Your gardens have it all: from parrots to potatoes.
NOTE: It is ESSENTIAL that you click on the photos to enlarge them for maximum beauty.
JON in London, England:
This is the first real year for our new garden, having had to move unexpectedly last summer (every plant we had having to be transferred in pots).
Despite the really cold and crappy weather in May, June and into July, and a constant battle with foxes (at least till we put the barbed wire up) we are delighted with the results...
Greedy bitches that we are, despite only renting this place we decided that the one bed I dug last autumn was not enough, so I dug out another patch of scrub-grass, and we set about filling it.
We also reclaimed the moss-patch behind the hideous apple tree parterre for nasturtiums and bluebells, edged the whole back wall with a row of troughs - and I built a trellis-box planter (out of part of a wardrobe someone had put out with the bins)!
The early part of the year progressed from daffodils, crocus, frillilaria, violas, anemones, bluebells, tulips and wallflowers through to aquilegia, calendula, osteospermum, alliums, foxgloves, nicotiana "Roulette mixed", lupins, asarina, liles ("Honeymoon" and "Stargazer"; we lost the Lilium regale to fungus) and stocks.
The "stars" were (clockwise from left) Allium cristophii, Nicotiana mutabilis (which flowered consistently from June to September), Alcea rosea (Hollyhock) "Nigra" (which reached 11ft 9" - almost a record-breaker!) and an appropriately-named Martagon lily, "Nicotine"
Once this country began to have some warmth (not till late July/early August; it truly was a bad mid-summer), so the rest of the plants began to take off - including canary creeper, mirabilis, dahlias, Nicotiana sylvestris, phlox, heliotrope, agastache, coreopsis, penstemons, salvias, nasturtiums, gladioli, montbretia, fuchsias and verbena.
The "stars" now include (clockwise from left) Salvia patens "Deep Blue", Cosmos "Sensation mixed", Ipomoea (Morning Glory) “Heavenly Blue” and the fantabulosa Coboea scandens (which is up to our gutters, from seed sown this year - as the majority of our plants are):
And it doesn't end yet - the frosts have not arrived so it's still an absolute joy out there, and we're already planning for next year!
LX in Texas, U.S.A.:
The produce section at the supermarket is the closest I get to gardening these days.
Did I win yet?...
PRINCESS in Australia:
A long cold and dry Winter hasn't helped this year but I did have a visit over several days during Winter from a pair of lovely parrots in the palm tree which added a splash of colour to the gloom...
The Flag Iris have done fairly well despite the lack of water, the pale mauve and mauve with purple ruffle have been exquisite and flowered just this week! (they must have known The Mistress would be issuing an edict.) But I'm still waiting for the drift of flag Irises planted last year to start showing off, the early arrivers which should be in the next week or so, along with the roses that are also just coming into bud. I'll pop them up on my blog once they flower properly.
MR. DeVICE at Castle DeVice in Norfolk, England:
I haven't really taken any photos of the whole garden (and I'm not doing so now as it's in a right state!), only close-ups of various blooms and foliage.
So, I've sifted through them all, chosen my favourites, and smushed them together into a gigantic picture! I have reduced the size somewhat from its original 5.82MB, though. These have been taken from June through to August...
I've also included a smushed-photos picture of my back passage. As you can see, my seat can take two quite comfortably, and the growth around it is quite luxuriant, if a little spikey in places...
NORMA in Minnesota, U.S.A.:
You won’t believe the mileage I get with my garden...
An errant corgi included...
Mr. Peenee in San Francisco, California, U.S.A.:
Even though San Francisco is suffering through the most severe drought in recorded history, my yard seems not to notice. In fact the yellow roses had one of their absolute best years. I suppose some things enjoy deprivation, I wouldn't know.
The tall pink hollyhock looking thing is a native mallow. It was "only" six feet tall because I pruned it back. Probably be Godzilla if I didn't.
MAGO in Germany:
Plant A & plant B sadly became straw, or however it is called. They got really dry and are slowly falling apart on the window sill of my sleeping room. I have no idea why I still haven't tossed them out - maybe I become shmaltzy sentimental.
So it is a lawn ornament I send to you...
THE END
