It has been sunny, some days we have had wall to wall sunshine, warm enough to have lunch outside. Some seed sowing is nearly overdue, but I have been out gallivanting, and also giving attention to other plants which needed it.
As some of you are reading this on Saturday I shall be helping out at Yeo Valley Gardens, and I may just have acquired a few small plants, and hopefully all the plants I propagated for the HPS stall will have been sold.
Yes the plants I bought at the Bishop's Palace Fair last Sunday have already been planted out! I do like nasturtiums and already some seeds left behind in the soil over winter are germinating.
1. I bought Tropaeolum tricolor from the Avon Bulbs's stand is in a pot. It is a small climbing plant related to the Nasturtiums, I have my eye on them now for several years, and look forward to nurturing them and growing it during the winter in the conservatory. It is of course as you probably already know Summer dormant. A big plus just like the standard nasturtiums, they are edible!
2. The second plant that came home with me from The Bishop's Palace, and it is already planted out in the shady border, is a Yellow Hellebore with outfacing yellow flowers with golden nectaries.
I had bought three hellebores earlier this year from the Twelve Nunns nursery but having seen the effect of a yellow hellebore at East Lambrook Manor, I was persuaded of its value to brighten up a garden. The yellow Hellebore I saw during the week at Kapunda Plants was similar but had a darker colour at the base of the sepals.
3. I bought a little Pulsatilla vulgaris in deep purple. They are so tactile and again that is planted in full sun in gritty well draining soil. If it is happy I understand it may self-seed. I had forgotten that Pulsatillas were the topic of the zoomed talk by the AGS this Thursday, but don't think I shall be getting many more apart from this one and the two yet to flower, planted last year in the gravel bed.
4. Lastly I bought two little pots of Crocus chrysanthus Prins Claus. They were so crowded in the small pot, but I washed off all the compost and replanted them nicely spaced into the ground. The grower told me they were very late flowering crocus, but although these are indeed flowering late, I think it due to planting the bulbs late in tiny pots, I'm sure they will be flowering much earlier next spring..
5. Primula Port and Lemon is nicely settled in its second year in the spot. Divisions were place just alongside.
6. 'Blue Horizon' a julianae hybrid, a sport of 'Wanda' too is in full flow. This one is a little more high maintenance, compared with Wanda but a lovely blue and well worth growing.
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and as a bonus just in case you were wondering what lies beyond the label of Narcissus Oxford Gold:
So excited to see your purchases from the plant fair, hopefully that will be me in September! All little beauties. :)
ReplyDeleteI really hope to meet you then Gill. Will you be staying over?
DeleteI have not heard of the Tropaeolum tricolorum, it is very pretty though.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosie, they have a yellow throat, but I didn't catch that did I?
DeleteI had seen a Tropaeolum of this variety at a fair last year but had not bought it. Now you're making me want to. I will have to wait to find the seller in May where I go every year
ReplyDeleteGood luck, and at today's plant fair there was a much more orange one on a stand. It too was looking good, but not quite as dramatic.
DeleteThat's a particularly clear yellow hellebore, very nice. I bought Tropaeolum tricolor a few years back and it's getting better every year. I rummaged in the pot in the autumn and took out one tuber which I planted in the garden. Nothing has come up yet, which is disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI always value your opinion Jim, so many thanks for the comment on the hellebore. Sorry to hear out your lost tuber, at least you kept some in the pot, and that may well be what I do...keep them safe.
DeleteYou are right about Prins Claus. Mine flowered along with the other garden crocus and have now gone over. They are very nice though.
ReplyDeleteA lovely selection. That yellow hellebore is a beauty.
ReplyDeleteI like the yellow Hellebore - it seems to be a much less common colour. Your Pulsatilla looks excellent - I must remember to send you some seeds from my white one this year!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the offer of white Pulsatilla seeds. I listened to the AGS talk and they said to sow as soon as they are ripe. If you do not have the purple one, I'll gladly send you seeds of that one too.
DeleteLovely colours. I like the Oxford gold flower.
ReplyDeleteIts a daffodil, that 'style' is called Petticoat Hoop, and similar ones grow in the wild and The Iberian Peninsula has many varied types of Narcissus.
DeleteI have a Tropaeolum but it hasn't flowered this year and is looking a little sad - it could probably do with repotting, or at least feeding, as I suspect it has been a little neglected! Blue Horizon is a very pretty primula, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteMr Avon Bulbs advised me to keep it cool, they keep them out of doors all winter, but they are a little further south than I am. Yes Blue Horizon is pretty, if a little tricky. One just has to been an eye on it I even dead head this one, as the rotting flowers can bring on mildew.
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