I’m about to toss my blogging beret (with ostrich feather) to one side; take off my blogging smoking-jacket (burgundy with faux-ermine trim), lay down my blogging cigarette-holder (fake ivory with diamante inlay) and flick-out my blogging monocle.
Yep. Time for a break from the blogging treadmill. At least for a while. But before I go, I’ll leave you with some recent snapshots from the Priory.
The kidney beds with absurdly huge (and very stoutly staked) echinops – left, have put on a good showing this year. Over on the right, behind the persicaria is …
… Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’. This is a widely grown garden stalwart … and quite right too. A gorgeous, and reliable, thing.
The long borders are looking neat and trim but I shall be giving them a major revamp over the coming months. The cardoons for a start will be coming out – their enormous leaves take up a huge amount of space but then die back leaving unsightly gaps.
Here, in the rock border, is Lobelia cardinalis ‘Queen Victoria.‘ I’ve grown this in my garden before but this is its first year at the Priory.
You will have to do battle with slugs, to get it to flowering size. Persevere – she’s worth it.
For these past four years, I’ve experimented with different climbers on this wooden post: morning glory, passion flower, Spanish flag and this year black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata). I can now announce my climber trial is over and we have a clear winner. Of the four, I am most impressed with (…drumroll … bugle … more drumroll … a touch more bugle …) the Thunbergia. It has won itself a permanent spot. *Applause, whistles and foot stomping*
I started clipping the box the other day – of which I’ve planted rather a lot. This hedge is a free-form shape. A sleigh? A recumbent giant (waist down only)? A pair of racing caterpillars? No idea. It will become clearer in time, perhaps. Or maybe I should run a competition? You suggest it; I’ll clip it.
A view across the new path beds (planted with but not yet filled by Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’) to the new tropical border.
It hasn’t been a brilliant year for establishing a hot border. But it is now, finally, beginning to plump up and have a romp. Agonizingly, my Echium pininana are still only three-foot tall. Will they flower this year? I demand it but your guess is as good as mine.
Dahlia ‘Bishop of llandaff’
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… as did Lilium pardalinum and …
… Canna coccinea; all three are new additions to the gardens.
And if you haven’t grown Eucomis bicolor before (like me) I would heartily recommend it. The flowers are simply (insert superlative of choice here) and very long-lived indeed. I do so like a hardworking plant.
I’ll finish with this shot of an only recently transplanted Verbascum olympicum. As a ghostly specimen this particular plant takes some beating. The silver, unblemished leaves; the symmetry, stature and slightly bashful nod; that promise of gold flower. I shall be transplanting more of these from the Old Forge.
Right then.
That’s enough.
Break-time, already.
See you soon ….. Dave