Tag Archives: lavender rose

May27

Abundance

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I think it’s been officially feeling like summer this month, off and on. Likely about all the summer we will get! My flowers are loving it.

The first roses of the year. I love them all.



Clematis – top one is one of the new babies from last year. Just opened this morning! The others are growing up the weed-willow I have in the corner, and are the main reason why this grey willow still lives here. That and the birds love it. And I have a wisteria growing in there, too! 


California poppies and a sunflower from seed. 


Something for the bees.


Native common orchids going crazy as usual. They have colonised my garden. I’m not complaining.


English lavender. The bees were loving this today. 


Iris iris iris iris iris iris iris iris iris! They are fantastic this year. 

Aug2

Blue Tuesday

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Blue and purple today!


The last of the lavender roses.


Violas everywhere! 


New clematis Mrs N Thompson is a summer bloomer! Yay!


Blueberries are ripening!


The black mondo grass is blooming.


….and I’ve already forgotten what this is! Oh wait, I found the empty pot. Isotoma or blue star creeper. I’ve put it under my massive white rose, as the grass doesn’t like to grow there.

(Post dedicated to Sled)

Jun22

Munching and Meandering in the Garden

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I finally have strawberries coming ripe in my new planters!
Slugs or something still had a nibble, dammit. Ate them anyway.


And the raspberries are ripening, too! I have a LOT of these this year, and while the wind is doing damage, the sheer weight of the fruit is bending/breaking them more. Our soil is mostly rocks, and I didn’t put in anything to tie them to, like an eejit. They are also really dense, so I’m going to have a lot of trouble finding the ripe ones every morning. I didn’t think this one was quite ‘done’ yet – but a bird did. It was gone the next morning, entirely! Argh. Need to make a scarecrow!


These glowing orange, shop bought lilies are always the first to bloom, every year. Even better, they are the first ones I ever grew or owned – iDJ bought them for me, oh geez, about 9 years ago? We didn’t have many plants then. He was just learning that I preferred growing flowers to cut ones. I can’t recall now, but seeing what time of year they bloom, they could have been a ‘moving to Ireland anniversary’ gift.


What the hell, tomatoes? Come on now, we don’t have a lot of time left!


The big hosta is in bloom. Flower stalks aren’t as tall this year, I’ve noticed. And the purple one hasn’t even tried yet. Hrumph. 


Another mutant. It is SO much larger than the other violas. No idea why. 


Rose…


Wild daisies. Dog Daisy? These are everywhere on the roadside right now – love them. So when they moved in, I let them stay!


This one is on purpose: one I grew for himself. My first shasta daisy from seed, started last year, and it did naught until now. Do you like shasta daisies? Yes? No?


Going to end as usual on my very favourite of the week, and in this case it is my favourite rose. It’s very hard to get a pic of this where the colour is accurate! 

One of Aldi’s finest bare-root roses, and I don’t know what this is called anymore but it is lavender, not pink. I’ve been struggling for years with this one, and right now there are a record four blooms/buds! One of my treasures. 

Jul12

Colourful but Cool

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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!

Jul21

Flowers Flowers Everywhere and not a Bee to Drink

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I’ve definitely noticed there are no honeybees in my garden this year. White-tailed bumblebees by the dozen, but ‘normal’ bees? Not one. I think I will have a chat with my two immediate neighbours and ask if they mind if I try a hive next year. I know my garden/yard is too small, and the dog will go mental until she finally eats one and finds out why she shouldn’t eat flying things… but it’s bad, I tell you. Butterflies are also very rare the last few years.
Last year I got seed out of my little irises (which I planted and it’s growing!). I didn’t even take pictures of my iris this year as they only lasted a few days. The seed heads are nonexistent, too – shrivelled unfertilised dry lumps. I have to wonder why not, and make correlations.

On to happier news. My much loved lavender rose has bloomed twice since last I did a flower update. This one is gone now.

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But this just opened up to say hello today!

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Don’t mind the bird-poop – the wee finches just adore the giant weed-tree I transplanted into that corner. It’s a grey willow and I know it annoys the neighbour on that side as he cut it back himself last year. I have no problem with that – but when the lilac I grew from seed is ready, I want to put it there and I wouldn’t want it pruned without a discussion first. It’s only about a foot tall still, so time enough. I’ll feel bad for the birdies though, as they adore the massive ugly thing.

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Crocosmia lucifer about to bloom…

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Crocosmia lucifer in bloom. A reminder for new folks – hubby dug this up for me out of a patch of waste ground nearby. It looks amazing in massive clumps – ours are several years away from clumps still.

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Can you believe these are potato flowers? Me either! So delicate and lovely. You would wear clothing made out of such fine material, wouldn’t you? The lowly ‘tater; a bloom on it as silken and soft as a gown that the Queen of Carnival at Mardi Gras would be proud to wear.