They are still just baby buds at the moment, the size of my thumbnail, but I’m so excited to have them coming up!
Will it be yellow? Will it be white?
Will it be red or pink or purple? So exciting! Okay I’m easily pleased when it comes to plants.
I’ve always wanted these. So glad I finally found some seed for sale as already-growing plants are quite pricey. I have six – and who knows what colours they will be?! Stay tuned!
They are feeling left out.
Remember the new lilies I planted back in April? It was a bit late, I know, but they are finally up.
The first ones to awaken are very small.
From the Aldi ‘Roselily Mix’ – and so far only the pink and white ones of the mix have come out to say hello.
And just the two. Oh well.
These are some of the Aldi ‘Pixels Mix’ I’ve bought in the past – but this is a very unexpected colour! It wasn’t on the package at all. The above is them as youngin’s…
…and this is them, a little more awake. The blooms last a good long time, too, yay! Very good autumn colours, I think.
Not so sure they go well with the big pink and cream ones up above?
But aren’t they fantastic? Hubby and I are both in love with this one, another Aldi prize, ‘Lollipop.’
The packaging said they were meant to be short, only 14-16cm (5.5 – 6.3in tall) – ha! One is that short. The other is a good 2.5 feet or 76cm tall! As big as the Pixels are meant to get – you can see that the short one is taller than the tall one, in the first photos. Go figure. I expect I have mutants.
The nasturtium (from seed last year, but I collected the seeds for this batch) has been moved to along the wall (about a metre high) and it seems to love growing up into the ivy.
The not-sweet pea lives right behind where I’ve planted the nasturtium, and comes back every year. It is MASSIVE. Not-sweet because it has no scent, bummer eh? This is from seeds I collected in Akron, Ohio, in a year that didn’t start with a 2. Considering I moved here in 2005, it is amazing it was still viable.
Gorgeous – whatever it is. I’ve forgotten. It scents (or stinks) up my front doorstep marvellously. It is not a Stargazer lily but close.
Roses are still going strong. I thought this was an odd-looking cluster. Will be interesting when all the buds open! Ignore the damned black-spot: I can’t get rid of it.
And the California poppies are still going like gangbusters, too.
I have soooo many pictures now. It’s crazy. Scores of them, each of a bloom that lasted just 8 hours or so. There are literally too many to post.
What should I do? I could do an all-pink post, or all-yellow, or all-red; or the funky striped hybrid I seem to have created accidentally. I can’t pick the ‘best of’ as every one is perfect and amazing.
Okay. I have two “cheating” pictures, where there is more than one flower in the shot. I’ll start with those.
A rare, dry morning!
Ooo, one with my hand in frame, to give you an idea of size. I don’t have small hands, either! 
Spot the wasp?
My favourite picture so far of several together. Had it as my FB cover photo until about an hour ago.
Oh, and did I say I had two ‘cheating’ pictures? Turns out it was 13. Whoopsie!
Hope you liked them – and I am willing to post seed to you, if you want to give them a try. First year they won’t bloom, but the next? You get this madness!
Gazania: 
Godetia (Clarkia amoena), also known as farewell-to-spring:
Since they live in the same planter, I thought they should share a post.
I just can’t seem to post as much as I’d like to. After taking the first week of August off work, I also let my blog-reading slide. Sorry! I’m all caught up now with that, but I have so damn many pictures I wanted to share. I guess I’ll get to it!
New lilies!
The colour looks really weird here, but it hasn’t been putzed around with, I promise.
Not looking fab – the rain took out most of the petals the first day these opened. Bah.
That’s a bit better! All of the above are ALDI “pixels mix” bought this year as bare bulbs, so I will forgive them for looking scraggly. I like the top one best. You can tell that this yellow one is way taller than the orange one, too.
I have roses like crazy. I’m glad – the white ones smell fantastic and scent the entire back garden on still days.
The new rudbeckia (black eyed Susan) ‘chocolate orange’ from seed this year. Not as advertised – but clearly I have it in a too-small pot as you can’t even see the pot in this picture. Replanted today. Poor thing. 
I can’t remember what this is! Grown from seed last year, and again this year – and it also self-seeded in random places. Help?
The crocrosmia dug out of wasteland a few years back – looking great!
Hosta flowers – the white, closed
The white, open
The purple, from the non-variegated leaf hosta. My neighbour told me she didn’t grow Hostas because they don’t bloom… Again I must have the magic touch.
I wish they didn’t look so bad when they wilt, though. Quite ugly, like rotting used tissues.
Couldn’t end without some tigridia. This is a side view – don’t think I’ve taken this angle before.
I’ve caught up to August 15 now! Woot.
My first tigridia of 2015! Just the one so far.
Interesting to see that the first bloomer is one of my grown-from seed last year. They didn’t bloom last year, they were too young still. These are in pretty terrible recycled buckets and out the back of the house, where the sun probably lasts a bit longer. All my older plants are in proper ceramic pots and out front – and the house faces mostly west. Hmm.
I went back in time (did you hear the “woosh?”) and found that last year, my first post about tigridia was on July 26, 2013 – and last year I started bombarding you with pics on July 17! Very much proves how our wet and dark and windy ‘summer’ has delayed plant growth.
Well, they are here finally. And I’ll enjoy every bloom for the single day I get to see it!
I have a new flower-favourite (until my tigridia start to bloom)!
Please meet my very first Gazania – Gazania rigens. The sub-species I have is unknown as the seed packet we bought didn’t bother to specify. Lazy sods.
They are also known as the Treasure Flower, or African Daisy. I definitely consider them a treasure.
I started these from seed way back in April, and this is the first one to open. There are nine other blooms waiting to show their lovely faces, if the sun will just come out to play.
first gazania Ireland from seed
The same bloom has been shut tight ever since, which has annoyed me to no end. Not only because it is evidence the weather has been shite, but because I really wanted to see it again before the bloom withered.
(iPhone pic) Today, there was enough warmth for the new wan to have another look at the sky. I’m in love! These flowers are brushstroke of glowing paint in my soggy, windy world. I hope the rest of the buds have a chance to see the sky, too.
I finally have some lilies, and roses, and a few other blooms to share. This summer… Ugh. Comparing to this time last year, everything is blooming two weeks later. It’s been a pretty poor summer. Good thing I didn’t even try to grow any veggies. I had a feeling this year was going to be shite for veg, and I was right.
Another clematis, slightly different in colour. It’s only the second year in the ground for this one, so it hasn’t gone crazy like the other one. That icky looking brown thing on the right is me using old knee-highs to tie it to the tree. I recycle everything I can!
Love the California poppies. Also in shot: the damned Duggar violas, irises, some of the new pink lilies, part of an astilbe I dug out of a friend’s back-garden-wasteland, and an ash tree that moved in a few years back.
‘Pixel’ lilies! Quite fond of these. They are very short compared to the next ones.
Forget what genus these lilies are, so I just call them my black lilies. Clearly they aren’t black, but they are lilies. This is the first one to open this year, now I have several out front and back. I’d guess they grow about a metre or yard tall – hard to say as again, they are in a pot.
Wonderful white rose. Smells sooooo good.
Orange lilies going bonkers as usual! Also lavender, columbine, sweet william…
Galliardia survived the winter. Still waiting on the rudbeckia to bloom.
More roses! iPhone really proved itself with this pic.
Sweet william, by my raspberries.
Key for size reference – raspberry season has arrived! They never make it far from the bush to my mouth. I do try to share with hubby. Sometimes.
Yes, I know my countertop is hideous.
Ending with my favourite rose, a lovely lavender colour. Bloom is too heavy for the stem, poor thing. I’ve been struggling with this wee bush for years, it is isn’t happy where it is, I guess. At least the black spot that is taking down my massive white rose hasn’t hit it, despite them being less than two metres apart. Two more blooms on this one yet to open, and I’m excited – that is two more than last year!
Plants got the vote: thank you, Grannymar! What shall I start with, hmmm…
How about my two Duggar species. So named by me as they multiply like crazy – the violas: 
And the Sweet William: 
That’s a five-foot long shipping pallet, chock full of William. Only just starting to bloom, it will be lovely soon.
I forgot what these are (again). Not as many of them this year, wonder why?
Clematis clematis clematis!
Our robin in the grey willow that the clematis is climbing up. He kept me company for hours as I was moving dirt and finding him all types of tasty bug-snacks.
Planted this last year from seed, and over-wintered it indoors. Now what is it again… oh great, the tag I made has totally faded! Augh! Just spent about 10 minutes looking through last year’s posts, can’t find it. 
Mutant zinnia. The four flower buds are coming out of the previous bloom’s base, instead of on their own stems. Freaky. 
The lavender is happy this year.
The tiny iris are happy, too! 
My native yellow iris (dug out of a bog) opened the first bloom yesterday. 
Also native – Irish common spotted orchid. I just love the spotty leaves! They moved in, I didn’t plant them – these are growing in my garlic planter. 
More common spotted orchid – this is the first to begin blooming and popped up in the raspberry patch. Simply gorgeous. They are more than welcome to live in my garden!
The new ALDI bulbs are coming up!
My front door – white-trash alert! Taken to give the size scale of the black lilies and stargazer lilies, which are well established compared to the new guys. Guess what is in the pot to the far right? TIGRIDIA!!!!
Finally, a rose bud. Lots of buds but none open yet.
‘April showers bring May flowers’, me arse. What April did was get all kindsa crazy hot for over a week, and make my plants go beserkers with the growing.
May, the aul’ bitch, came along with nothing but heavy wind, rain and hail. The wind has been the killer – all the formerly insanely happy but very tender new growth has been beaten to hell – against walls, other plants, or snapped off by the gusts. I’ve probably lost a hundred raspberry fruit buds, the roses look like shit, and my poor from-seed lilac is even shorter than it was in April.
Dammit.
I do have growth. I hope it will be stronger for weathering a May of bluster.
The tigridia is coming up! Not just here, where 3-year old plants are coming back, but the ones from seed last year are looking about the same. Yay! Love these damn things.
Some of the new lilies are above ground, too!
I already forget which ones I planted in this pot. Oops! The blue things are slug-pellets. Sadly a necessity here if you grow from seed. I don’t have squirrels, or deer, or manical plant-killing peacocks; I have slugs by the billion.
Strawberries are looking great, even if they are useless weeds to me at this point. I keep looking for strawberry half-pots I can hang on the wall of my shed, but so far no luck.
I rue the day I started these violas from seed. Little shits are everywhere now. On the plus side, I aparently can also grow hostas from seed. They are also kind of everywhere, but only within the area the hostas actually were planted. Except for this one, and another, which I stuck in a pot last year because I wasn’t sure they were actually hostas. They are.
We bought these right before Halloween, and left them out front in this tiny-ass seedling tray all winter. The purple ones were more black, and the Orange ones were more orange back in 2014. But hey, they are still alive so I might finally make them a home this year. Oh, they were infested with insects so that is why I didn’t plant them out. Think I’ve killed all the wee bugs now, though.
And yah, I cannot wait to get the pressure washer out and get rid of all the yuck on my house and pots! I love to pressure-wash. Best invention ever for someone who adores making old shit look new again! Therapy of a sort.
My only proper flowers right now – the columbine (aquilegia) from last year. The plant overwintered, and left me about a half-dozen babies in other plants nearby – which I dug out and repotted, of course. I don’t remember columbine overwintering when I lived in Ohio, but I’m assuming they do, now, and also require a cold season for the seeds to germinate.
One tiny sweet William blooming in the background, too. Also rather rue the day I planted them. Smell lovely but unless you deadhead the crap out of them they seed everywhere. Going to start calling them the Duggar plant!
heretherebespiders 