
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Gorgeous Dahlia and Geranium! The Begonia is unusual with its bisected leaves and the light gives the impression of an almost silvery tinge to the leaves. Very nice! The pendulous flowers of the Indigophora are unusual and I like the weeping effect. I think its a pity it is a denser bush to show off the flowers. The maidenhair and Hypericum mix is lovely!
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The silveriness of the begonia is not just a trick of the light, the leaves are somewhat silvery, especially when new. The Indigofera is said to make a shrub 8-10 feet tall but it was growing very fast and didn’t seem very stable in the ground, so I pruned it back to give the roots a chance to catch up. I’d like it to get to 8 feet and be open and spreading, so the flowers are hanging below the branches and the whole thing casts a light shade.
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My curiosity was peaked,so I looked up Indigofera pendula, and one site described as “wonderful and whimsical”, and looking at pictures of it, I can see that is a perfect description! It will look amazing with its flowers hanging below the branches. I’m looking forward to seeing mor of you plant.
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I had better bring my plans for it to fruition then, the world is watching.
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I can’t recall seeing a weeping Indigofera, where can I find room for one! I need a garden extension. The Begonia foliage is beautiful as well. I have some indoor ones and B. luxurians in a pot outside. Looking at your past pictures my plant is a midget by comparison. I need to be brave and put it in the ground next year (or a much bigger pot).
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It was a real surprise to us how Begonia luxurians took off when planted in the ground. I potted them up and kept them frost free for winter then planted them back out. The taller is now 4 feet and I’m hoping for more.
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So Indigofera pendula is quite shrubby. I have no experience with it. We grew only one species with a name I can not remember. No one here knew what it was, so we did not sell many, and eventually discontinued it. The others that I see online look like shoots that grow from the stumps of black locust after it gets cut down.
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My Indigofera pendula is bushier than it would have been if I hadn’t cut it back. It put on a lot of growth last year and was rocking about somewhat. I’d like to get it up to around 8 foot and thin it out for a light and airy effect. In the colder parts of the UK Indigoferas often get killed to the ground in winter but I’m hoping this one won’t be. They grow from the roots if that happens.
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So, they really can look like they grew from a stump.
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That Indigofera is so very pretty – the flowers look like necklaces dangling from the boughs and the overall shape of the bush is great. Your begonia has piqued my interest too. I’m growing a few interesting ones indoors and I’m keen to explore more outdoors too – maybe in my new “tropical” border.
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I must include Begonia luxurians in a six again, it’s been nearly a year. That’d be perfect for your tropical look. https://gardenruminations.co.uk/2019/08/24/six-on-saturday-24-8-2019/
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The red dahlia is quite stunning, it’s bold and beautiful. What a fabulous splash of colour the Geranium pratense makes – it’s beautiful too, I could easily find a spot for that in one of the borders, and just in case I find a perfect, empty space, I’ve made a note of it.
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If ever there were a plant to make me smile it’s Dahlias, the colours are so cheerful.
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The red dahlia still looking good even if cameras struggle to capture the colour.
I had one border completely dominated by Hypericum calycinum. I’ve gradually contained it to a smaller section of border.
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The Hypericum has hung on in there for 30 years, never doing much until a couple of years ago when it suddenly took off. It’s relatively easily contained and now that it’s no longer a municipal landscaping stalwart it seems like a respectable plant to grow.
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The double geranium is gorgeous! Hope you had a lovely lunch. We haven’t braved that yet though we did go to Trelissick the other day and had cake and coffee outside in the sunshine though the day started off rather dull. I keep thinking about booking lunch somewhere, but in the scheme of things it’s not that important, just that I am fed up of cooking every meal!
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We went to the Cheesewring Hotel at Minions and ate outside. It is the weirdest place. You’re smack in the middle of a World Heritage Site, though as far as I’m aware there is nothing to tell you that. There’s more archaeology within a mile of where you’re sitting than you could shake a stick at yet most of the people there are unaware of it and probably not remotely interested. The food was OK but not great but the beer was more than acceptable and the company excellent; the most normal feeling thing I’ve done since lockdown.
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It is an odd place. My son went in the pub whilst I walked to the actual cheesewring on a very damp day. He was wearing shorts and the pub was full of locals (late September) and he got a few odd looks. I didn’t know it was a World Heritage site!
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I learned, over lunch, of the the Cornwall Interactive Map, and from that about the World Heritage Site. The Historical layer is very informative. https://map.cornwall.gov.uk/website/ccmap/?zoomlevel=2&xcoord=225677&ycoord=75090&wsName=ccmap&layerName=
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Some beautiful plants there! The Indigofera especially appeals to me. I can see it in a local garden and I grow. I. gerardiana here which has smaller flowers. I also grow that geranium and like it very much. A beautiful selection.
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I’m learning as I go along with the Indigofera, I could do with getting the whole flowery section a couple of feet higher up. I like a malleable plant but I want it to look natural-ish in a scaled down tree sort of way.
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Lots of goodies this week, I especially love the double geranium, the begonia, the indigofera and the dahlia.
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I’ve got to be pleased with 4 out of 6. It’s a nice colourful time of year.
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So much to admire here Jim. Those double geranium flowers are quite perfect.
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There are a couple of other double geraniums I’ve seen that are nice, but it’s that same old rabbit hole again, I want to grow them all.
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I may have to add one to my increasing number of geraniums. Is there one you would recommned?
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I’m way too new to enthusing about Geraniums to risk recommendations. Theoretically you would decide where you had a space, how big it was, what colour would work best, what the conditions were; in practice you see something in the nursery and can’t leave without it. If I had to choose just three of mine to keep they would be incana, Rozanne and Nimbus, all blues as it happens.
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Very nice Dahlia. It reminds me of ‘Babylon Red’ that I grow, an intense red: the photographs don’t manage to reveal reality as usual
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I’m not sure that an iPad or computer monitor could really do justice to some flowers, even if the camera could record it accurately. Experimentation required.
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Again, a fascinating Six-on-Saturday. The dahlia is almost a “shocking ” red, beautiful. Enjoy your lunch, we haven’t been brave enough to eat out yet but are hoping that our planned trip to Carlyon bay will be on in November. Surely things will be safer by then?
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We were hoping it would be warm enough to eat outside but it’s very dull here so will be worse at Minions. There haven’t been many cases down here, relatively speaking, though the holiday season may change that. I need to work on capturing the full ferocity of that dahlia, it’s such an intense colour.
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