Weather: The nasty weather which turned up in the second half of last week is still with us. It’s cold and rainy and summer is on hold
Judith Edmonds leads the way this week, including an HPS conservation plant in flower
Conservation plant, Iris “ Dark Aura” , this photo shows off the dark stems. In the background are some Harlow Carr hybrid candelabra primulas and Molinia caerulea subsp. caerulea ‘Variegata’
Paeony ‘Bowl of Beauty’
Scutellaria, this was a seedling which I got at a Plant Auction a couple of years ago, grown from HPS seed. With Geranium pratense, and Origanum vulgare aureum below
Rodgersia aesculifolia
Sue Gray still has plenty of plants in bloom despite the weather
Allium unifolium
Campanula foliosa – much more vivid mauve than the image suggests
Clematis ‘Elsa Spath’
Clematis montana ‘Marjorie’
Dactylorhiza and Lilium mackliniae
Papaver orientale ‘Beauty of Livermere’ – according to Reighton Nursery, but I have my doubts!
Allium unifolium
Anemone leveillei, I think, but could be rivularis
Libertia ‘Grasshopper’
Primula ‘Inverewe’
Thalictrum tuberosum
Regular contributor Preston Harrison shows how plants are still developing through the cold spell
Diane Rawnsley’s selection this week offers two oriental poppies we haven’t seen so far
Papaver orientale ‘Turkenlouis’
Papaver orientale ‘Königin Alexandra’
Peony ‘Globe of Light’
Hosta ‘Gold Haze’
Geum ‘Blazing Sunset’
Geranium palmatum
Clematis ‘Warszawska Nike’
Bowl of succulents
Delighted to welcome a first visit to the Gallery for Judi Barton, with some lovely combinations
Either Thalictrum ichangense (Chinese meadow rue) or T. kiusianum (Kyushiu meadow rue). Whatever its name, it is a dwarf slow growing thalictrum in a pot with black grass and one of the yellow sedges, all crowded together at the foot of shrub, Decaisnea, blue bean shrub. The shrub flowers but I don’t think it’s hot enough through the summer as beans never develop – unless it’s lacking a specialist pollinator?
Geranium himalayense ‘blue flowered’ from HPS or RHS seed, many years ago, with an ordinary Philadelphus whose foliage that’s turning green after its spring limey-yellow start
Candelabra Primula, perhaps a bulleyana type, with Persicaria runcinata ‘Purple Fantasy’, a sumptuous combination to my eye
Raindropped Aeonium, unnamed, picked up for a song at one of the WY HPS auctions
Pat Hunter is back with a selection which includes some sumptuous peonies
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Bowl of Beauty’
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Karl Rosenfield’
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Shirley Temple’
Primula aurantiaca
Primula aurantiaca
Iris ‘Holden Clough’
Libertia grandiflora and bronze fennel
Hosta, Primula bulleyana and Iris ‘Sparkling Rose’
Digitalis purpurea ‘Pam’s Choice’
A modest contribution from the Hackett garden..
Cornus kousa ‘Teutonia’. The flowers are turning pink as they age
Linaria purpurea ‘Peachy’. I thought for a moment I had created a new Linaria cultivar, then I checked my notes and found that I had grown L. ‘Peachy’ from HPS seed last year. It didn’t flower then, but it is making up for it this year.
Rosa ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’ – this massive pink rambler normally flowers at the end of June or early July, filling the trees with blooms. So early this year! (the white flowered rose in the centre of the picture is ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’)