Pompom dahlia

Posted on April 17, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Biddulph grange garden, Dahlia, Day trip, Gardening, Life, National Trust, Plants, themes, Time2 Comments

Dad used to grow these. You can see why they are called pompom dahlias. He had a whole patch of them in the back garden. I found some in the local garden centre so I have bought a packet of tubers just to see if I can grow them.

The best place to see dahlias in the area is the dahlia walk at the Biddulph Grange garden in Biddulph, Staffordshire. The National Trust owns the house and gardens. The building is only accessible in a few rooms, but the gardens are magnificent. Part classic gardening, part themed garden it is worth visiting and you have to see the Dahlia Walk in late summer. Sections separated by hedges on either side of a central pathway are filled with all sorts of Dahlia plants in all sorts of colours, for example red Bishop of Llandaff ones. Other sections in the garden have various themes, a Swiss cottage next to an Egyptian tomb, grottos and stepping stones and a Chinese temple and giant stone frog and golden calf!

Worth a visit if you are in the area.

Favourite blossom

Posted on April 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Expensive, Garden Centre, Gardening, Life, Magnolia, Photo, Pink, Plants, Purple, TreesLeave a comment

Magnolia blossom about to open, the ones with the dark pink/purple outer petals and pale pink insides. They are expensive to buy, so this one stayed at the garden centre last weekend. We do have a small magnolia stellata in the garden, but as its been cold here it is yet to flower.

Planning

Posted on April 4, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Design, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Life, outdoor gardening, Planning, Plants, Spectrum, Spring, SummerLeave a comment

Now’s the time to order our hanging baskets for the year. The lady that puts them together asks me what colours I would like. Usually I don’t specify what theme I want but I’m definitely going for a rainbow theme this year. I think because there are so many different flowers and shapes and colours that would really brighten the yard. Last year was mainly red white and green so I bought in other flowers to broaden the spectrum.

Going out of the back door and seeing all this colour lifts my spirits. I usually order them and then collect them 6 to 8 weeks later. It’s a bit expensive but I have never been able to grow baskets as beautiful as hers. The summer arrives and I bring the baskets home. Then we have a riot of colour until late Autumn.

Looking forward

Posted on March 26, 2023March 26, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beauty, Environment, Gardening, hanging baskets life, Nature, Plants, Poem, Poetry, SummerLeave a comment

To flowers

And plants

Geranium, poppy, fushias

Petunias and surfinias

Mounds of green leaves

Hidden tomato plants

Surrounded by scent

Wild and cultivated

Hanging baskets blooming

Like overflowing fountains

I hope summer is here soon.

Lesser Celandine

Posted on March 22, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged daisy like, Environment, Gardening, Lesser celandine, Nature, Plants, Spring, YellowLeave a comment

One of the plants that appears in Spring, this is lesser Celandine. It has mid green shiny leaves and yellow and white daisy like flowers. This plant is one of the things that used to be on a website where people recorded when things appeared in the Spring, like butterflies, moths, flowers, tree blossom for example. It was a citizen science project. I don’t remember what it was called.

Lesser Celandine spreads by little bulbs (bulbils) that can stick to shoes or animals feet. It’s pretty, but if you get it in your garden it can spread like mad. I’m not sure if animals van eat it, it just looks cheery in Spring.

Spring Helibores

Posted on March 4, 2023March 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beauty, Colours, Gardening, Helibores, Leaves, Life, Nature, Overlooked, Plants, seasonal, Spring, subtleLeave a comment

I think of daffodils and crocuses at this time of year, or snowdrops and later tulips. But an often overlooked plant is the Helibore. The flowers tend to droop their faces towards the ground and they have larder five lobed leaves. There colours can be a mottled grey green, white with green splotches or a greyish pink. This is a manipulated image to show how interesting they can be. Lift up a flower and be captivated by its hidden subtle beauty.

Playing with silhouettes

Posted on March 2, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Apps, Art, Fine Art, Imagination, Jetpack, like a woodcut?, Photodirector, Plants, Sketch app, Trees, WordPressLeave a comment

A previous digital drawing of a fence against a colourful background. My Sketch app on my phone has silhouettes of trees and plants that I rarely use. I also added extra texture and overlays in Photodirector. These are a couple of the art apps I have on my phone that I use frequently and don’t want to remove if I have to get the Jetpack app. Am I irritated? Yes. Must stop going on about it. Creativity isn’t important after all is it (sulks)…. Sorry!

Terrarium

Posted on February 9, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dark green, glass jar, Indoor plant, Life, Photo, Plants, Red, stems, terrarium, Triffids2 Comments

A triffids in a glass jar, up on the windowledge, a bit damp and mucky, but it still grows and twirls. Red stems. Dark green leaves, bought from a supermarket and still surviving after eighteen months. OK not a triffids, but a strange ugly plant that needs me to love it? Feed me Seymour?

Magenta?

Posted on January 19, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beautiful, Dahlia, delicate, Gardening, Plants, Poem, Poetry, Pompom dahlia, RhymeLeave a comment

Magenta or pink

What do you think?

A pompom dahlia

Beauty not failure

A garden delight

A lovely sight

Meditation in mauve?

I must be in love!

Cyclamen

Posted on January 6, 2023January 6, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cactii, Cyclamen, Flowers, Growing, Life, Pattern, Plants, Reflected, Seeds, Symmetry, WindowledgeLeave a comment

Apparently reflected (using the layout, symmetry app on my phone). These Cyclamen are flowering really well. As they fade the stems curl over and the flower heads start growing seeds that are then deposited in the soil to grow into new plants. This is a large indoor version but we have small groups of cyclamen growing in the garden. The colours go well with the Christmas cactii next to them. OK I think that’s enough about my kitchen window ledge!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Plants