Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - October 2012

It's time to check out what is flowering this month.

Begonia Superstars Red is in full bloom now, and still protecting my strawberries. You can see the unripened fruits in the photo. No prizes for guessing where the ripe fruit is. They were delicious.

Lily Sun Flight, purchased this spring and planted quite late. Which explains why it is flowering now.

Osteospermum, planted in the top of a wall basket. Big mistake. They point to the sky, so I can't see the full display. Memo to self, must plant them lower next year.

Geranium Blanche Roche, a trailing pelargonium, purchased this year, and still blooming despite recent frosts.

Hydrangea, one of the oldest plants in the garden. The bloom in the centre of the photo is the normal colour. The surrounding blooms are older and fading.

Lily Scheherazade, the name just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it ?  Another late planted lily.

Aster frikartii Monch, one of the few asters that doesn't succumb to mildew.

Begonia Superstars Apricot, I love these varieties of begonia. Pity the weather hasn't been so good to them this year.

Sedum, planted a few years ago, and putting on it's best display to date.

Cyclamen hederifolium, found these hiding at the bottom of the garden. Very hardy and very pretty.

Viola Penny, bought these for next year's spring display, but they are flowering now.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this meme. If you want to see what is in bloom around the world now, pop over to Carol's blog.

And Then Came Flowers

Remember the post about the ivy?
Well now it's blooming.

I've never really taken much notice of this ivy, mainly because it's right at the bottom of the garden, and was originally planted as ground cover on a dry bank in deep shade. In the last few years, it has climbed up a wire fence, and started to flower just a few years ago. But as it blooms in late autumn, and it is at the bottom of the garden, I must admit to having ignored it. Excuses !  
However, as I'm joining in the BTO's berry survey this winter, I shall be observing the ivy more closely. Hopefully, it will produce berries this year.

I've been wondering why the bird seed seems to be disappearing quickly at the moment. Think I've found the answer:

We have a charm of goldfinches and a flock of greenfinches visiting about three times a day. And they're very hungry. I imagine that the cost of bird seed will increase soon because of the summer weather producing a poor harvest. And seed in the wild will be in short supply too.
On the subject of food, I went to see if any strawberries had ripened and found this:

If you look closely, you can see a spider on top of the strawberry. I hope it moves on when the strawberry ripens. The strawberries are growing in wall planters. Unfortunately, at this time of year, we get a lot of spiders on the planters. Probably because the wall is warmer than the rest of the garden. In fact, anywhere is warmer than the garden today. It's felt really cold, despite the sun shining. Well, it is autumn after all.

How To Watch A Plant

Fancy a new hobby for the winter ?
I'll explain later.

This is Aster novi belgii Marie Ballard, purchased two years ago from Hayloft Plants. It is a hardy perennial, and was bred sixty years ago by Ernest Ballard, a plant breeder from Colwall, Herefordshire. Although it was not released  for sale until 1955. My plant flowered last year, but didn't put on much of a show. So this year is its first proper display. I'm really impressed with it.

Following my disasters with the 'squirrel-proof' bird feeders, I decided to treat myself, or should I say the birds, to a new feeder. It's not squirrel proof, but then neither were the others. I just liked the look of it.

And so too did this greenfinch. He can't believe his luck.

And in no time at all, he was tucking in.

He stayed for a few minutes before flying off. The feeder is hanging on a wall, and is a little exposed. Most of my feeders are near shrubs, so the birds can quickly dive for cover if need be. Anyway, a few birds have used it, but I may move it to a more sheltered position.

Now, about that new hobby. Do you fancy watching shrubs ?  I know, it sounds a bit like watching paint dry, but you don't have to actually sit and watch them. I mean, they don't do much, do they ?

The BTO have organised a Birds and Garden Berries survey to find out which birds eat garden berries throughout the winter. All it involves, is selecting different shrubs carrying berries, and checking them once a week to see how many berries remain. You don't have to count exactly how many berries there are, just a rough idea. Taking photos of the plants every week would be an easy solution. You also need to observe which birds are removing the berries.

The purpose of the survey is to find out which plants are the most popular with the birds, and what type of birds are attracted to the berries. What a pity those finches were eating the cotoneaster berries last week, the survey didn't start until yesterday.

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.