Florespondence: Helle-not-so-boring

Hellebores, they aren't so boring. I'm sure that's been said a lot, but look at them - such beauty! The yellow ones are in the front garden, and the pinks and purples in the back garden.

Helleborus x hybridus Harvington yellow

A slightly chewed Helleborus x hybridus Harvington double yellow.

Helleborus 'Painted Bunting'

Helleborus x hybridus 'Double Ellen Red'

Helleborus x hybridus Harvington dusky, the second with the sunlight behind it.

Autumn: Salvia 'Amistad'

I thought it was time to show some flowering plants in my Autumn series. This is Salvia 'Amistad', which yes, does start flowering in late Spring, but continues on through Summer and into Autumn. I'm enjoying it so much in the front garden now, that I felt it was worth including. Also, it's purple, and I love purple.

It's clustered flower stems rise up above the foliage, adding height to your border. You need to come in close to enjoy the detail of individual flower.

Even in late October it still sending up plenty of new flower stems. With luck these will flower, offering some late blooms for bees. Yep, bees like to crawl up into the flower for the pollen.

In my garden it doesn't mind the light shade that comes from the beech hedge.

The young flower heads are a dark purple, but the flowers come out lighter colour. Two-toned purple - ba dum tish!

S. Amistad is a fuss-free hardy perennial that gives me flowers over a long period of time. And in case you didn't notice, it's purple. Purple!

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Other posts in the series:
  Autumn: Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku'
  Autumn: Prunus mume 'Beni-chidori'
  Autumn: in the Peak District
  Autumn: Cornus 'Norman Hadden'
  Autumn: Fagus sylvatica

Wordless Wednesday 18th September 2019: Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert'

I got sunshine, on a cloudy day: Rudbeckia fulgida var sullivantii 'Goldsturm'

Rudbeckia fulgida var sullivantii 'Goldsturm'

Truly, if there was ever a flower to give you sunshine on a cloudy day, Rudbeckia fulgida var sullivantii 'Goldsturm' must be it.

This flower glows even through the night; I can see it through the heavy frosting of our bathroom window!

I did try cutting some for the house, but found they didn't like being in a vase. Something this strong needs the outside, it seems.

I discovered that one flower has some petals coming through it's central cone. A type of fasciation I believe.

Fasciation literally means banded or bundled. Scientists aren’t sure what causes the deformity, but they believe it is probably caused by a hormonal imbalance. This imbalance may be the result of a random mutation, or it can be caused by insects, diseases or physical injury to the plant. Think of it as a random occurrence. It doesn’t spread to other plants or other parts of the same plant. Source: Garden Know How

It's happy in my heavy acid clay, and after only a year in the ground, is clumping up very nicely. I've notice bees and butterflies are attracted to it's charms too.

Flowering from late summer through autumn, this Rudbeckia gives me sunshine every day, even through autumn storms.

On the pollinating menu

Allium millenium is a much later flowering allium than most, with blooms in July and August. It's only 40 cms high, but it's a pretty little thing. And this year, it seems to have been the prime choice on the pollinating menu for honey bees, and two types of butterflies, the Gatekeeper and the Meadow Brown. On a daily basis, I see 20 or so in the garden at one once, and most of them can be found on or around this Allium.

On the left at the back is the Gatekeeper butterfly, and on the right at the front is a Meadow Brown.

Gatekeeper butterfly, Pyronia tithonus.

Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina.

A Gatekeeper (right) and Meadow Brown (left), supping on the same flower.

And they don't mind sharing with the honey bees.

I do love this allium, and given it's so beloved by pollinators, I'm going to let my patch bulk up so that I can then divide and add more to other parts of the garden in future years. After all, I don't want to disappoint the other bees and butterflies that hear about the feast to be found in my garden.

I used the Butterfly Conservation website to find the butterfly id's.

Plant memories: Deschampsia cespitosa 'Goldtau' and Cat-Merlyn

This is Deschampsia cespitosa 'Goldtau', also known as 'Grass-Merlyn'.

The grass is still looking green now, but in late summer

it will turn golden, hence it's specific name is Goldtau

Merlyn was our previous cat, a wonderful cheeky bugger who has a penchant for eating my ornamental grasses, and this one in particular. When he sadly died, it seemed fitting to bury him with this grass.

The 'Grass-Merlyn' is a take on a friend who used to tell his child who loved our cat, stories of 'The Adventures of Cat-Merlyn'. So Cat-Merlyn was a nickname, and therefore he, resting with his favourite plant to chew on, he became Grass-Merlyn.

The plant was looking so good with it's new flowers this morning. It made me happy that I have this very special memory of a most wonderful cat companion.

Cat-Merlyn, who decided to have a snooze mid-harvest. Coz cat.

Purple reign

Purple. It's my favourite colour. And I love it's different shades, from lilac to aubergine, blue-purple, pink purple and deep purple. Here are some of the many purples reigning in my garden from Spring to early Summer.

Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation', in the sun.

In a muted light.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee'

Lavandula stoechas 'Fathead'

Clematis alpina 'Pamela Jackman'

Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Blaue Glocke'

Ajuga reptans 'atropurpurea'

Tulipa 'Queen of Night'

Geranium nodosum 'Clos du Coudray'

Lavandula 'Regal Splendour'

Lavandula 'Regal Splendour', glowing in the sun. If you look very closely, you can see a bee butt!

Pulsatilla vulgaris

Allium schoenoprasum

A few viola's, starting with my favourite, Viola 'Jean Jeanie'

Viola 'Martin'

Viola 'Elaine Quin'

Viola tricolor

Viola riviniana 'Purpurea'

A self-seeded viola that I love, but for which I have no name. Possibly a sport of Viola tricolor.

Geranium 'Orion'

And the perennial favourite of humans and bees, Digitalis purpurea.

Long may purple reign!