Garden Blogger's Bloom Day April 2015

As a mainly foliage garden we never really have any moment wherein the garden has exuberant floriferous displays. And when I took photos the other days I wasn't surprised at all that our floral offerings this month are rather meagre. But upon walking around this afternoon I spotted that we actually have a lot more in flower than I previously gave the garden credit for!

Alas I didn't have the time to take more pictures, the chance may have to wait till the coming weekend. With today being very sunny and the warmest day of the year so far the priority till it started getting dark was to water the garden.

But better have a few to present than none!

Beschorneria septentrionalis about to bloom.

 The variegated Beschorneria septentrionalis remained outdoors all winter. Although it sailed through fine it's no longer looking as pristine as it ought to be. Blemished but very much alive. And now it's about to bloom. Hopefully it will send out offsets after.

Stachyurus sp.

Helleborus 'Anna's Red' still at it with its pretty blooms!

Think pink! Staphylea holocarpa 'Rosea'

These blooms are so hidden and so easy to miss - Asarum caudatum

We join Carol of May Dreams Gardens for this months Bloom Day! Click on the link to see what's blooming in the garden of other bloggers this month.

Mark :-)

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Garden Blogger's Bloom Day February 2015

This is going to be a slightly unique Bloom Day for us, we're only featuring one plant...

Walking around a garden centre near us earlier today we spotted one special hellebore in amongst a sea of others. And it's an hellebore that's been on our wishlist for quite some.

Helleborus (Rodney Davey Marbled Group) 'Anna's Red'

Finally we got hold of one after being on our wishlist for several years. We've had some chances before especially on plant fairs but have narrowly missed it. We first saw Annas Red at the 2012 RHS plant and Design show, however we were too late in being able to secure one. The stall holder told us to try next year!

Helleborus 'Annas Red' at the 2012 show

Even the foliage is lovely!

Saying that this sort of thing has happened time and time again. A rare plant that you can get hold of, give it time and you end up spotting them in an ordinary garden centre.

We join Carol of May Dreams Gardens for this months Bloom Day! Click on the link to see what's blooming in the garden of other bloggers this month.

Mark :-)

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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day November

Mid November and the weather is turning cold, damp and grey, and the majority of the tropical plants are starting to move into winter mode. I had hoped that when I wandered down the garden there would be several in flower, but alas the wet cold weather has taken its toll and we only really had a few Fatsia giving some colour. That colour, however reflects the weather - small white blooms that don't offer much in the way of tropicana!

Bloom day therefore is a little bit quiet for us, but thankfully not totally baron thanks to the humble Fatsia!

Gaz

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Garden Blogger's Bloom Day September 2014

We just came back from a fabulous weekend away in Norfolk and have managed to visit a couple of wonderful gardens and a nursery. Would have loved to have visited a few more and was intending to but alas a weekend was too short and we simply must just go back at a different.

But before we feature the places we visited it's the middle of the month and let's take a look first at some of the few plants that currently in bloom in our garden:

Kniphofia caulescens

Canna 'Cleopatra'

Canna 'Cleopatra'

We have a couple of potted Canna 'Cleopatra' side by side and one them has thrown out bi-coloured blooms while the other only red-orange ones which are past it's prime already.

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Garden Blogger's Bloom Day June 2014

Time flies so quick and it's the middle of the month again which means Bloom Day!

Taking photos earlier in the day I was thinking that I bet loads of other bloggers are bedazzled by a large selection plants currently in bloom for them, being June and all. Whilst I was relatively struggling, or at least it felt like that anyway as I searched the garden for what currently in bloom.

Well it's a mainly foliage garden so what else can I expect? That's not exactly a bad thing now when it's deliberate and preference.

Still I think I cam up with a decent selection...

Kniphofia thomsonii

Nice to see the lovely, hot, orange blooms of this poker again, looking more like Aloe blooms rather than a poker. I have to say though that at the moment I'm confused by the name of this plant. Is it: K. thomsonii, K. thomsonii var. thomsonii, or K. thompsonii var thompsonii? Anyone out there can shed a light? Well whatever it is it is fab nevertheless.

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Garden Blogger's Bloom Day May 2014

It's the middle of the month and time once again for Bloom Day! Here's some of the plants currently in bloom in our garden...

Euphorbia deflexa has been giving us an explosion of yellow blooms for quite some time now

This one has just started - Celmisia spectabilis

Dainty sprays of pink - Thalictrum sp.

Now this one is a little bit annoying. It's supposed to get taller and taller first but it barely gained height from last spring and at only 2' tall it is flowering (in itself very unusual for such a small Cordyline australis)

Towering Disporum longistylum

Lone flower from our Rosa sericea subsp. omeiensis f. pteracantha (what a long name, phew!!)

Good old Lilac - Syringa vulgaris

Relatively big leaves with dainty yellow flowers - Saruma henryi

Like little yellow spaceships - Epimedium sp.

And of course our Kniphofia northiae still doing its triple thing

We join Bloom Day and is hosted by May Dream Gardens where all the links to bloooming posts are to be found.

Mark :-)

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Garden Blogger's Bloom Day April 2014

I was looking through the photos I took of the garden last weekend when I realised I took enough photos of what's currently in bloom in the garden to participate in this month's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.

Here are just a few of what's currently in bloom in our garden, in this beautiful spring month of April...

Podophyllum hexandrum has flowered for us for the first time this year and I was pleasantly surprised how delicate the blooms are. The blooms close during the night

We grow Staphylea holocarpa 'Rosea' for its foliage and form but the flowers in the spring are a bonus. 

The Chocolate Vine, Akebia quinata is in full force flowering in our garden at the moment.

It took awhile but we love the way it is now starting to wrap up on the big tree at the bottom of our garden, as well as the fences behind it.

Magnolia stellata - a common garden plant here but it is popular for a very good reason...

How could one not love this plant when it produces such a display in the spring?

Another plant we grow for the foliage but the dainty blooms in the spring look rather sweet - Mukdenia rossii

We join Bloom Day for the first time and is hosted by May Dreams Gardens where all the links to blooming posts are to be found.

Mark :-)

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