Friday 11 September 2015

Holidays, Mistakes and Impulse Buys!

We have just returned from an enjoyable holiday in the lovely town of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, relaxing, following in the footsteps of Dylan Thomas, sampling the produce of the hostelries in the evening and visiting gardens by day, more of these in future blogs.

Laugharne Castle.
On returning home we welcomed a visit from Cathy and the 'Golfer' of  Rambling in the garden  fame who were visiting gardens around this part of Worcestershire. It was very enjoyable to meet another blogger and talk gardens.
Time to have a look around the garden and see what has been flowering during the end of August while we were away and now into September.

The Dahlias are of course the colour stars of the garden at this time of year, D. 'Twyning's After Eight' with its faint veining of pink along with dark foliage was particularly admired by Cathy...


...less so D. 'Thomas A. Edison', whilst admiring the colour, the heads are big and they can suffer from heavy rain and wind.


You can see more of the Dahlias growing in the garden Here

In the raised beds there was also Ricinus communis, the castor oil plant, providing interesting leaf shape and colour...



...along with a self sown sunflower from the bird feeders.


The pots by the raised beds are planted with Ipomoea lobata, Spanish Flag, which has been disappointing this year, they have only just started to flower in the one pot,...


...much more rewarding has been the 'Impulse Buy' these Petunias from M&S, they have flowered continuously for weeks.


The Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' has migrated through into the white & green garden, where the Iceberg rose is enjoying a second flowering...


...with Japanese Anenomones...


...the Phlox paniculata 'White Admiral'...


...and the Leucanthemum x super bum, Shasta Daisy blending in beautifully with the Glass Daisy behind.


Through the arch into the centre border...


...the first Aster is in flower...


...Aster divaricatus accompanied by...


...the sparkling Solidago 'Fireworks.'


A recent addition is the Cirsium rivulare 'Trevor's Blue Wonder' the bees were there as soon as I had finished planting them.



The Agapanthus in pots either side of the Banana Bench are just starting to go over...


...along with Lilium tigrinum 'Flore Plena'...



...and L.'Landini'. I liked this lily enough to order some more two years ago...


...and this is 'The Mistake'!......they did give me a refund.


Back on the patio 'Mrs Popple' is showing off in the old tin bath.


I hope you have enjoyed the Holiday season, what 'Mistakes' or 'Impulse Buys' do you have in your garden?

14 comments:

  1. How could you leave all that glory behind to go on holiday? It's looking a picture. Every time I see Ricinus I think I must get one, they really do add a statement to the garden. Having just had another bout of ground clearance today I reckon I now have the space too. Glad you had an enjoyable trip.

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    1. The temptation was the gardens we planned to visit while we were away!

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  2. What an interesting part of the country to visit Brian. Looking forward to hearing more about your travels. I could live with 'The Mistake' but 'Landini' looks like a superior creature to my eyes.

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    1. It is a beautiful part of the world Anna, with some very interesting gardens to visit.

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  3. I love the height effects among the Solidago, Asters, and nearby grasses. (It is rather hard in my young garden to imagine eventual heights ;-) Landini is gorgeous; the Mistake looks a lovely one, anyway - I've had worse on occasion...! So glad you had a pleasant holiday!

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    1. The mistake was not to bad, they did give me a refund. The Solidago, Asters and grasses make a great contribution to the borders this time of year.

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  4. Hi, Brian! Just popped across to see what your garden @ 19 looks like. Most impressive! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your beautiful garden. I think I've mastered adding a follow me widget to my blog. How clever of me!

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  5. How nice you had a chance to meet Cathy. Your garden looks wonderful.

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    1. Thank you, we had an enjoyable morning with Cathy & The Golfer.

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  6. Mutually enjoyable in that case!! It is a pleasure to be able to walk virtually around your garden in this post after having done so in person just a week ago - did we see that cirsium? I think Trevor must be colour blind though... Will definitely be looking out for After Eight but am also making the decision to avoid the larger types. Sadly Peter Nyssen don't stock After Eight as I have been so pleased with their tubers this year.

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  7. Thanks Cathy, the cirsium was in the garden when you visited, I agree about the colour, perhaps when it is next to purpurea it looks more blue.
    A good source of dahlias is the national collection here:http://www.national-dahlia-collection.co.uk/en/ they sell rooted cuttings in the spring which I have purchased successfully in the past.

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  8. The Cirsium is always a good one for the bess Brian - you/they wont be disappointed with it. If it's recently bought then probably on it's second flush of flowers. It flowers early and will bloom twice if you cut it back and conditions are right. It won't flower here for a second time this year though!
    I love the green/white/yellow border, it must be full of pollinators.
    My mistake? Not picking up some of that Aster divaricatus when I spotted it in the GC a couple of weeks back!
    Glad to read you had a good holiday.

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    1. Thank you Angie,one reason I purchased the Cirsium was for its drought tolerance, we have some large trees next door, who take up a lot of water. I used to keep bees so love to see them in the garden.

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