Sunday, October 06, 2019

Jon's Garden Photos

Our first entry in the Ninth Annual Infomaniac Garden Photo Event comes to us from Jon in London, England.
(Remember to click photos to enlarge!)
Take it away, Jon!

From this...
To this...
It's been an odd year for us gardeners, weather-wise. After the semi-tropical long, hot summer in 2018, we were lulled into a false sense of optimism by the early warm weather we had in February this year - we even had fuchsias and snapdragons in flower in what should have been the winter months, alongside the bulbs (daffs, tulips, anemones, cyclamen, crocus and aconites among them, together with a new acquisition Ipheion), pansies, primulas and wallflowers!
Spring: Clockwise from top left - Cyclamen coum, Eranthis hyemalis (Winter Aconite), Ipheion uniflorum (Spring Starflower), Tulipa 'Gavota'.
It wasn't to last, however. March saw gale-force winds and storms (that blew away our plastic greenhouse), April was wet and miserable right up until Easter when the sun shone, then May and June went (mostly) unseasonably cold again. Needless to say, that buggered up the chances of the carefully-nurtured seedlings we'd planted out in the hope of putting on some growth during the lead-up to what's laughingly known in the UK as "mid-summer"; they got a helluva shock, and several (especially the species ipomoeas and the cobaea) never fully recovered. We're used to the Gulf Stream effect, and instead at times it felt more like the Baltic. Regardless, our tough "old reliables" - the blue rose, scilla, mimulus, petunias, foxgloves, osteospermum, thalictrum, geraniums, aquilegia, hesperis, coreopsis and campanula (plus our new lilies and eucomis) - provided that summer colour we needed.

Early summer: Clockwise from top left - Thalictrum aquilegiifolium, Aquilegia chrysantha 'Yellow Queen', Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove) “Dalmatian Purple”, Rosa "Veilchenblau".


Mid-summer: Clockwise from top left - Campanula medium (Canterbury Bells) 'Deep Blue', Hemerocallis 'Crimson Pirate', Eucomis zambesiaca 'White Dwarf', Dahlia 'Bishop's Children mix' (unnamed) with Begonia × tuberhybrida 'Sangria'.


Late summer: Clockwise from top left - Fuchsia 'Lady Isobel Barnett', Salvia patens 'Patio Deep Blue', Fuchsia 'Blue Waves',
Salvia 'Amistad'.
Thankfully we did finally get a "proper summer" in July and August, and the extensive gardens were (and still are, to a degree) awash with colour - with the phlox, fuchsias, salvias, monarda, agastache, hollyhocks, begonias, thunbergia, verbena and dahlias commanding centre stage. And, of course, there's still a couple of months yet to go before any of them get frost-bitten, with any luck...

Roll on 2020!

21 comments:

  1. Beautiful! BEAUTIFUL!!!

    Who'd've thought someone's back passage could be such a riot of colour and interest. I might have to try those little Ipheion. And expand my Eucomis collection with "White Dwarf". So lovely!

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  2. Oh. I see. We were supposed to take pictures throughout the year, not just a soggy snap on a cool September morning then?
    It's a good job that Jon has done us proud!
    Sx

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  3. Thank you so much for showing my back passage in all its glory! Jx

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    1. When's you back passage never been glorious dear?

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    2. It's certainly been crammed full this year... Jx

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  5. Gorgeous! Love the before & after! Only things that are missing are some gratuitous cocks!

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  6. Did someone mention gratuitous cocks?

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  7. Byootiful it really is. Gold star despite the begonias, the first frost of the year cannot come quick enough for them.

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    1. Funny you should say that. Both of us used to hate them - mainly because of those horrid little bedding ones that are used to create "floral clocks" and the like at the seaside - but the sheer over-the-top extravaganza that the orange "Sangria" variety provides has changed our minds a bit... Jx

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  8. I dont know...I tend to be smitten with Jon and Acadri"s talents. Stunning and such variety. I do think they will win the LX Memorial Did I Win Yet Award?

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    1. Do you perchance mean Madam Acarti?

      Regardless, we do our best with our protuberant bloomers :-)

      Jx

      PS I'd better get in first, before MJ: "a reminder - this is not a contest"...

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  9. Jon's hard work is so very rewarded here. I love that dark red day lily.

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    1. It's real beauty, isn't it? I bought two 3in pots in the Spring, and by mid-summer the clump was two feet tall... Jx

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  10. Spring in my part of the world is a horrid, dry and often HOT time. So I love clicking over to Jon's blog and drooling over his garden.

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    1. Conversely, while it's perpetually grey and cold and grim here, a glance over at your tropical paradise with all its orchids and exotic flowers cheers me up... Jx

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  11. BITCHES: Please be patient and continue to enjoy Jon's garden while I prepare the next entry.

    If only we could install a scratch 'n' sniff feature for these posts!

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