In a Vase on Monday - October

 Last year as part of the HPS Conservation Scheme I took two plants to grow, observe, nurture, etc.  One was a diminutive iris which was overwhelmed by slugs etc., and a second was  Chrysanthemum Picasso.  It has been in flower for a couple of weeks, and now all the blooms are open.

It was time to cut a few stems from just one of the three plants,  From this I selected and cut down a stem, and split that into smaller pieces,  which here are joined by some begonia leaves and a few stems of Pittosporum Tom Thumb. 

Here are the stems I cut yesterday and put into a large pottery tankard, which my sister gave me as a gift on her return from her placement year in France.  Thes tankard full is  now in the dinning room, and will have its water changed every couple of days, and I'll be able to check how the blooms age.  There are so many Chrysanthemum cultivars around, and I am continuing to enjoy this one's splash of colour in the garden. To think just one cutting early in the year can give about three times this amount of flowers, a real gift for flower arrangers.

I am joining Cathy for this weekly in a Vase on Monday showing flowers and material from our gardens.

Six on Saturday - 22 October 2022

It has been a very varied week weather wise, starting dry, sunny and very warm, but with a change to rain during the last two days.  All very good for the garden.  

We have a change this week in that Jim has taken over the 'guardianship' of Six on Saturday and I can't better this in the opening of his Six on Saturday this week:

'The trick is selective vision, walk around and see the flowers that are hanging on, the autumn tints, the evergreens coming to the fore; while being blind to the decay and chaos. I’m very good at it, I’ve had a lifetime’s practice.' Jim Stephens.

Here are my Six on Saturday:-

1. The Cyclamens that used to be in pots, which they 'outgrew' have settled in nicely in the garden. 

The various leaf shapes in silver will light up the garden during the gloomier days.

2. Just beyond the gravel garden the Chrysanthemum Picasso is looking stunning.  I love the neat shape and will be cutting it for a vase this coming Monday to guage its quality in a vase over a number of days.

3. Sorting out some of the smaller bulbs ready to plant out, and writing labels is the start of bulb planting this autumn. Crocus Chrysanthus Advance, Crocus Chrysanthus Goldilocks, and Crocus Versicolor Picturatus were planted this week, half in nice pots to have on the show shelf, and also in old plastic pots ready to plant out in the garden in the spring when I can tell where there are gaps and where the colour will work best. 

4.  Anemone Blanda 'Blue Shades, and White Splendour needed soaking. All these small bulbs were purchased from Pottertons when they visited the Bishop's Palace.

The larger corms  were A. blanda 'White Splendour'.  With space a premium, dormant but potted up bulbs are being stacked.

Even the little Chionodoxa Sardensis are all in pots now.

5. I thought that was all the bulbs potted, except for the tulips which will wait till cooler weather.  However I went and won some 'Narcissus Pebble Mill'.  Some special bulbs were donated to our club from the Narcissus Society, for whose show our club helps each April.

These were bred by Clive Postles and described as

"A rare large white trumpet - 115mm - from Clive Postles with a double triangle perianth which is balanced with a flared and cylindrical corona."

From what I can gather it is an early miniature daffodil.  I am hoping to swap a few with members who picked up other cultivars which were separated as different prizes in the raffle.

6. My friend  Kay originally gave me Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White, as well as the Primula Wanda, which grow very well here and are a delight early in the year. Having moved and having laid out her new garden, Kay has reserved an area for plants given by friends, and asked for a particular plant that I featured recently in a vase.  It was a pale delicate white scabious, and being the very stylish designer that she is, is using a palette of white, yellow or blue of course with lots of greens. I am afraid it will have to wait till seed time next year, to sow and develop new plants.

In the meantime the Pulmonaria was duly dug up, sections separated, a piece put back, and together with pieces of other select plants they got posted off Tuesday.  

Further to that the clumps of Tiarella Spring symphony, and Astilbe Chinensis var, pumila in the same bed were also tackled, with bare root divisions being passed on to local gardening friends.  I didn't want the faff of potting them up in the 'rubbish' stuff that now passes as peat free compost, and I delighted to hear they are already planted in gardens. 

That's my lot for this week.  Its looks as if it is going to be fine here today: hurrah!

In a Vase on Monday - Lost and found

The vase again is very similar to the one I posted last week, and yet there are many differences.  Last week's vase was a similar shape but this one is green, and the flowers are brighter and more cheerful.  There were some of the flowers I clipped off one of my cherished plants a  Potentilla nepalensis 'Miss Willmott'. This is a seedling from the plant originally given to me by Alison, who even had one back this year as she had lost hers. I love the little seed heads which look like a strawberry which has not filled out with its pink flesh and with just the seeds left behind. 

Posed by the old apothecary bottle aka 'the vase' are three little stem ends with acorns still attached.  The squirrels are  pruning the end of the oak branches, and the garden is littered with these little clumps, as well as acorns loosed from their cups in the trees. I was picking them up, but have decided to leave the acorns on the surface as those naughty squirrels just keep digging holes to bury the acorns, with a return no doubt in a few weeks to unbury them.  Hopefully they will just find the loose acorns on the surface and forget that they had buried them.

Now to the Lost and Found title thread.  I thought my lovely blue apothecary bottle was lost, but following several emails I am relieved to report that it is found.  I had taken it to display a stem of the Chrysanthemum Picasso at the HPS show, and had left it behind.  We shall be reunited at the next HPS meeting when Fergus Garrett from Great Dixter will be coming to talk to us. You cannot believe has delighted I am.

Yesterday I went to a talk which was part of the Wells Festival of Literature where we met author Claire Fuller who gave us an insight into her inspiration and how she goes about writing her books.  Our book club have just read Unsettled Group by Claire Fuller.  The book is a good read, and I had no problem reading almost half the book in three days in time for our visit this excellent Festival. I'll be reading some of her other novels for sure. 

There is loss, lies, deceit and deception.....

Cathy's lead post has sea spray and poetry and well worth a visit.

Six on Saturday - 15 October 2022

It has been perfect gardening weather, and all is well. Except that I am plagued for several of those rats with big furry tails burying acorns amongst my plants: daily picking up of acorns and unburrying of plants is required.

1. It is mid October so Allium thunbergii Ozawa is all the more special with its fresh deep mauve blooms.  It has fine leaves so is inconspicuous for all the time it is up, and then the blooms open late Autumn to bring a little spot of colour to the gravel garden.

2. With its deep green leaves and short stemmed blue flowers, Globularia cordifolia or heart leaved globe daisy is a plant that graces the edge of the gravel garden.  It seems to be one of those 'silly flowers' that has been fooled by the strange weather we are having, and is coming into flower in the autumn for a change to its normal spring/early summer slot.

3. Last  week a few book club friends were admiring the Salvia African Sky, and I gave an impromptu cuttings demonstration to Maggie.  I've since set a few cuttings and hopefully we shall have rooted cuttings to overwinter and pot up next spring and into the garden for flowering next year.   Two plastic fruit punnets are an easy temporary propagator, though it would be better if the cuttings didn't touch the top, I shall look for a deeper punnet. I suggested a large plastic bottle sectioned into two, our tonic comes in glass bottles, so this had to do.

4. The Chrysanthemum Picasso is starting to open: 

5. This is picture of items bought at Wells Food festival last Sunday, and a chiili plant and Murraya koenigii aka Curry Leaf plant was snapped up but held at the stall for us.  A couple of hours later we arrived back to  claim my plants, and all the rest had been sold.

 Curry Leaf Plant : those who have never used it, will not appreciate just what a few leaflets can do to elevate a curry or spicy lentil or bean stew, or a spicy tomato sauce.  In Mauritian gardens, where cooking is taken seriously,   a curry leaf plant is de rigeur in the garden. However each morning paniers of fresh dew covered leaves find their ways to the morning markets.  Winter care in the UK requires warmth and care with watering.  I felt it was overpotted and could succumb over winter, so I repotted it in a very tall large longtom, which just happened to be empty.

 6. Salvia Amistad is recovering from heat exhaustion and drought, and I am pleased to report that two good rooted cuttings have been potted out singularly ready to bulk up for planting out next spring.

I'm off the county HPS meeting and will sure to take a stem of Chrysanthemum Picasso for everyone to admire and add to their want lists.  We are having Andrew Ward from Norwell Nurseries come to give us a talk, and I am hoping I can get him interested in propagating and selling this.

Linking in as usual with many others under 'The Propagator's' Protection.  I read this week that Jon is passing the baton so to speak to Jim.  In the weekly team SOS, Jim is a very worthy lead as he has been in this SOS from the start five years ago, on his Blog: Garden Ruminations.

Looking ahead to the snowdrop season which if you grow the early ones, it already has, the HPS Galanthus talks start the year with a Zoom talk.  I am sure the Prop won't mind me adding this to the notice board of which SOS really is. I have heard Paddy talk about snowdrops before, and £7.50 is well worth paying, or if you are a member of HPS it is £3.00, the annual membership of the Galanthus Group is only a little more, and the talk is free to members.

From Lyn Miles:

Re;  Paddy Tobin’s zoom on Wednesday October 26th, 7.30pm

Many of you will know how good Paddy’s last zoom was!!

This is just to say in order to bring in some extra funds into the bank account we are opening some spaces to this first zoom of the season to anyone for a cost of £7.50.

All  members receiving this email will get the free advance link sent to them about one week before the day… and for HPS members not in our group the charge is as before, £3 per zoom, they just need to email me for payment details.

So if you have any ‘galanthophile’ friends not in the HPS you can give them my email and they can request details from me as to how to pay the £7.50.

It is also a perfect time to join the HPS and Galanthus Group as, if you joined now you would be paid up until the end of Dec ’23… and with 4 free zooms and 3 newsletters between now and then what better time to join! (Not to mention everything going on mid-Feb!)

lynmiles@icloud.com 

In a Vase on Monday - Simplicity

Colour and complexity has its place, but sometimes I like a calm and simple outlook. The weather has been ideal of gardening and I've been moving plants or cutting back herbaceous plants.  This scabious has been wonderful this year and offering up its blooms to any passing insect to feed from its small individual flowers.

I salvaged a few stems of Scabiosa columbaria subsp. ochroleuca and here they are on the edge of the mantleshelf in the low autumn light.

I recently read two books which may have influenced today's offering.  Mr Mac and Me is a fictional book, which amongst others featured Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which led me to revisiting some of his interiors and art on line. I wrote a post about the book recently.  The second book which our WI book group were reading was The Glass Room by Simon Mawer which featured The Landauer House.

We are going off to Stourhead sometime this week to marvel at their landscape in its autumn colours, which are now coming to their peak, following a few much cooler nights.  For colour I am sure Cathy and others will have plenty this week, as they also show their Vases on Monday.