garden withoutdoors

The first beaked hawk's-beard (Crepis vesicaria) in bloom this spring that I've seen. Sadly just on the other side of that low wall was full of common whitlowgrass and thale cress and hairy bittercress last year but it's been sprayed with weedkiller and there's nothing.

across the road is guaranteed to be hoary mustard (Hirschfeldia incana)

other rosettes include: bristly oxtongue (Helminthotheca echioides)

update 28-5-2022 going back to this area yesterday and the day before, I realise this image (taken 25-4-2022) is smooth hawks-beard (Crepis capillaris), I knew it was familiar but didn't remember correctly what it was

hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale)

and some beaked hawk's-beard (Crepis vesicaria) with lots of fat buds

I haven't seen London rocket (Sisymbrium irio) much before, if at all, but found this in Whitechapel. Camden is much too tidy and weedkillered to allow it.

The first time I saw it (19-3-2022) it was only leaves.

7-4-2022 in bloom

23-4-2022 with seed pods

other East End rosettes: catsear on the left and 5 beaked hawk's-beard (Crepis vesicaria)

as above, a catsear on the left, beaked hawk's-beard and a dandelion on the right

the auriculas are starting to bloom, this is my favourite one

a forget-me-not has self-seeded in one of the auricula pots

a few days later

I love Professor Rontgen tulips and although I try different tulips, I come back to this one.

I got these as an impulse purchase at Sainsbury's, labelled "Pink Parrot", they don't look very parrot-y to me but they bloomed and look good.

I love the purple glaucous colour of the Hermitage tulips before they open

the Hermitage tulips and growing with the muscari, below with a bee

the bees are liking the muscari, one of the few things I have in bloom at the moment

a few days later, all the Hermitage tulips in bloom and the bright orange replacing the glaucous purple of the buds

I buy sea holly regularly because I love them but so do the slugs and snails so they don't last.These eryngiums Big Blue looked fab at the garden centre. I couldn't decide between the  well-developed buds almost blooming and the huge one so bought both.

I have 2 Magical Blue Lagoon sea hollies left from last year, this is one. Some nepeta around it, attracting the cat there.

this is the other, with a scabious self-seeding in the pot

I moved some pots around to see what's growing and Rocky has come to a pot of nepeta. Lone anemone above. Had many more last year. They don't seem to last, not in my garden anyway.

giant scabious I grew from seed last year, seems to be doing well, I removed the green alkanet from the pot, also need to remove a winter purslane and beccabunga which have self-seeded

monkshood, I had two but only 1 seems to have survived

marsh mallow I grew from seed a few years ago, I see a hogweed has self-seeded and purple toadflax?

close-up of those purple toadflax ? from above, will have to see for sure what they are when they bloom

The pot these fringecups were in broke last year so they were sitting on top of the soil awaiting repotting which I finally got around to this week. They aren't looking great but they're still alive. I hope they'll recover enough to bloom again one day, maybe not till next year?

Rocky

Scarecrow and Victor

All these (green alkanet / foxglove / comfrey / borage / salvia sclarea ) have similar textured leaves and at times can be difficult to tell apart. I have all these in my garden so I recently took photos of each for comparison.

green alkanet, smaller leaves below are nepeta

foxglove

sometimes the leaves are very textured

often have that lighter colour in the middle

comfrey, leaves longer and thinner with a distinctive pattern

the comfrey 10 days later

borage (Borago officinalis)

clary sage cultivar (Salvia sclarea var tukestanica)

In Whitechapel yesterday there was a lot of Crepis vesicaria - more than I tend to see in Camden. Any small plants I do see in Camden, tend to be mown down before they bloom. I'll have to make a trip to Whitechapel in a couple weeks to see if these are allowed to survive and bloom.

Crepis vesicaria in the foreground, abandoned detail of the Bishopsgate goods yard viaduct which is on the right, railway line on the left

lots of buds

cow parsley

narrow-leaved ragwort

fodder burnet (Poterium sanguisorba subsp. balearicum)

and in Islington, shepherd's purse

thale cress

narrow-leaved ragwort

some rosettes

winter purslane (Claytonia perfoliata)

Jersey cudweed (Helichrysum luteoalbum)

hoary mustard (Hirschfeldia incana)

nettle-leaved bellflower (Campanula trachelium)

Crepis vesicaria

ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)

Online, people can be quite dogmatic and if one is not totally confident they can be swayed by them. I am quite embarrassed to say, I was one of those unconfident gardeners and listened to someone telling me to remove the coltsfoot in the garden next door I looked after as they considered coltsfoot very very invasive. I came to regret that and have developed more confidence in my gardening and am happy to grow what I want, regardless of other's views. I kept hoping the coltsfoot would grow back but I effectively killed the coltsfoot.

I decided I would grow some from seed or buy plants. I found some coltsfoot plug plants at British Wild Flower Plants, here repotted in small pots. With coltsfoot, flowers appear first and then the leaves after, so here they are in bloom or seed.

I bought 10 hollyhocks as bare-rooted plants, repotted in these 9 pots. I guess I put 2 in one of the pots. Some look better than others. I'll see how they do. It's freezing cold so not the best time but I can't help that.

so many of my bulbs don't last long but these snakeshead fritilary have lasted and bloom every year, also one of my dandelions which I am going to try to identify

muscari latifolium and tulips

honesty

I do find it difficult to resist picking up something in the garden range from Sainsburys when I pop in. I like lily-of-the-valley and had some in the garden but it seems to have died in recent years so for this small price I thought I'd try them.

they are completely hard and dry and appear dead - quite disappointing but I soaked them and potted them up, hoping they might have some life in them

I love green alkanet but enough is enough. It has completely taken over my pot of melancholy thistle. I guess I might have removed it sooner if I'd realised but it seems to have grown very quickly. I removed it and tried to replant them. They don't really like being disturbed like that so I'll see if they survive.

I'm happy to see there are some melancholy thistle plants surviving under that green alkanet.

Rocky had to investigate.

He also checked out the hosta pot that I also removed a green alkanet from.

and the pot of marsh mallow, there's also some marsh mallow in the ground in front of the pot and green alkanet nearby, stinging nettle and an Acanthus spinosus which was savagely eaten by slugs last year so didn't bloom, maybe I can remove the slugs this year? I find that's the only method that works

I only had 1 seed germinating last year from a packet of Centaurea montana seeds. Happy to see it survived, must plant it out.

I only had 2 surviving giant scabious plants from a packet of seeds last year. About half a dozen had germinated but the slugs got some and foxes damaged some and a few days ago Rocky knocked this tray of pots off the table so it will be amazing if this blooms this year but I hope it will. Oops, I see a snail on a chicory seedling - must remove that.

I also notice a borage has self-seeded in the Centaurea dealbata (happy to see has survived) pot along with a dandelion.

I always have a lot of small scabious (Scabiosa columbaria) self-seeding in the garden. This is one from last year that I potted up and it's blooming, even in this freezing weather. It snowed yesterday.

hedge mustard rosettes

catsear

buck's-horn plantain (Plantago coronopus)

Jersey cudweed (Helichrysum luteoalbum)

a larger Jersey cudweed with flowers

thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana)

nettle-leaved bellflower (Campanula trachelium)

lesser burdock (Arctium minus)

wall lettuce (Lactuca muralis)

I think this is cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) but not 100%. It's not something I see that much of.

beaked hawk's-beard (Crepis vesicaria)

eastern rocket (Sisymbrium orientale)

common whitlowgrass (Erophila verna)

white comfrey (Symphytum orientale)

ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

hoary mustard (Hirschfeldia incana)

a larger hoary mustard

bristly oxtongue (Helminthotheca echioides)

I think this is a bristly oxtongue as well but I have never seen leaves this shape but it is a variable plant

something tells me this is also bristly oxtongue but not 100% sure

hawkweed oxtongue

I think this is catsear (Hypochaeris radicata)

definitely catsear

possibly dandelion? will try to revisit

an amazing dandelion - look at those buds

smooth sow thistle aren't very exciting but this rosette is one of the more impressive ones

pellitory-of-the-wall (Parietaria judaica) on the left and green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempevirens) on the right

foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) on the left and horseweed (Erigeron canadensis) on the right

this rosette I'm not sure of

the weather has been terrible, both for getting out and looking at plants and also too cold for plants to grow much but finally in the last few days I've seen a few new rosettes

shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)

first hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale) of the year that I've seen

at first I thought this might be catsear but I think it's a dandelion

my garden seems to be coming back to life

an atlantic poppy rosette

a teasel rosette which started last summer, looking so large and tough

forget-me-nots just blooming amongst crocus leaves

I think of forget-me-nots as being smaller plants so suprised to see these long stems

the whole plants has long multiple stems

On the New Year Plant Hunt we saw 24 plant species including celery-leaved crowfoot, London bur-marigold and winter heliotrope.

celery-leaved crowfoot (Ranunculus sceleratus) by Regent's Canal

London bur-marigold (Bidens connata) along the Regent's Canal in Camden

winter heliotrope (Petasites fragrans)