August 2024

27-8-2024 a cat has discovered the catnip (Nepeta cataria) plants

verbena hastata White Spires self-seeded in a patio crack, with a bee

bee on verbena bonariensis

the fox-and-cubs flowering stem grew very long and broke, I think it's too much in the shade and was trying to reach some sun, if I can pot up some of the runners I'll plant them in a sunnier part of the garden

new buds appeared

flowers by my front door, grown from seed: cosmos, nasturtiums and morning glory

the bees have been liking the selection

23-8-2024 bee on blessed thistle (Centaurea benedicta) which is amongst the honeyweed / Siberian motherwort (Leonurus sibiricus)

I wanted the morning glory to climb up the railings but one shoot decided to go up the cosmos - actually looks ok doing that

20-8-2024 the cosmos is looking good, producing flowers

Livingstone daisy

20-8-2024 dandelions (Taraxacum) and beaked hawk's-beards (Crepis vesicaria)

I'm numbering them so I can track their development and see if they're really dandelions or beaked hawk's-beards. I examined them all today (28-8-2024) for hairiness. I am assuming the dandelions are hairless and the Crepis hairy.  I was surprised, some I thought were dandelions I now think are Crepis veiscaria.

1. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

closer view of this one

full view

2. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

3. dandelion  no hairs

4. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

5. dandelion  no hairs

6. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

7. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

8. dandelion  no hairs

9. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

25-8-2024 I moved that seed tray out of the way and gave the plant room to feel a bit more comfortable

10. dandelion  no hairs

11. dandelion  no hairs

12. dandelion  no hairs

13. dandelion  no hairs

14. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

15. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

16. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

17. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

18. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

19. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

20. dandelion  no hairs

21. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

22. Crepis vesicaria  hairy

 

21-8-2024 sunflowers a few days later

and the next day when that opened

another flower opened

18-8-2024 I tried growing sunflowers from seed but they did not do very well and were eaten by slugs. I shared my few survivors. So thank goodness sunflowers self-seeded from bird seed have performed very well. One is taller than the bird feeder.

15-8-2024 nettle-leaved bellflower I noticed in a neighbour's driveway

I had first noticed it back in May but I didn't realise what it was

viola Chicky Chick flowers

that first viola Chicky Chick flower in situ in the bowl of violas

I'm finding it difficult to photograph stone parsley (Sison amomum)

the stems are thin and the flowers are small, here amongst Shasta daisies

14-8-2024

Livingstone daisies at the base of the cosmos.

That one flower is the most amazing peach/pink but my camera just could not capture it.

Henbane has been a star performer - lots of flowers and now I see seeds forming so will collect to sow for next year BUT it is tiny compared to what I was expecting. Some sort of annual species.

Violas - one of my favourite flowers, probably one of the first I remember as a child and I still love it even though I can now grow weird and wonderful things such as henbane (awaiting flowering of the deadly nightshade and germination of the mandrake and datura seeds).

12-8-2024 I sowed 1 packet of cosmos seeds. It seems to me the flowers in the first 2 photos are different cultivars? but I'm no expert on cosmos.

Hoverfly on the first flower.

Livingstone daisies had found their way into the pot, first yellow flower.

11-8-2024

My amaryllis from a previous Christmas then put in the garden, has come to life and produced huge beautiful flowers unexpectedly.

view from the other side, I notice the flowering stem did not rise from the middle of the leaves as I would have expected but from the side of the bulb

verbena hastata self-seeded on the patio (I don't know how, I didn't have seeds but plug plants), photobombed by a cat, of course, in this case, Victor

the cornflowers are an exquisite blue (not sure it's coming through in my photos), blessed thistle to the left

sea holly above

lesser hawkbit - first I've seen it or is it just that I got down and looked at it carefully

as it was so much smaller than other yellow flowers there, such as this autumn hawkbit

like rough hawkbit, the buds face down

colour underside of the petals

this magnificent beast is growing at the front of my house

lots of buds

flower buds just opening

6-8-2024

globe thistle with a bee, small teasel in the background

purple loosestrife

saw-wort with bee

summer savory

close-up of the flowers

rosettes, dandelion on the left? beaked hawk's-beard (Crepis vesicaria) on the right?

beaked hawk's-beard (Crepis vesicaria)?