Garden Log
06.06
The wildflowers have taken hold in their new container. Soon they will fill it out, and they should burst with colour in July.
Delphinium is still struggling, as well as the fern.
I clipped the dead buds off of the Dahlia today. Need to get a new pot for it to spread out.
The Leucanthemum × superbum ‘Ice Star’ is starting to bud and is so much taller than its neighbours.
After replanting the Hebe 'Youngii', it seems to really enjoy its new home.
I don’t know the name of the plant with green star flowers, but it is standing upright today after drenching it yesterday. It’s incredible how fast it responds. Will do some research to find the name.
The salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' is still going strong—such a beautiful purple colour.
The echinacea in the top corner is getting tall but has no buds yet.
I still think there is a poppy in my planter full of weeds, but will keep an eye on it.
07.06
I’ve put the Astrantia 'Rubra' and the Sedum 'Orange Xenox' together, hoping it will look like a kindling fire in full bloom.
Yesterday's unknown plant is Astrantia major 'Star of Billion'.
There was a beautiful, deep blue pot at the store I got for the Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'. I planted some Superbloom wildflowers with it, but the bright yellow flower will look like the sun on a hot summer’s day when it blooms in that cerulean pot.
I also replanted the Tiarella Raspberry Sundae in a shallow planter I found on sale and at the garden centre. The colour really compliments the pale pink brushes of the plant.
08.06
Clipped some plants to make cyanotypes since the sun was so intense.
10.06
I walked to the Garden Centre at Ally Pally today to pick up some planters. So many people are sunbathing on the lawn at the top of the hill near the palace.
I found some small terra cotta pots that I can scatter through the larger ones.
When I returned, I waited until the temperature came down before planting anything. I put the Dahlia in its own planter and the muhly grass in another. The other two I filled with some taller wildflowers.
12.06
Everything went wild after the water + heat yesterday. And the poppy has popped! The neon red colour looks so lovely next to the greens and yellows of its neighbours. The weed in the pot with the poppy has little white and purple flowers, so I’ve just let it be.
The Ice Stars are also getting bigger, and the wildflowers have gotten much taller. The echinacea is getting tall, but the leaves at the base are yellowing, which I think means they are getting too much water. I may clip the yellow leaves so that it doesn’t put all its energy into them and focuses on growing the flowers.
13.06
It rained yesterday afternoon for a while. This morning little white flowers are blooming throughout the wildflowers. It looks like little white confetti thrown around the patio. I can’t seem to identify them. My Seek app calls them Mononeuria patula, but I’m not convinced they are the same.
15.06
More and more of those little white flowers and pink ones look the same.
There are also teeny tiny poppy buds sprinkled throughout the wildflowers. I can’t wait to see them open up.
The petals fell from the big poppy today and left a little seed pod on which I found a shield bug.
18.06
An Iberia umbellata is blooming on its own.
The tiny poppies have opened up, and they are magical. I’ve never seen poppies this small before. They come in all different colors: dark red, orange-red, and purple.
The echinacea seems to be happier since I cut the yellow leaves off.
The Leucanthemum ‘Ice Stars’ have taken off. They are like little parasols swaying in the wind.
19.06
New tiny poppies keep opening up. The garden is sprinkled with red, pink, and purple, with the little white mystery flowers woven throughout.
20.06
I woke up to rain today. I jumped out of bed, made a cup of coffee and opened the window to the garden and just watched.
21.06
There is one tall shoot blooming on the Achillea millefolium. The rest of it is growing, but this little piece has volunteered first.
The Hylotelephium telephium is getting bigger and looks like it’s starting to develop flowering heads.
The poppies are still bringing so much joy to the garden. Every day new ones are popping out.
22.06
The echinacea in both locations is doing well. The one on its own is nearly a metre high!
I think there is an oak tree growing in my planter… It is the tiniest oak tree ever, but the leaves are so pronounced. I have no idea how it got there, but it keeps getting bigger…
The liquorice root is coming back strong. I was gifted some seeds last year and grew some, but I was afraid I killed it over the winter. Luckily it seems to have retaken, so I won’t have to report a dead plant to the kind person that gave me the seeds.
24.06
Some brilliant pink/purple flowers have sprung out of the wildflowers. They are the tallest in the bunch and have incredible patterns when you look at them up close.
Some smaller purple flowers have also come out towards the bottom. They look like little bells.
I clipped some of the Cosmos flowers off today to give room to newcomers. It seems to be thriving in its new home. There is a plant in the wildflowers with the same leaf shape as the cosmos, so I hope to get some small wild ones coming out soon.
27.06
The Astrantia 'Rubra' is starting to bloom. It will be a nice color and complement all the lime greens it is next to. The other Astrantia is flourishing. It is usually the plant I look at to see if I need to water anything. It has quite the personality. It gets a little droopy when it’s thirsty.
The wildflowers are taking over the corner. They look illegible and messy, but they really fill out the space.
29.06
There are little petals on the echinacea starting to form.
The Imperata cylindrica 'Red Baron' is turning red on the tips. It looks so lovely next to the Euphorbia, which has a little bit of red on the inside.
I’m afraid that some snails have gotten to my Sedum… I can’t seem to find them, though. As much as I don’t want to get rid of them, they are starting to eat holes in things…
01.07
A stem from one of the echinacea snapped because of the winds but didn’t die. Instead, it is growing at a right angle off the edge of the planter… Incredible.
The Lupinus is getting tall, and the flowering piece is poking out of the leaves today.
The Liatris spicata is also getting tall. I can start making out little pink petals ready to come from the flower head.
