2025

Temperatures are remaining around 20°C which rather suits me. I am writing this on Friday and we are expecting heavy rain later which is much needed. The garden has really filled out now and I can hardly move for plants. Which is making it difficult to get to any weeds without treading on things I’d rather not. A mixed bag this week of plants I can name, and those I can’t.

Update 6.00am Saturday. As always, it seems, the promised heavy rain went north of us. When I looked out this morning everywhere was dry! More heavy rain forecast for early morning tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

This little campanula is from a packet of seed labeled large white flowered. The flowers are white and also large for the plant, which is typical of campanulas. The plant itself however, is less than a foot tall. It reminds me very much of Symphyandra hoffmannii which I used to grow.

I am not a great fan of grasses but I find Anemanthele lessoniana, the pheasant tail grass outstanding. Unfortunately the picture doesn’t capture the effect of it glinting in the sunlight as it does. It will carry on throughout the year with the leaves taking on yellow, orange and red streaks towards winter.

This white, self-seeded verbascum has improved year on year. I know the wild plant is somewhat looked down on as a weed but I find them rather attractive. A big plus is that they are constantly visited by numerous bees. Both the white one, and the smaller yellow one, in the foreground, originated from a packet of mixed verbascum seed, but these plants have seeded themselves, into the paving, from elsewhere in the garden.

Primula x bulleesiana showing fasciation. This is one of the few botanical “coveralls” that I can relate to. x bulleesiana is obviously the combination of bulleyana and beesiana. Fasciation is quite common in primulas, particularly the candelabra types. There seems to be a myriad of things that can cause it from genetic mutation to viral or insect damage, which means, I think, that nobody is really certain.

Another plant that has seeded itself into the garden. This rather neat astrantia has been with me for several years now, and I have just left it alone to do its thing.

The first lily flower this year from a pot I have had for years, so, naturally I have lost the label! At a guess, I think it could be Lilium ‘African Queen’ a Lilium longiflorum hybrid. But please don’t take my word for it!

This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.

Six on Saturday 28/6/2025

The welcome rainfall has really boosted everything in the garden, although it is always sad to see the early bloomers finished until next year. My garden is always at its best Mid-April To mid-June. I can now breathe a sigh of relief, as the couple of bamboos that I have, are finally greening up again. I always worry that they aren’t going to recover after their winter battering, because they are so late. I have a Phyllostachys nigra which was badly damaged a couple of years ago, and only partially survived. We are promised another “heatwave” next week. I think it is meant to reach as much as 29°C on one day!

An abundance of geraniums this week. I wanted to get them in before some finish flowering.

I’m sure Rosa ‘Rambling Rector’ is on steroids. This is only its third year since I planted it, but I never thought this would be the result. Some late pruning, to contain it a little, has certainly helped the flower count. On a warm day it fills my tiny garden with scent, so I won’t complain. A drastic prune is now due!

Geranium ‘Galactic’ or to give it the full title Geranium pratense var. pratense f. albiflorum ‘Galactic’, poor thing! It sat in the garden unrecognised, until I found an old label that had been disregarded a few years ago. I am always hesitant when identifying geraniums, as the variations are often very slight. This has led to a growing problem of, plants offered for sale, being wrongly labeled. Best left to the specialists.

Unfortunately the flower is much pinker than shown, as the name implies. Geranium x oxonianum ‘Dusky Rose’ is a new cultivar which I am hoping should flower right through the summer.

Another low growing geranium (6″). Geranium Orkney Cherry is bred by Alan Bremner in the Orkney Islands so it must be hardy.

Geranium Patricia is another cultivar from Alan Bremner and is the result of Geranium endressii x Geranium psilostomen. I know this one will produce flowers through the summer. Geranium ‘Galactic’ however, I will be cutting back in the next couple of weeks, and hoping for a second flush of flowers.

My favourite pink geranium. I have had Geranium × oxonianum ‘Wargrave Pink’ for many years, even before I made the decision to grow more geraniums. This is another one I know will keep flowering right through the summer.

This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.

Six on Saturday 14/6/2025

The heavy rain seems to have died down and temperatures have risen again. We are promised some thunderstorms in the near future, so we will have to wait and see what is in store for us.

Although escallonias don’t seem to be as popular as they used to be, this one is so aptly named. The dark green, evergreen foliage makes an excellent foil for those plants in front of it.

The common viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare) is a native flower, which I first saw in a garden when I was in my early teens. We had neighbours who had returned from India after serving in the British Raj, which we youngsters found fascinating. Charles was a keen amateur astronomer and my father and I spent a few nights with him gazing at the stars. His wife Effie (Euphemia) was a very keen gardener and an archetypical, indomitable Victorian lady who did much to encourage me in the ways of gardening. One of her favourites was viper’s bugloss, which I have grown in her memory ever since. Echium plantagineum, the purple viper’s bugloss, actually comes from warmer climes, but it is flowering from a February cold sowing.

Primula alpicola the moonlight primrose is another little beauty for a damp spot.

This geranium seems to grow in the poorest of conditions providing excellent ground-cover. Definitely a bee magnate!

**Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’**

Grows virtually anywhere, autumn tints to the leaves, aromatic foliage, bee magnate. What more could anyone want?! Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Bevan’s Variety’ is very similar, in fact, to be honest, I can’t tell them apart.

Finally a rose. I am really happy to be able to grow roses here, although I have limited them to the climbers and ramblers. I love ‘Zéphirine Drouhin’, it is the only rose that I managed to grow in my previous, shady, damp garden.

This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.

Six on Saturday 7/6/2025

We have had a very wet week, with very little sun. In between showers I have discovered a couple of pests causing damage to foliage. The mullein moth caterpillar has been feasting on a clump of verbascums making large holes in the leaves. I have found that the easiest way of combating them is to simply pick them off and dispose of them. It’s the first time I have come across these, even though I have been growing verbascums for years. Another first is the geranium sawfly. I have always thought of geraniums as being pest-free and I have found no reference to the sawfly in earlier textbooks. The larvae make fairly neat, small, round holes in the leaves, which detract more from the appearance, than the actual health of the plant. Besides an odd one, the culprits had disappeared, although it’s possible to get another attack later in the year. The odd thing is that they attacked one geranium but a different species growing right next to it was left alone. The good news is no lily beetle yet!

Rather magnificent veining of Geranium x magnificum ‘Blue Blood‘ which is a variant of the original cross: G. ibericum x G. platypetalum.

Another of my favourite candelabra primulas. Although this plant was grown from seed last year, overwintered in a container, and only planted out a a month ago it has still produced a reasonably sturdy flower stem. If it had only made a weak attempt to flower I would have removed the stem to allow it to bulk up more.

I have mixed feelings about this rambler. It opens from a really nice tight, typical rosebud. When half- open it till maintains its form. When fully open it becomes a bit of a mess! It might be that the form I have is not as good as it might be, but even though it is also only lightly scented, I am reluctant to part with it.

I can’t resist the colour and texture of herb borage, I even have a photograph on my wall. This plant is flowering from a cold sowing at the end of January.

I have cheated a bit here in order to show the various stages of Viburnum plicatum ‘Kilimanjaro Sunrise’. It opens with the petals suffused quite a dark pink, goes to almost pure white, and then fades to a softer pink as it ages. This is a young plant but the flowers lasted quite well. The flowers of Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Mariesii’, which flowered earlier, were over very quickly. I think it could have been the long dry spell that caused this to happen.

Geranium × oxonianum f. thurstonianum ‘Southcombe Double’ to give it its full title, is one of a massive group of geraniums which are variants of crosses between G. endressii and G. versicolor, that contain many of my favourites. I think that this is a rather pretty little thing.

This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.

Six on Saturday 31/05/2025

We have had three days of quite persistent rain and everything in the garden has shot up. It seems to be getting drier at the moment plus the sun is back, albeit intermittently. There seems to be quite a bit of blue in the garden, so this week I’m having the blues.

Smaller in stature than ‘Crarae’, Meconopsis ‘Crewdson Hybrid’ has been around for some time. It is believed to be an opportunist cross between M. betonicifolia and M. grandis. The interesting thing about many meconopsis is that although the original cross was made between two fertile species and the resulting plants often produce viable seed, they eventually become sterile in later generations. This means that my plants were produced vegetatively.

Geranium ‘Orion’ is in fact not an interspecies cross but a seedling of “Brookside”. One of what I like to call the “Big Blues”

I don’t think you can beat Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’ for strong growth and intense blue flowers. I find it can be rather a rampant grower and be a bit floppy, but I still wouldn’t be without it. As I am sure many of you have experienced geraniums, are notoriously promiscuous. This is an interspecies cross: G. himalayense x G. pratense. Another “Big Blue”!

Geranium ‘Brookside’ is officially violet/blue so I am including it. Another “Big Blue” this is an interspecies cross: G. clarkei ‘Kashmir Purple’ x G. pratense.

**Campanula portenschlagiana ‘Mrs Resholt’**

I bought this little bellflower, sometimes known as ‘Resholt’s Variety’, as an edging plant. I will probably move it as it doesn’t seem suited to where it is. The soil is very poor, and I managed to run over it with the recycling bin a few weeks ago! Unfortunately it isn’t in full flower yet but I am running out of blues!

No excuses! I couldn’t resist one last picture.

This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.

Six on Saturday 17/05/2025

Weather-wise we have had a couple of light frosts at the beginning of the month and haven’t had any appreciable rainfall for weeks. We have had no rain in May, only 18mm in the whole of April, and the dry weather is set to continue for at least another week. It has been fascinating watching the weather radar, any rain clouds that did appear always veered away from our location! At least, now I have a small garden, it does make watering less of a task.

Inherited paeony of unknown origins. For some reason it thrives in a shaded dry spot but produces many flowers every year. Technically the photo’ is not good but I like the “silvering” and shade contrast.

**Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Mariesii’**

I am very appreciative of viburnums, I know they can have a problem with viburnum beetle which can badly affect the evergreen species, but, in my opinion, if this one was evergreen it would be perfect.

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) can be a rampant spreader but having been offered a clump from a friend, and having several “difficult” areas in the garden I thought “why not”! It is relatively well contained although it has manged to appear in the joints of the adjacent flags. I do tend to go for many native and tough plants as much of my garden is on an old railway yard which I originally planted out with a pick and trenching tool which in fact I have used today!

The candelabra primulas are coming into flower at my favourite time of the year. My first specialisation as an amateur gardener was alpines, but after visits to Ness Botanical Gardens, Fletcher Moss University Gardens and Harlow Carr I graduated to the larger end of the alpine spectrum. I first started to grow primulas rapidly joined by meconopsis and, luckily, I have a small area in the current garden where they will grow and I can still enjoy them.

This seedling appears to be true to its adjacent parent Geranium var. pratense. f. albiflorum. ‘Galactic’. It is so nice to have a white one pop-up as most self seedlings are usually from the blue plants.

A couple of aquilegias to finish off. A.fragrans is from seed and seems to be wilting a bit unfortunately. It looks as if my policy of removing the seed heads from all standard deep blue A.vulgaris and leaving anything that was more interesting has paid off as I think that’s a rather nice seedling.

This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.

Six on Saturday 03/05/2025

The unseasonal weather continues although it is beginning to cool down now with the possibility of frost on Monday night. Still no rain so regular watering of containers continues. We have had a very bad moorland fire the smoke from which was visible from where I live. It almost engulfed the site of the famous Cat and Fiddle, which is now a distillery, and we had the unusual sight of a helicopter water bombing the fire. The garden is coming on very quickly and, although there is not a great deal of flower to be seen, I have managed to scrape together a six.

The first of my geraniums to flower. I would like to apologise in advance as I think I will be relying on them rather a lot this year to fill the Six on Saturday slot.

British native, Sweet woodruff, has proved useful for ground cover, along with Euphorbia characias, in a rather difficult corner. I’ll have to be careful as they are both invasive, but I think the hostile conditions should limit their ambition. I always think woodruff looks very tatty going into winter, it’s a pity it isn’t evergreen.

My first time with this rather neat, buttercup-like, little creeping plant from the eastern United States. It appears to be, at the very least, semi-evergreen, as it has kept the majority of its leaves over the, albeit mild, winter.

Spanish or English? Is it a hybrid? This clump of bluebells has a very faint scent and the stems are “nodding” rather than upright, typical of the English bluebell. The flowers are light coloured more like the Spanish species. I also have a clump of more robust plants which are not yet in flower, as soon as they are I am going to try a direct comparison. Until then I rather think these are Spanish, Hyacinthoides hispanica or are they a hybrid…………..?

I think Clematis montana ‘Morning Yellow’ is a rather neat cultivar, it is definitely more cream than yellow, fading to white as they age. It doesn’t appear to be as rampant and flower as prolifically as montana, but nevertheless gives a good show. Both have that nice delicate vanilla scent.

A rather nice self-seeded common aquilegia that has appeared in a crack in the paving. I had too many aquilegias appearing in the garden so I ripped out a fair number as they came into flower, leaving only those of interest. This one must have escaped my notice!

This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.

Six on Saturday 26/04/2025

We have had very little rain here in High Peak having avoided the downpours which have affected other areas and I am now having to water all my containers and pots on a regular basis. The forecast is currently showing an overcast day today (Saturday) but then temperatures are set to go into the twenties throughout next week. I am still very wary of a late frost even though it seems unlikely at the moment. I won’t be happy until we get to the last week of May.

I love this time of the year, the acers are now fully out and everywhere you look trees are bursting into life and the landscape is greening up. A gardener’s week is never done it seems, with the stronger sun and possibility of a late frost the acers stand to be scorched by either one whilst the leaves are so tender.

Specie tulip, Tulipa clusiana var chrysantha on a sunny day and not.

I no longer have cold glass so have to resort to outdoor sowing, of mainly hardy perennials, outside in a sheltered spot. These were sown in early February, as I would do normally under cover, using fresh society seed. Despite this two lots have been pricked out three weeks ago and are almost ready to go into the open ground. I get great pleasure in raising plants from seed and to be honest I don’t know where I am going to put them all. I do sow a good number of seeds, even though I may only keep a few plants of each, because in some cases poor germination is a factor. I am a great believer in raising them hard to get good strong plants.

I am making a bit of an assumption here that this is actually characias but it is filling up an awkward damp corner very nicely so I won’t complain.

These were planted very late and consequently we have February Gold flowering at the end of April. I find I can get away with planting tulips late, but narcissi, not so much.

How did that get there? This montana has appeared around the central heating exhaust after travelling under the tiles from the gutter level. It will be short-lived as I will be taking it down to almost ground level after it flowers in order to paint the woodwork behind it.

This meme is hosted by Jim Stevens who is to be found with all the details and links to plenty of other blogs to enjoy at Garden Ruminations.