Blogs

I had some fantastic foxgloves this year, but they came back after a drought and heatwave in 2022.

7-6-2023 with a bee

wider view end of May 2023

detail 11-6-2023

back in 2022, my large foxglove did not bloom, first I've ever had a failure with a foxglove, it had a withered brown flower stem, I don't know if I have a photo, it was so painful

it over-wintered, first I've had that as well, surviving the into the 3rd year and shooting up multiple flowering stems, I've always had just the central flowering stem

this foxglove bloomed spectacularly this year (see top of page) and now it has growth from the base of the stems, the drought and heatwave seems to  have changed this plant, I look forward to seeing what happens with it next spring

whereas other foxgloves don't have that new growth, as you would expect at the end of their season, they have finished and no new growth

this foxglove grew as usual (seen back 11-6-2023) and completed its usual season and is finished, shown above

bee on verbena bonariensis

sawwort with bee

29-5-2023 I had a sage plant that was looking quite sad. After taking it out from an overgrown flowerbed it had a little growth, so kept it out in the sun.

after 2 months and repotting, it looks amazing, too late for flowers I guess but looking forward to some next year

Yesterday I discovered some of my echium Blue Bedder are white.

scabiosa Mariposa Blue in the centre, white echium Blue Bedder above, usual purple/blue echium Blue Bedder below

white echium Blue Bedder

I had one agastache growing in a pot from a seed left from last year.

greater knapweed, new bloom after lots of rain, sadly that's prevented any bees visiting

I love the pattern of the centaurea buds

The passionflower is producing fruit, not to be confused with passion fruit, I tried one once, not very nice.

fading catnip flowers, still attracting bees

the lesser knapweed is in bloom in the back garden (shadier so the flowers bloom later than the front garden) and bees are visiting

bee visiting the agapanthus - it went right up into the flower like they do with foxgloves,

bee going into the snapdragon (hard to see the bee but it's on the right)

and I saw a bee visiting the saw-wort for the first time but my photos did not turn out

a couple days later, I managed to photograph the bees visiting the saw-wort

the bees had been visiting the small teasel flowers, I was finally able to capture a photo of one

greater knapweed with a bee

a better view of the greater knapweed

lesser knapweed with bees

comfrey with bee

teasel with bee

water figwort

hogweed with hoverfly

saw-wort

more comfrey flowers, after the first stem broke a new stem grew from the base

wild basil in bloom

I often snap photos of bees but they move too fast and my phone camera does not focus well. So I was quite pleased to get this shot yesterday. The passionflower is growing on the railing next to the stairs going into the back garden so going past I saw a bee on one of the flowers and was able to stop and take pics pretty close without too much movement. 

bees are still visiting the giant scabious

centaurea dealbata and water figwort

the selfheal is in bloom and the sheep's bit still going - it's been amazing

pretty soon the globe thistles will have bees too, I can just see a hint of blue that they are changing colour into

I've been struggling to get a decent photograph of the small teasel, although this is a bit over-exposed, I think it's the best I'm going to get

I love echium, whether vulgare or Blue Bedder, this first is Echium vulgare, I usually buy small "wildflower" plants if I can find them, this self-seeded last year

this is Echium Blue Bedder I grew from seed a couple months ago, with a visiting bee

agapanthus, it hasn't flowered in recent years, last year was incredibly difficult with the drought and heatwave, thought it might have died but it's blooming

verbascum blattaria, moth mullein, a bee was on it at some point but it was one of those out of focus photos

nipplewort, photobombed by Rocky as usual

Lesser knapweed, according to wiki, "in the top five for most nectar production" and "the top producer of both nectar and pollen". I love all centarureas really. This one is so easy to grow from seed.

I have lesser knapweed in both my front and back gardens. This is the front garden which gets more sun and the knapweed is in bloom.

this is the back garden with only buds, no knapweed flowers yet

this is greater knapweed in the front garden, I don't have it in the back garden. I find it a lot more difficult to grow than lesser knapweed

greater knapweed buds

these are unknown seedlings, they self-seeded in my seed tray, rather nondescript, I'll let them grow and see if they become identifiable

caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris)

wider view of the back garden, Victor on the left on the chair, Scarecrow on the right on the wall

the bees are still loving the giant scabious

and a hoverfly was visiting

my first borage in bloom - it was a totally unexpected self-seeder

the next day, a second flower, they seem to start off pink and then turn blue

Having 5 cats and loving bees in the garden - nepeta is an essential plant in my garden, both catnip, Nepeta cataria with white flowers and garden catnip / catmint, Nepeta fassennii cultivars with purple flowers. As far as I've seen Nepeta cataria is only available as seeds so I've grown it myself from seeds and Nepeta fassennii is only available as plants from the garden centre, I've never seen seeds.

Nepeta cataria, catnip, grown from seed. It is a perennial but I don't have many plants lasting very long.

some of the flowers are quite pink

one of my pots of Nepeta cataria

Rocky gives it his seal of approval

some of my Nepeta fassennii with purple flowers, not as upright as Nepeta cataria, quite sprawling with flowers along the stems

sheep's-bit

I love sheep's-bit and have loved the massive number of flowers I've had. I thought they were just about finished.

I gave them a good watering and was rewarded by bees visiting - and I thought they were past attracting bees.

I also thought the poppies were just about finished but have been rewarded with more blooms, both Lauren's Grape (with a bee)

and Amazing Grey

I found my first selfheal in bloom amongst some other plants

greater knapweed

lots of self-seeders in my seed tray but none of the seeds I actually planted (I do NOT recommend Plant World Seeds, zero germination), annual mercury male bottom left and female bottom right, makes comparison and close-ups so easy having them in my garden (shoo-fly largest on the right, green alkanet at the top, verbascum and an oxalis top left)

annual mercury male flowers in spikes above the leaves

annual mercury female flowers under the leaves

The giant scabious is giant! sky-high. So happy it's blooming - and then the icing on the cake - a bee visiting the flowers yesterday.

closer view of the bee, will try to get a better shot today

a few days later, more flowers, more bees

more fabulous Lauren's Grape poppies in bloom

one of the flowers with a bee

foxgloves with bee

Amazing Grey poppies with a bee

another view of a bee on the poppies

and another

at one point I had 7 poppies in bloom

fox-and-cubs, echium vulgare with Scarecrow in the background

verbena bonariensis in bloom

monkshood

hogweed bud

hogweed bud the next day

emerging more

another eruption from a stem below

water figwort large stem

globe thistles with buds

small teasels in bud

greater knapweed buds

lesser knapweed buds

One of my first giant scabious (Cephalaria gigantea) flowers

view of the entire giant scabious plant, teasel just to the left

better view of that teasel to the left of the giant scabious, marsh mallow to the left

another teasel in the garden

My first Lauren's Grape poppy in bloom

In the afternoon, after the downpour, the flower on the ground but still glad it rained, we needed it so desperately.

another Lauren's Grape poppy, quite small in comparison, in a pot, adapted to its environment

Amazing Grey (Papaver rhoeas) poppies just emerging

more Amazing Grey poppies the next day

I love so many plants in the Centaurea genus and grow what I can in my garden. One of the more challenging ones, for me, is greater knapweed. The buds are just appearing.

I went to take another photo of more buds and Bear appeared and started rubbing against the plants making focussing challenging. Finally I realized there's a pot of nepeta (garden catmint / catnip) there to the left which is what he was so interested in.

I've had so much going on in the garden. These fox-and-cubs were in bud in the sun suffering from the dry weather. I moved them into the shade and a little while later I saw all the buds had opened.  

more fox-and-cubs emerging

and more fox-and-cubs buds

sheep's-bit with bee

the bees have been going mad going into and out of the foxglove flowers

bee bottom right

nepeta with bee

bee on a hogweed leaf

Victor

Rocky and catnip (Nepeta cataria)

Jeffrey and some catnip stems

Socky

Scilla peruviana

knautia macedonica

Amazing Grey poppy from seeds from last year

common vetch

viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) buds on a plant that self-seeded last year, it's bienniel

Veronica beccabunga

my first passionflower in bloom

I have lots of iris foetidissima in bloom

ground elder - not a bad umbellifer if kept under control

broad-leaved plantain in a pot with a foxglove and a snapdragon

the purple loosestrife is coming into bud

.

lesser knapweed

Papaver somniferum buds

artichoke buds

small teasel, bought as plug plants, globe thistle in the middle, a cheeky wall lettuce self-seeded in the middle

sage coming back to life after being brought out of the jungle of plants smothering it

honesty, this was self-seeded on the path, they don't like being moved but I really wanted to save it so repotted it in this pot and after a few days it's revived and looking a lot better

Since doing my own poppy inventory (below), I walked past a house with some magnificent oriental poppy buds in the front garden

and a few days later a huge flower

I decided to do an inventory of my poppies. I haven't been able to plant many seeds this year so these are the result of self-seeding. All the poppies in my back garden are annuals: opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) and red / corn / field / common poppies (Papaver rhoeas).

Opium poppies (Papaver somniferum), in past years I've sown Lauren's Grape poppies so these could be those. The leaves are smooth lighter greyish-green.

they vary in size enormously, those above are in a large pot with lots of room, below in a crack on the patio and the edge of a  pot

this one is tiny

another small poppy self-seeded in a pot (with foxglove, verbena bonariensis and creeping yellowcress)

2 poppies self-seeding in this pot of saw-wort small plants

red / corn / field / common poppies (Papaver rhoeas), they have various common names, also vary enormously in size, these small ones have self-seeded in this pot

I've had one flower so far. They don't last long.

another couple of poppies blooming in that pot

a couple days later, more flowers in bloom

this poppy (on the right) has self-seeded in the Centaurea dealbata pot

this one is much more upright than the one above, something is telling me it's a poppy self-seeded in that pot in front of Rocky (the nepeta cataria (catnip) is on the right)

a better view of the bud on the poppy above

a few poppies which had self-seeded in the centaurea pots, I left them to allow them to bloom, so they were included when I repotted the centaureas

London rocket (Sisymbrium irio)

common valerian, the first time I've seen this as a pavement plant

shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)

wall lettuce (Lactuca muralis)

Eastern rocket in the centre and a small one to the left, buddleja on the right

Pseudofumaria lutea (previously Corydalis lutea) I think

Oxalis corniculata var. atropurpurea in bud