Iris Katherine Hodgkin & Primula allionii Malcolm

Iris Katherine Hodgkin, some people love it, others hate it. I like it. I bought it in bud and will try it outside. I inherited a number of reticulate irises when I came to this garden and they seem to do very well, so hopefully this will follow suit.

The second flower is Primula allionii "Malcolm" which I've had for years now.

Cyclamen alpinum

Bit quiet on the plant front at the moment as the "winter" season is only just getting started. I have a few Cyclamen coum out, mainly in the garden (frozen solid today) and this one Cyclamen alpinum out in the greenhouse.

Winter Freeze

Well blogger seems to now have a mind of it's own about where it places text and images, no doubt as a result of some "improvement to the system". I have been intending to start putting up pictures every week but the cold weather here has meant that everything has gone into a state of suspended animation and for the last week we have had snow which is pretty but not particularly illuminationg (" the plants are under there somewhere") so I'm posting some pictures from the week before where we had a cold snap so that you can see the build up of ice crystals on fennel, then on the spent anemone japonica stalks and finally I think on a euphorbia. Enjoy and keep warm!

Looking a little closer

One thing about winter is that it is a simpler time in the garden and the moments between the rain when I go out, I can  really appreciate the little things. Top left, a Euphorbia after the rain, right the lime green flower buds of Helleborus feotidus, moss on the apple tree and finally a pink pulmonaria.

Solanum laxum alba

My late flowering Solanum laxum alba, a potato vine. Not too many flowers this year, it's in too shady a spot I think and I've not been pruning it. I'll try and remember next year.

The Fuschia by the kitchen door is getting BIG. And this after cutting it back and after some fairly major branches had got broken by the builders. Some of the branches now require a hacksaw to cut.

The flowers start in summer and it just gets better and better until the severe frosts. I've taken a cutting as insurance because I think one year it's not going to come back.

Schizostylis coccinea

It's almost over now but this is Schizostylis coccinea of some kind. It flowers mainly in the autumn here and the flowers contrast well with the soft green leaves. I saw something in the local paper that this needs moisture, sort of the opposite to what I thought for a just hard bulb from South Africa. Mind you, the rhodohypoxis need moisture too. I also have a soft pink form, I think it is called "Pink Pearl".

Buddleia

It was t-shirt weather in the garden today. A bit bedraggled after a storm this is my yellow buddleia, probably B. x weyeriana. I asked at the local garden retail outlet (rather than a nursery) what it was and the person looked at the label and declared it to be "Black Knight" somehow missing that the picture on the label was of dark purple flowers while the plant actually had orange/yellow flowers. Ah well.

I've been cutting back a normal Buddleia until the wheezing set in. I always find when cutting it back something catches on the back of my throat and I have to stop. I know I shouldn't cut it back hard now but really I don't mind if I lose it. I have about fifty seedlings on tufa in the troughs and I could always buy a new one. Might have to buy it in flower though.

Geocities Disaster

As I thought it might, the closing down of Geocities has messed up the 90% of Inspiring Plants built before I went across to paying for my hosting. I guess I was just naive in thinking that Yahoo would do something intelligent. As the pages were mainly built with Yahoo's simple online Pagebuilder, there is no back up offline. The new material was built with Frontpage which I find a lot slower and more fiddly working with an image rich site, that being the main reason why very little has been added in the past few years. Maybe I will switch over to largely publishing via this blog. Time will tell.

In the meantime, a picture of my Cyclamen colchicum which is having a good year. Not exactly the most elegant or best coloured flower but it is very sweetly scented, filling the greenhouse with it's perfume. I remember reading about this for the first time in the 70s when the plant was virtually unknown in the west where it was stated it took the longest time to come into flower from seed and was self sterile. I flowered plants within about a year and they do set limited seed. So much for recieved wisdom.

First Pleiones of the year

First two pleiones of the year, Pleione "krakatoa" (top) and Pleione Shantung "Gwen".

Yellow Muscari, Muscari macrocarpum

I only grow one Muscari at the moment and that is macrocarpum. I have the "normal" form which has yet to flower and a number of years back I bought "Golden Fragrance" which seems to have greener leaves but has done very well for me.

Meanwhile, in the garden...

First, the "art shot" Helloborus foetidus, then just a few primulas that lurk in one of the darkest corners, following that a pink lungwort (Pulmonaria) and finally something new, Chinodoxa Pink Giant..at about 5 inches tall (and not very pink either) but rather lovely.

"Chilean Blue Crocus" Tecophilaea

Top: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus var leichtlinii and the type plant, Tecophilaea cyanocrocus below.

Three Frits

Top: Frit. kotschyana, I find this one a little overblown? Something not very subtle about it.

Middle: Frit aurea, one of the few yellows with this round flower shape.

Bottom: Frit davisii, I gerw this from seed. I waited 13 years for the flowers which even for Frits is a very long time. In yet it's supposed to be easy and quick. Frits are always full of suprises.

A few Primula allionii

In order from the top; P.allionii "Marion", P. allionii "Lacewing", P.allionii "Flute", P. allionii "Eureka" and P.allionii "Anne"

Narcissistic? Moi?

Top, Narcissus watieri grown from seed.

Middle, Narcissus romieuxii rifanus(?) also from seed.

Bottom Narcissus marvieri.

InspiringPlants is back

Fritillaria pluriflora. I got this many years ago by mistake for the (marginally) more common F.liliacea. Past few years I have let it set seed and distributed it. I sowed some last year and it has come up like grass.

Roses and more roses

Lots are out at the moment. The rain has meant that they are growing strongly and the new ones are establishing well. The downside is that some of the more flouncy flowers are prone to rot. This one doesn't care and is a bit of a thug but it's beautiful now and in the autumn with small hips and is a magnet for the hibernating ladybird population.

Helichrysum fridgidum

One of my favourite foliage plants for the alpine house, Helichrysum fridgidum from Corsica. It tends to get a bit brown at the base and needs to be cut back to keep it neat and silver. It sometimes gets attacked by greenfly that kill it by covering it with honey dew that goes moldy, but it's easy to keep going from cuttings. It also roots branches if they lean out into the plunge sand.

Gift

Some rooted cuttings of Pelegonium "Morweena" from my father. What a fantastic colour and texture. Thanks Dad!