power plant

We have been hearing cuckoos for a few weeks now. I find it a lovely gentle sound and always hope to catch a glimpse of one, which I have only managed to do once. They are rather unassuming and blend into the background well, and yet their call draws attention to them. Around the same time as the cuckoos can be heard we often find the so-called ‘cuckoo campion’ ( Kuckuckslichtnelke in German) known as Ragged Robin in the UK. Lychnis (Silene) flos-cuculi is a pretty pink wild flower that blooms in our meadow in May or June. In shadier or damper spots it may continue to flower all through the summer, but it hasn’t been so profuse here this year due to the lack of rain. Another reason Ragged Robin has its German name ‘Cuckoo campion’ is the fact that you may see cuckoo spit on it (the frothy protection for the larvae of spittlebugs or froghoppers). I am not sure where the English name ‘Ragged Robin’ originated. Do you ever see this pretty wild flower growing near you? And do yo...

After another two frosts this past week ‘Siberian’ seems a suutable title for my Monday vase. And then my Siberian Iris (I. sibirica) opened. I bit the bullet and cut the first one. I added some Spiraea foliage, Pulsatilla seedheads, a couple of Moon Daisies and some Alchemilla mollis. Then I found two sprigs of Cerinthe… I sowed some a few years ago and get one or two plants pop up each year, but it doesn’t seem to spread in my garden like I have heard it does in other parts of the world. Finally, a small flourish of blue Veronica ‘Knallblau’ that is just beginning to open. A day of light drizzly rain has refreshed the garden, although it was not enough for the trees and shrubs. We may get a drop more this week. Sadly my Nasturtium seedlings fell victim to the frosts, but it looks like other tender plants were either protected or sheltered enough to avoid damage. I am ready for summer. Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosts this lovely Monday meme. Do go and visit and s...

Oriental poppy, and bee

Iris pallida ‘Fiesole’: another fragrant iris…

I love pink and yellow, or orange and purple, but this year pink and orange is my absolute favourite colour combination. So since it is Monday, and Cathy at Rambling in the Garden is hosting her lovely meme again, here is a vase with those colours dominating, and a bit of purple and lime green thrown in. I started off by picking some Geum Totally Tangerine and a lovely Aquilegia that is pink but with a slightly peachy hue to it. The bright Magenta flower is Erodium – these plants do well in my garden, with drought and heat barely bothering them in the summer – in fact they seem to thrive on it. Then I saw that a Scabiosa had opened. It is neither pink nor orange, but was so pristine I just had to add it to my handful. There are also a couple of the similar Knautia flowers in there – a deep reddish pink. I have had some chive flowers in vases with geums over the past fortnight, and since I have so many I cut some of them too. The lime green is Lady’s Mantle – Alchemilla molli...

Iris barbata elatior ‘October Sun’… With a delicate fragrance….

We have sunshine and blue skies, but everything is on hold here at the moment: annuals and vegetables grown from seed need to be planted out, other annuals need to be sown directly into the garden, a couple of new shrubs need planting out, beans need sowing, etc, etc. But the strong winds and cold nights are making me wait. The perennials are unperturbed, however, and there is plenty of colour already… This week should be our last frost date, traditionally observed at least since the 16th century (when the ‘Little Ice Age’ began) with the saints days between May 12th and 15th: St Pancras, Saint Servatius, Saint Boniface and the Saint Sophia – ‘ the cold Sophie ‘ as she is called here. All of these saints collectively are called the ‘Ice Saints’ (Eisheilige) . And we did in fact have a white frost at the weekend, with more very low temperatures forecast for the nights until the end of the week. The irony is, the daytime temperatures are lovely and warm! Hopefully by next weekend I ca...

Regular readers may remember that a couple of years ago I started looking at the wild flowers and weeds (and what IS the difference?) that grow in and around my garden, and posting about them weekly through the spring and summer. Now I am moving into the third year of Wild and Weedy Wednesday posts and invite you to join me. I have already covered over forty specimens, so there may be fewer posts this year, but last week I discovered a plant that is either new to the garden or I simply missed last year. Ornithogalum umbellatum , commonly known as Garden Star of Bethlehem or Grass Lily. Wikipedia tells me it may also be called ‘nap-at-noon’ or ‘eleven o’clock lady’ which are references to it only opening late in the day or in bright sunlight. It is in fact a native bulbous perennial that grows just below the soil, and its small offspring in the form of bulbils are then dispersed by ants – having sandy soil here we have billions of those! I think this Star of Bethlehem really is a...

On a Monday Cathy at Rambling in the Garden invites us to join her for ‘In a Vase on Monday’. Well, I have a bowl rather than a vase this week! Floating Hellebores is an excellent way to display their flowers which normally hang downwards. The same with Aquilegias, which float equally well, although some do tend to turn on their side. I have so many variations this year, I wanted to see them up close up to admire their detail. Floating them is perfect for this. In the UK we generally call Aquilegia vulgaris simply Aquilegia or Granny’s bonnets. They probably have other common names too. But the old English term for them was Columbine. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia’s words ‘There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance’ have become well-known. But she went on to list other flowers, including the columbine, in reference to forsaken love. The symbolism of flowers is relatively lost on most people these days compared with Shakespeare’s days. Such a shame! In fact I also know very ...