Gardening Diary June - August 2005
Created | Updated Aug 23, 2005
29th June 2005
Its been a very dry month, so little has happened in the garden.
My Spotted orchid has flowered, it was bigger than last year. <biggrin>
The Acanthus has 3 impressive flower spikes.
It is very much a 'statement' plant with it dark green glossy leaves.
All the Hebe's are in bud and will be blooming soon. The bee's and butterflies love them. My buddlia's are also starting to produce flower buds.
The Centurea has 6 large bright yellow thistle like flowers on it. They are covered in tiny black beetles which are attracted by the colour.
The small convolvulus that I use as ground cover has lovely blue flowers, which open in the
morning and close up in the afternoon.
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July 7th 2005
For the first time in a couple of weeks, I spent some time in the garden. The rains of recent times have given the weeds a real boost. They spring up over night! So I did a little weeding around the pond area, it looks much tidier now.
The pond now has 2 new residents, diving beetles. They are fascinating creatures. The way they are able to breathe underwater is by creating an air bubble on their back end. When all the air is absorbed, they come back up to the surface and make another bubble.
Plants in flower in the garden include perennial sweetpeas, a lovely vibrant pink. I set the seed last year and they have done very well. Verbena Hasta blue, a tall willowy plant with spikes of mauve flowers. Verbene Bonariensis, one of my favourites. Two buddlia, Davidii, which is a dwarf variety, and black knight, the flower spikes of which are the deepest purple.
I bought a new plant this week. Asclepias, which is one of the Milkweed family. It has orange/red flowers with bright yellow stamens, a very pretty plant. My monster hebe is in full flower, which the bees and butterflies just love. The
other hebes are just starting to flower too.
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August 8th 2005
I've let this diary slip a bit in the last month. In that time I've had a break from work and done a bit in the garden. I've also bought a couple more plants and added a bird bath in a lovely shade of green.
It blends into the backround just nicely.
Lots more plant have flowered. The Echinops I planted ealier in the year has now produced its blue spikey balls of flowers. All my fuschias are flowering well. The latest find in my garden is keeping me entertained. I have Elephant hawk-moth caterpillars on my fuschias. They are large beasties, growing the size of my index finger and as wide too. At the moment they are still small, but the false eyes to warn off predators, are clearly visible. The caterpillars come in 2 colours, a dark muddy brown or bright green.
The ones in my garden are green. I am hoping that they reach full size before they strip my fuschias of all their leaves <yikes>
Other plants that are in flower are, Verbena rigida, my yellow buddlia, a couple of begonias that I rescued from work and 3 Zantedeschia (Arum lily) that were also rescued as dried up corms. I was suprised when they shot up and burst into a large yellow, with a bronze edged flower.
That was a bonus. The grasses round the pond have filled out nicely, creating places for wildlife to hide.
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22nd August 2005
We've had alot of rain recently. Good news as far as the garden is concerned, though some more sunny days would be nice.
The garden is looking fresh and green again. Not much new is flowering. I bought 2 Penstemons and a Rudbeckia to add some more colour. I noticed that the Magnolia stellata is already setting its flower buds for next year. One of my hardy cyclamen is flowering already. My Caryopteris and Lespedeza will be in flower soon, along with the Michaelmas daisies. The Lespedeza is an unusual plant, not readily available. It grows in long arching stems from the ground. In autumn it has long racems of pink pea like flowers, its very pretty. After flowering the stems die back to the ground and re-appear next year. The Caryopteris is a great source of food for late butterflies and bees. It has clusters of blue flowers all over, a real eye catcher for late season flowering.
I've planted some spring bulbs, one or two of them are more difficult to grow. Fritillaria persica and Erythronium pagoda. We'll see if they do well next year.
Its been a very dry month, so little has happened in the garden.
My Spotted orchid has flowered, it was bigger than last year. <biggrin>
The Acanthus has 3 impressive flower spikes.
It is very much a 'statement' plant with it dark green glossy leaves.
All the Hebe's are in bud and will be blooming soon. The bee's and butterflies love them. My buddlia's are also starting to produce flower buds.
The Centurea has 6 large bright yellow thistle like flowers on it. They are covered in tiny black beetles which are attracted by the colour.
The small convolvulus that I use as ground cover has lovely blue flowers, which open in the
morning and close up in the afternoon.
----------------------------------------------
July 7th 2005
For the first time in a couple of weeks, I spent some time in the garden. The rains of recent times have given the weeds a real boost. They spring up over night! So I did a little weeding around the pond area, it looks much tidier now.
The pond now has 2 new residents, diving beetles. They are fascinating creatures. The way they are able to breathe underwater is by creating an air bubble on their back end. When all the air is absorbed, they come back up to the surface and make another bubble.
Plants in flower in the garden include perennial sweetpeas, a lovely vibrant pink. I set the seed last year and they have done very well. Verbena Hasta blue, a tall willowy plant with spikes of mauve flowers. Verbene Bonariensis, one of my favourites. Two buddlia, Davidii, which is a dwarf variety, and black knight, the flower spikes of which are the deepest purple.
I bought a new plant this week. Asclepias, which is one of the Milkweed family. It has orange/red flowers with bright yellow stamens, a very pretty plant. My monster hebe is in full flower, which the bees and butterflies just love. The
other hebes are just starting to flower too.
---------------------------------------------
August 8th 2005
I've let this diary slip a bit in the last month. In that time I've had a break from work and done a bit in the garden. I've also bought a couple more plants and added a bird bath in a lovely shade of green.
It blends into the backround just nicely.
Lots more plant have flowered. The Echinops I planted ealier in the year has now produced its blue spikey balls of flowers. All my fuschias are flowering well. The latest find in my garden is keeping me entertained. I have Elephant hawk-moth caterpillars on my fuschias. They are large beasties, growing the size of my index finger and as wide too. At the moment they are still small, but the false eyes to warn off predators, are clearly visible. The caterpillars come in 2 colours, a dark muddy brown or bright green.
The ones in my garden are green. I am hoping that they reach full size before they strip my fuschias of all their leaves <yikes>
Other plants that are in flower are, Verbena rigida, my yellow buddlia, a couple of begonias that I rescued from work and 3 Zantedeschia (Arum lily) that were also rescued as dried up corms. I was suprised when they shot up and burst into a large yellow, with a bronze edged flower.
That was a bonus. The grasses round the pond have filled out nicely, creating places for wildlife to hide.
---------------------------------------------
22nd August 2005
We've had alot of rain recently. Good news as far as the garden is concerned, though some more sunny days would be nice.
The garden is looking fresh and green again. Not much new is flowering. I bought 2 Penstemons and a Rudbeckia to add some more colour. I noticed that the Magnolia stellata is already setting its flower buds for next year. One of my hardy cyclamen is flowering already. My Caryopteris and Lespedeza will be in flower soon, along with the Michaelmas daisies. The Lespedeza is an unusual plant, not readily available. It grows in long arching stems from the ground. In autumn it has long racems of pink pea like flowers, its very pretty. After flowering the stems die back to the ground and re-appear next year. The Caryopteris is a great source of food for late butterflies and bees. It has clusters of blue flowers all over, a real eye catcher for late season flowering.
I've planted some spring bulbs, one or two of them are more difficult to grow. Fritillaria persica and Erythronium pagoda. We'll see if they do well next year.
