It Came From Outer Space

Well not really, but it looks like it could have:

Any idea what this unusual looking plant is ?   I'll let you know later.
Hint No.1:  It's a hardy plant.

This is Lily Pink Attraction, purchased in May this year, which explains why it has only just started flowering. Hopefully it will bloom at the correct time next year.

Any idea on the mystery plant yet ?
Hint No.2: The leaves in the photo are not what you normally expect on this plant.

This is Lily Flash Point, another one purchased in May this year. Have you noticed the nibbled leaves ?  A sign of vine weevil damage, I think. I've found a number of them recently, time to order some nematodes to deal with them. Vine weevils wreak havoc in pots if left untreated.

Discovered these greenfinches feasting on Cotoneaster berries in the garden recently. I've often seen blackbirds eating them, but never seen finches on them before. And where were the blackbirds ?  Oh they were too busy munching the last of my blueberries.

And the mystery plant ?
Hint No.3:  This is what the leaves usually look like:

Yes, it's Hedera helix, commonly known as Ivy. When the plant is about to flower, the mature leaves around the blooms take on a different shape.

Many years ago, my parents had a static caravan in Nottinghamshire. In the hedgerow behind the caravan, Ivy was growing rampantly, so I took a cutting. Ivy is very easy to root as it produces aerial roots. I planted the rooted cutting at the bottom of the garden, on a steep dry bank in dense shade, and it flourished. It has now completely covered the bank. I have often thought about removing it, but it is a magnet for wildlife, so it stays. At the end of the bank, it has clambered up some wire fencing, and where it reaches for the sky, it blooms.

And finally, a quick word about the weather. Summer is coming back. Good news, you may think. Er no, I mean 2012 summer weather. Yes, strong winds and heavy rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. It'll be like old times.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - September 2012

It's that time of the month again.

Geranium Sybil. I grew this to cope with the drought. Well there was a drought when I bought it.

Lampranthus, purchased last year and overwintered indoors to flower this summer, I thought. Would you believe, it has only just started flowering.

Leycesteria formosa, now putting on its best ever display. At least something enjoyed all the rain.

Lily Henryii, purchased in April this year, which explains the late flowering.

Buddleia, commonly known as the butterfly bush, complete with butterfly. What timing !

Lily Lady Alice, also purchased this April. Very unusual colour. Hope it grows again next year.

Osteospermum, another sun lover that has only recently started flowering.

Rose William Shakespeare, a rose that doesn't like rainy weather. Amazingly, this year its flowering periods have corresponded with the rare, and I mean rare occasions when the sun actually came out.

Hydrangea, a shrub that's probably as old as me. Yes, it's that old. Oh look, that butterfly is here again. What a poser.

Perovskia Little Spire, another one that's a little late in flowering this year.

Saponaria officinalis Rosea Plena, now there's a name that just rolls off the tongue. It's common name is soapwort.

Sedum, another plant loved by butterflies. You'll just have to take my word for it. The butterfly wouldn't pose this time.

Verbena Twinkle, the only surviving Verbena from last year. I had hoped to get new plants this year, but they weren't available.

Colchicum, the first one to flower this year, and a sign that autumn has arrived.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this meme. If you want to see what's in bloom all around the world right now, why not pop over to Carol's blog.

Seeing Red

But what can you see ?

The main flower in the photo is Begonia Superstars Red. It has only just started flowering because it has only recently been planted in the basket. You're probably wondering why I'm showing it, if it is not yet at its best. Ah well, it is not the begonia that I am focusing on today. Look closely at the photo. What else can you see ?  I'll give you a clue; look at the leaves at the top of the photo. Yes, it's a strawberry plant, with three ripe strawberries and many more to follow.

This is a new take on companion planting, which usually benefits one or both of the plants involved. This combination benefits me, a worthy cause, you must admit. My intention was to grow the strawberry plant amongst the flowers, to keep the birds off without having to cover with netting. It has worked even better than I hoped, as the fruits are the same colour as the begonia, so the birds don't see them.

The strawberry variety is Toscana, purchased from D.T.Brown's in April. The plants are seed raised which means they are virus free. And they have lovely rose red flowers, unlike the white flowers that you normally get with strawberries.

Another advantage is that they are everbearing. In other words, they flower and fruit all summer, not just in June. Oh, I forgot to mention, they taste good too. The ones in the photo were eaten just after I'd pressed the camera shutter. Apparently, as the season progresses, they produce runners that also flower and fruit. My plants haven't reached that stage yet.

And finally, the weather. I've got to mention the weather, we're British you know. Following the wettest summer for 100 years and the dullest summer for 25 years, we've now got glorious sunshine. In fact, September has been beautiful so far. Oh I know they say it's going downhill next week, but we're used to that, aren't we ?  Just spare a thought for all those poor slugs and snails, frying in the heat.

A Fine Romance

And to set the mood, here's a rose:

This is Rose Lady of Shalott, an English Rose from David Austin Roses, just starting its second flush of flowers. I planted this one last autumn, and I'm really pleased with its performance in its first year. I followed the planting instructions to the letter, and it seems to have worked. Although, the wettest summer in a 100 years may have had something to do with it as well.

Anyway, before I get on to the romance bit, look who came visiting yesterday:

Four, yes four, long-tailed tits. They don't usually feed on the sunflower hearts, but there aren't any fat balls hung up just at present. Fed up of feeding that pesky squirrel. And so, on to the romance story. Are you ready ?  Here we go.

Two Wood Pigeons came and sat on the roof of the garden shed.

And then they began canoodling one another. Notice how the one on the right has closed its eyes.

A bit of 'beak to beak' kissing going on there, do you think ?

And the one on the left returns the affection. They've both got their eyes closed now. Ah.

And if you're wondering how this story ended, well they just flew away, together. What an anti-climax.
Of course, they could just have been removing lice from one another. Closing their eyes so that they didn't get them poked out, I suppose.

You know what, I don't think I'm very good at this romance writing lark. Ah well, it's not as if there's any money to be made from it, is there ?

Oh Deer

It's a stag's horn.

This is Rhus typhina, commonly known as the Stag's Horn Sumach. Our neighbour gave us a young plant many, many years ago, and told us it was called a Tree of Heaven. And that is the name we knew it by, until a few years ago when I did a bit of digging. Er, not that sort of digging, I meant research. Anyway, I discovered that the Tree of Heaven is actually a very similar shrub called Ailanthus. And the shrub we had was a Rhus.

The original plant was grown in the back garden, but eventually had to be removed to make way for a patio. Fortunately, it had produced a couple of suckers which we planted in the front garden. They both grew quite well, but one of them started leaning quite badly, caused by the prevailing wind, and had to be removed. And this one remains.

As you can see, at this time of year it produces red seed cones. In a few weeks time, the leaves will turn bright scarlet before leaf fall. If you decide to grow this plant, you need to be aware of a couple of pitfalls. Firstly, when pruned it produces a sap that can cause skin irritation. Secondly, if the ground is disturbed around its roots, it will grow lots of suckers. I always wear gloves when pruning it, and the suckers are easily pulled up when quite young.

There were quite a few butterflies in the garden yesterday, so I decided to take some photos:

Missed!  Got a nice photo of a bee on the Buddleia though. Thought I'd take a photo of something a little more slow moving:

Have you noticed how the snails like to climb at this time of year ?  This one went for a swim just after this photo was taken. Well it was more of a plunge really. Now back to the butterflies:

Gotcha!  Not the best of photos. Better luck next time. I've just read an article stating that butterflies prefer pink or white Buddleias, rather than the purple varieties. Well it's a bit late now; my buddleias are all purple.

And finally, a bit of weather news. As August is coming to an end, it's time to look out for the September anti-cyclone. This is a large area of high pressure that appears every year during the first two weeks of September. If it comes across the UK, we get two weeks of fine weather, but if it comes above or below the UK, we get two weeks of gale force winds. With the weather we've been having this year, anything could happen.

Takeaway Food

A new slant on ready meals.
I'll explain later.

This lily has just come into full bloom. Looked in the pot for the label, and guess what?  It was missing. The blackbirds are the main culprits. I don't know what they've got against labels in plant pots, but they seem to prefer to see them scattered on the ground. So I'm afraid I can't give you any information on this lily, other than to mention that it is in its second year.

A lot of youngsters are appearing in the garden lately. I think I've already mentioned the goldfinch family, well one of them posed for this photo a few days ago, just as the lily was coming into bloom. And there has been a family of house sparrows, only just out of the nest, which brings me to the title of this post. The sparrows arrived in the garden at the same time as flying ants were leaving their nest. Now in case you didn't know, there is one thing that flying ants are not very good at; flying. Really.

Once a year, flying ants leave the nest and fly up into the air in search of a mate. They only get one attempt at it, as they are not strong enough to keep flying around like other insects. After mating, or at the end of the day, whichever comes first, the male ants die, and the young queens go in search of a new home.

So the young sparrows, also not very good at flying, but still learning, really enjoyed themselves, catching the ants mid air. They were soon joined by a family of blue tits who also enjoyed the feast. In previous years, I've seen blackbirds taking the ants on the ground, but I've never seen them caught in the air before.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - August 2012

Managed to take these photos before the latest deluge:

Acanthus mollis, putting on a good display now that it's got more space.

Crocosmia, commonly known as Montbretia. This plant was given to me many years ago by a friend. This year it is giving its best display ever, obviously likes the rain. Glad something does.

Hosta, flowering in the front garden. I've not seen much of this plant recently, but this year's rain has given it a new lease of life. And the snails have had a banquet on the leaves.

Clematis Rebecca, atop an apple tree, flowering for the second time this year.

Buddleia Nanho Blue, a dwarf variety, it said on the label. It's about 8ft. tall at the moment.

Rose Handel, a climbing rose, having a second flush of flowers.

Bacopa, a tender plant that survived the winter outdoors in a hanging basket.

Lily, an oriental variety, flowering near the front gate. It was a spare bulb that I planted this spring. Would have given it a bit more TLC if I had known it had a flower like this.

Geranium Sybil, an ivy-leaf variety. I've grown a lot of these this year because they cope well with drought conditions. Alright, I know, but we were experiencing a drought way back in early spring when I bought them.

Lily Star Class, purchased two years ago, and giving quite a nice display again.

Achillea Lilac Beauty, this plant just gets better every year.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this meme. If you want to see what's in bloom all over the world right now, why not pop over to Carol's blog.

Can't See The Woods

For the Tree Lilies.
Yes, there's more of them:

These Tree Lilies are the ones growing in pots. Must be about 7 or 8 foot high. Well, they're a lot bigger than me, but then, most things are. The Leycesteria growing in front of them is about 6 foot high. And that's bigger than me too. I'm starting to get a complex here.

Moving swiftly on, the squirrel has been up to his antics again. Now that he's eaten all the cheap food, he's found the good stuff.

Lid off in no time.

And he starts tucking in.

But then he gets a bit erm.....stuck.

Manages to free himself, but loses his balance.

And decides to call it a day.

And finally, saw an unusual sight in the garden today; a family of goldfinches came to visit. That's not the unusual bit. Hang on. Anyway, the parents came to the feeder, but the youngsters were a bit reluctant to come down. Suddenly, they all flew up into the air, and flew off. That's when a sparrowhawk arrived, but he wasn't interested in the goldfinches. Oh no.

Here's the unusual bit; the sparrowhawk was being chased by about half a dozen crows. They put on some amazing aerial displays as they were dive bombing the sparrowhawk. The hawk kept resting in the trees, but everytime he tried to fly away, the crows attacked it again. Eventually, they all flew out of sight, so I don't know what the outcome was. Very strange to see a predator under attack.

I Can't Get No

Satisfaction.
At least, not in its first year.

This is Lily Satisfaction, one of the first tree lilies that I grew. I purchased several bulbs from Thompson & Morgan in 2009. I planted most of them in the ground, but kept one to grow in a pot. The ones in the ground were very disappointing, but the one in the pot didn't even grow at all. At the end of the season, I knocked it out of its pot, and much to my surprise, the pot contained a very plump, healthy bulb. So I repotted it, and it has flowered every year since. Oh, and the ones in the ground ?  Long since disappeared.

This little chap has been living in my water feature all summer. Normally, the frogs don't go in there much in summertime, because it is situated in full sun. But this year, no such thing as full sun.

And finally, a few words about illegal immigrants. You know the ones. They come over here, and just take over from the local population. We all know about the grey squirrels, and more recently, the harlequin ladybirds. But have you heard about the Spanish slug ?  I kid you not.

Apparently, it has arrived here, producing hundreds more eggs than our native species. It could even pose a threat to our good old British slug. Speaking of which, have you seen the size of them lately ?  Team GB is really producing some winners this year. They'll certainly give the Spanish ones a run for their money. Well they would, if they could run.