garden withoutdoors

bread-seed poppy

Amazing Grey poppies

marsh mallow, one of my more successful grown-from-seed plants

crocosima, I had no crocosima flowers last year because of the drought but this year I do have a few flowers - they are still struggling as we've had so little rain but they are just making it

selfheal, I did grow these from seed but it took a few years for them to really get established and now they are doing well

Hollyhocks, I did grow these from seed but for the front garden and this has self-seeded in the back garden. I was going to try to move it to the front but never got around to it. After attempting to plant some other hollyhocks out the front recently and finding the ground rock hard, I realise the impossibility of digging a hole there large enough so it will stay here for the moment.

Veronica is one plant I buy rather than attempt from seed. I used to buy various Veronica spicata cultivars, which I love, but they never lasted so I decided to just get bog-standard Veronica longifolia. It blooms great every year and even self-seeds.

the Little Dorrit sunflowers I grew from seed are blooming - the ones that survived the slugs anyway! a number were destroyed

this photo shows better the poppies that are blooming - they don't last long but more flowers bloom imminently

a close-up of some of those Amazing Grey poppies

I find lupins easy to grow from seed - until they get noticed by the slugs. So this year I decided to buy some small plants from Peter Nyssen. I had one nice flower and I see buds on another of the plants which are sitting on the patio table to keep them away from the slugs and snails. Sadly I don't have room for all my plants on the table.

I finally have some flowers on this white stonecrop which self-seeded a few years ago and has bloomed for the first time.

more Amazing Grey poppies in bloom

Amazing Grey poppy bud

bread-seed poppy, my first in bloom

Little Dorrit sunflower

Dwarf mallow (Malva neglecta), I found this in a pot today in my garden and I'm not certain where it came from. I did sow some wildflower seeds so I assume it came from those. Is dwarf mallow put in wildflower seed mixes?

a huge teasel in my front garden - I love them, there was a bee on it yesterday but I didn't have my phone with me to take a photo

close-up of a flower emerging from a leaf node

bee on bramble

One of these seedlings disappeared from this tray, presumably removed by a bird or fox. It was the verbena of which I only had 2 surviving seedlings (the 3rd was eaten by slugs). Now I only have 1.

I rescued this creeping yellowcress from the slugs at the end of my garden. I had collected it from a park last year before it was savagely mown down. Turns out it's extremely attractive to slugs and snails and was almost destroyed. I have a few small bits of plants now. Where to keep them away from slugs??

green alkanet seedling, I do like to identify the smallest seedlings so I know what I have self-seeding in my garden

this pot with a rose by the front door has attracted a lot of self-seeders: morning glory, shoo-fly, poppy, passionflower

closer view of the shoo-fly plant, I grew them from seed last year or the year before and often seem to see shoots from seeds in the soil

heart-shaped leaves are morning glory, on the right a passionflower, which I have in the back garden so not sure why this is self-seeding here, and a poppy front and centre, selfheal in the pot next to it

close-up of one of the self-heal buds, purple petal just emerging

I squatted down to take a photo of my first greater knapweed flower of the year and a bee landed on it, right in front of me - amazing!

the Amazing Grey poppies are blooming, some colour variations - not really like the photos advertised but pleasant enough

this was this pair of flowers in the morning, next photo below, later in the day when they were fully open

later in the day when they were fully open

I took this photo in the morning

by the afternoon the red poppies had dropped their petals and I think at least 1 more Lauren's Grape poppy opened

first Little Dorrit sunflower in bloom

the monarda Cambridge Scarlet have buds

I worry whether I'm doing the right thing, leaving these sheepsbit seedlings to grow together rather than trying to separate them. I worry I would disturb them too much trying to separate them. They look happy enough so far. They won't bloom until next year so I'll just have to wait and see.

I shouldn't be so surprised but I am when the seeds I sow eventually flower. It seems so hit and miss so much of the time.

Scarecrow likes to sit on this wall,

either dozing

or looking for mice in the neighbour's garden

Crepis rubra

before these flowers bloomed I'd forgotten I'd sown these seeds so I planted more so now I have another pot

hosta with buds, surprised still some existing are some were eaten by slugs and snails

this pot is full of poppies, I guess they grew to fit their space - the Lauren's Grape poppies are smaller than the ones in a larger pot

I'm still waiting for these poppies to bloom and I'm not sure which they are

I look after my neighbour's garden next door. It used to have lots of hollyhocks but then they got infected with hollyhock weevil. Then the ox-eye daisies took over the garden blocking out any struggling hollyhocks. I decided to try to revive the hollyhocks. I bought bare root plants, I think it was 10 but only got 9 surviving. I potted them up and they've grown well in tall pots. I also grew some from seed with 10 plants resulting. Time to plant out so I cleared the ox-eye daisies but the ground is rock hard. It rained last night but the ground is still rock hard. I worked hard today trying to get them in the ground and was gifted some home-made compost which I used to give them a little something to make them happier. I planted out 14 so have 5 more to do tomorrow. I'm thinking of putting some garden waste on the rock hard flower bed for a little while to soften it up, a couple weeks? I'm not sure if that method would help. 

salvia sclarea var turkestanica, one plant surviving after having about 3 last year

sunflowers in bud

self-seeded viper's-bugloss - so difficult to grow from seed

my best poppies this year were the Lauren's Grape that self-seeded

I have one sea holly surviving from last year flowering.

and one very very slug-damaged sea holly which does not have a flowering stem

marsh mallow in bud, behind the acanthus

I love green alkanet and have masses of it in my garden. In the spring it blooms, the bees love it and it provides colour in the garden before other plants get going. It dies back in time for other plants to take over. Below is an example of one of them wilted plants. They all die back like this.

Atlantic poppy rosette and one with a bud

a green alkanet looking very rosette-like, they don't usually, green alkanet is not a plant that tends to start with a rosette

evening primrose seedling I discovered behind some other pots, didn't know I had it, presume it self-seeded from plants I had last year

I'm not sure what this is, it self-seeded, not sure from where

wall lettuce I saw locally, surprised it survived Veolia

I am loving the Crepis rubra pink hawk's-beard. Grew well from seed.

The salvia sclarea var. turkestanica I grew from seed a few years ago. I guess they flowered the 2nd year. Only 1 has survived this year. Must take a better, close photo.

I had a couple cornflowers self-seeding. I tried sowing seed this year but the slugs and snails got all the seedlings.

I love viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) but find them difficult to grow from seed. So happy one self-seeded and I have flowers the bees are enjoying.

bee on red poppy

finally the bees have started visiting the Lauren's Grape poppies 

lots of red poppies are blooming

viper's bugloss, bee bottom right

blackcurrant sage appeared to be almost dead but I've been watering it well and it has revived, lots of flowers

Acanthus in bloom, best flowers in years. Last year no flowers as they were devoured by slugs. This year, putting in this new fence requred extensive clearing of ivy where I guess the slugs and snails were hiding out. This year, nowhere to hide. Three flowers, must get a better photo of all 3. I wanted to show the bee here - bottom flower on the right of the left flower.

close-up of that bee

Now the bee is on the left at the bottom.

flying bee just to the left

view of the entire acanthus

Crepis rubra (pink dandelion / pink hawk's-beard) I grew from seed, first flower 14-6-2022

lots of buds so looking forward to more flowers

I have lots of poppies in bloom now but so far no bees on them. I have some bees but I guess not enough to get to all the flowers in the garden.

hogweed, I'm hoping I can see a bee on this soon

borage with buds, green alkanet behind

my clowder in the garden, Scarecrow

Rocky

Rocky, Victor and Scarecrow

Scarecrow

and in the front garden, Polly Pocket

first Lauren's Grape poppies in bloom

red / corn / field / common poppy (Papver rhoeas)

melancholy thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum) with a hoverfly

echium vulgare just starting to bloom

a sea holly in bud, this is one I bought last year (Magical Blue Lagoon), it's been badly slug damaged, they never seem to survive very well  so I bought 2 new ones this year (below)

these are from new this year Big Blue sea holly

common hogweed

lupin, survived from last year

I'm still trying to get better results with my phone's photography, so far, difficult to get the entire flower spike in the photo

Another view of my Rock

in my front garden, Atlantic poppy, first a hoverfly was on it, then a bee, then another hoverfly of the same one came back

also in my front garden are two magnificent teasels

my other teasel, artichokes and my black and white cow kitty enjoying the sun

sometimes the bees fly around too quickly for me to photograph them, the bee below was on the green alkanet flower but it moved before I captured it actually on the flower

lambs ear (Stachys byzantina)

mahonia, you can see why it's known as Oregon grapes

meadow cranesbill

water figwort in another garden nearby

this is an example of buds I find more attractive than the resulting flowers, potato tree (Solanum crispum)

back garden, bees on the sea holly

looks like the bee is on the scabious which is wilting but I guess there was enough left to interest the bee

iris foetidissima with bee

lupin (wow! it survived the slugs and snails)

acanthus

hogweed

I have lots of poppies. These large grey-green glaucous ones are opium poppies (Papaver somniferum). These are the result of self-seeding so they are more advanced than any of the others that I sowed seeds for myself. I guess I should have started my seed sowing earlier.

red common poppies on the left, 2 pots of poppies in the centre, 2 pots of poppies on the right

mixed pot of poppies

I am very concerned about the Camden Highline and what it will do to the wildflowers and wildlife along the railway line here in Camden. If you're reading this before June 11th 2022, please object at the planning application, 2022/2019/P at the Camden website. I'm sorry but direct links to the application are difficult.

end of May 2022, railway line, lots of red valerian at this time of year

bird cherry

lots of yellow melilot, both on the railway side of the railings

and inside the railings

the only place I've seen yellow melilot is along the railway line here and future along it at Camden Road station

flowers and lots of buds

hoary mustard grows very happily local to me, near the railway line

the fruits are appressed close along the stem, only 1 of two brassicas that are, the other being hedge mustard

there's a bee on this one

the basal rosette leaves are very distinctive and often persist

hawkweed oxtongue

narrow-leaved ragwort, in bud