Two's company...

It's something I often talk about on this blog...planting combinations. Lots of plants are beautiful on their own, but like most things in life they're even better in a team. Many of the 'teams' in my garden are accidental, some are planned. And I'm pleased to say a lot of them are looking bloody lovely at the moment! This is a delightful pairing I spotted this morning. A self-seeded Californian poppy nestling against a self-seeded Lamium. Divine!

What I now think are Toadflax are everywhere in the garden, much to my glee! Here they are looking scrummy next to a self-sseded corn poppy and also one of our Cirsiums...

Some of the combinations, while made up of perennials, are still unexpected. These Garnet Penstemons (grown from cuttings) are suddenly looking lovely next to Geranium Black Beauty, which is much taller this year than ever before and poking it's flowers up above Euphorbia polychroma (another lovely combination!)

Penstemon garnet is also matching up nicely with Geum Totally Tangerine, again two perennials, but I didn't really plan their surprisingly pleasing juxtaposition.

Elsewhere, in the heart bed, my Oenothera 'Apricot Delight' (which just goes with everything!) is suddenly off-setting Sisyrinchium 'Quaint and Queer' fantastically well. The latter has suddenly opened, with its funny little chocolately-violet, stripey star flowers on the end of its spike grass-like arms. It was weeding the other day that I suddenly remembered I'd bought this unusual little plant from Beth Chatto last year and started to get very excited about its reappearance in the garden! After weeks of waiting, it's absolutely living up to my memory of it from last year as a little dazzler!

And while lots of the most eye-catching combinations in the garden are perennials, the annuals are putting on a good show as well. My favourites are the Chocolate Cosmos (Ok, half-hardy perennial!) and Orlaya Grandiflora which I've got next to each other in pots...looking very pretty...

I'm also finding that various grasses are complementing the plants next to them rather well!  The blood grass which contrasted nicely with some Alchemilla mollis in an earlier blog post, is also looking lovely next to a new Sedum my Nanny got me. It didn't have a label in, but I think it's the same as another one in my garden (now I've just got to find its label - my plant database is horribly behind at the moment!)

And one of my absolute favourites is Scabiosa columbaria ochroleuca combined with Eragrostis Curvula 'Totnes Burgundy'. They're both from Beth Chatto's nursery and it was while they were sitting in the trolley as I waited to pay that I realised how well matched they were. Now they're both thriving in the heart-bed in the front garden (to be honest they're both a bit too big and unruly to be in there, but they're too happy, hale and hearty...not to  mention gorgeous...to move!) The whispy seed-heads of the grass blow amidst the airy yellow blooms of the scabious. It's a match made in heaven.

 

Stipa Tenuissima is lovely to view things through. I've got some by the back door and the little, exuberant flowers of the Californian poppies twinkle through the mass of grass blades and seeds...

It also provides a good hiding place for little treasures like this self-seeded Viola 'Sawyer's Black'. These Violas keep turning up everywhere and I accidently dug this one up when I was lifting some tulips. So we've rehomed it by the back door, shyly retiring beneath the Tenuissima and peeping out.

Oh what a beautiful morning...

They say the best time of the day is the morning and it is often absolutely glorious, be it misty or drenched in that bright, zingy sunlight. If it's not raining, I've started grabbing my camera while my porridge is whirring round in the microwave (I know...it's terrible!) and taking a few shots. Here a few of my favourites, from cornflowers clad in spiderwebs, to sphaerocephalons in bud, to backlit Shirley poppies and luminous flax (you'll notice a certain theme of pink and blue!)

New members of the plant family...

I long ago learned that I have no will-power when it comes to buying plants. I simply can't resist them. But I figure it's better than being addicted to an illegal substance so to be honest I don't do that much about it. I mostly just give in!

I had a particular spree the other day because we were genuinely in desperate need of some red/purple in the garden; some contrasting foliage. (What we really wanted was Red Orach, but we'll come onto that in a moment or two).

Anyway, off my Mum and I trundled to a couple of our favourite nurseries to find said red and purple, but I just knew I'd get side-tracked along the way. At the beginning I was being very good, restricting myself to interesting foliage plants, but I was quickly seduced by a spectacular speckled bloom! 'I've got to have it!' I thought. And I'm so pleased I gave in. I bought one in bud so I could keep checking it every day and have a longer to enoy the flowers. When I got home from work on Friday I discovered it had opened...joy of joys! Isn't it gorgeous?! My first Toad Lily...it's full name is Tricytris latifolia 'yellow sunrise' and I got it from Plantsman's Preference.

I was similarly seduced by the unknown Bupleurum in the picture below. I spotted it in one of Ben's beds at Blacksmith's Cottage Nursery and he found it in the nursery, but it didn't have a label. I'm sure it's obvious, but the only other Bupleurum I  have is a little baby one  I grew from seed, so I'm no expert! Anyway, it's an absolute stunner...it almost glistens in the sunlight. And it's lookng particularly fetching here next to Heuchera Americana 'Harry Hay', another new addition, but one which I actually bought for its purple foliage. By luck it also has these gorgeous spikes of creamy flowers, contrasting with those rich, purple stems!

It wasn't all seduction you'll be pleased to know! I did get lots of purple...a lovely, rich Heuchera and Lysmachia, which is sitting nicely amidst the various Lamiums and Meehania in 'the woods'. I'm going to see if I can pin it down and train it along the ground. I've never tried, but we'll see. It might work!

Now, a couple of paragraphs ago I mentioned that all this pursuit of purple was really just an attempt to fill the hole left by Red Orach (or Fat Hen as it's commonly known). My Mum and I absolutely love the stuff. It's a simple herb (or weed to some!), but with the most sumptious purple foliage and charming beige spires of seeds. We've had it before, but while it should self-seed madly, we put it in the wrong places and so it never did! Norfolk Herbs is usually the only place that really sells it, but everytime I've seen them at an event they haven't had any - apparently their seed didn't take for whatever reason. So, you can imagine my glee when I discovered a whole tray of the stuff at the Norfolk Herbs stand at the Royal Norfolk Show!!! My oh my!! I literally jumped up and down with glee. There might even have been squealing!! Needless to say, I bought eight little plants (they were every so reasonably priced) and am going to put them everywhere. Fingers crossed at least one of them will be happy enough to have babies. And everything I put them next to instantly looks a million times more beautiful - I can't wait to get them planted! And you can see why...I mean, look at those raindrops and how they off set another new addition to the family, my Dactylorhiza orchid hybrid (seen below in all its glory in a solo shot). 

The Dactylorhiza was a gift from Ben (thank  you Ben), as was this beautiful violet. It's very special...one he discovered at his nursery and so called Viola hirsutum Blacksmith's purple. 

And further thanks to the Potterton family for this marvellous Primula florindae (thank you Ben's Mum!) 

On the trip I also picked up a couple of lovely ferns and a gorgeous pulmonaria, but I don't have good enough pictures of those to post. I also somehow haven't got a picture on my camera of my stunning new Salvia, picked up at the Royal Norfolk Show from Hedgehog Gardens. All coming soon. But I will leave you with a picture of a new bulb in my garden this year...Allium caeruleum. Isn't it just a stunner?!

It's about Thyme...

Don't you just think Thyme is fascinating?! All those tiny leaves and then, at the right time of year, all those tiny flowers, all tightly woven together in a plush carpet! It's amazing!

My real fascination with Thyme began when I went to the National Trust property Felbrigg Hall for a BBC Radio Norfolk outside broadcast. I was supposed to be producing, but there was this big patch of Thyme right by where we were based for a part of the programme and I couldn't take my eyes off it. Unsurprisingly it was smothered with bees (helped by the fact that it was only a stone's throw from the Hall's beehive) and seemed almost alive. I was determined I'd recreate such a Thyme carpet at home.

But, sometimes it's the things you really REALLY want that prove the hardest to attain! I kept buying lots of lovely Thymes, but somehow I never got their conditions right and - much to my disappointment - they failed to thrive. Looking back I think it was the drainage element I was missing. But somewhere along the line I obviously figured out the error of my ways and it seemed that all of a sudden I was having success with my Thyme. Two of the first I managed to grow to any kind of maturity were this large, airy pale pink one which I grow in a pot and Thymus serpyllum 'Russetings', which is in my heart-shaped bed in the front garden. 

Russetings is probably one of the few Thymes whose name I still know! I have loads on my database, but I don't know which plant they belong to. I'm hoping if I go rummage in the garden I might be able to find some labels helpfully still in the ground near their plants! Anyway, those two were the first Thymes which settled in and didn't die. I was onto something! So, learning from my many mistakes and few successes, I set about converting the verge outside my garden into a Thyme paradise. I dug it over, added some compost, but mainly loads of grit. And voila! I popped in a load of tiny little Thymes and a year on they are ecstatic! I lost a couple because people walking by pushed the wheelie bin on top of them (which isn't going to help any plant's health!) but the rest are looking wonderful! And they're as popular with the bees as the original plants which inspired me at Felbrigg! 

If you look closely, I make that at least five bees..!

Surprises: Mostly good, one not so...

So from heatwave to downpour, the weather has been undeniably British! And all following on from a cold, wet spring. All through March and April I've been consoling myself through the grim weeks of misty murkiness by watching the progress of my Himalayan Blue Poppy (note the operative word 'blue'). 'So what if the weather's distinctly Scottish,' I thought. 'Himalayan Blue Poppies love it!' And sure enough it's been lapping it up, growing bigger and stronger than ever before. With glee and great excitement, I followed the progress of the little bud, from its initial position nestled amidst the rosette of leaves, right the way to the top of its precarious stalk. I ran out to the garden after work everyday to make sure it hadn't been squashed by a pigeon or a cat and waited, with great anticipation, for the bud to open. And then it did. And it was white. 

Yes. White. Not blue. Not that beautiful, vibrant, luminous blue I've coveted for years. Boring old white. I mean, it's very pretty and everything (as you can see in the picture below), but really if I wanted a white poppy I'd just grow a normal white poppy, which requires far less effort! So, I'm looking forward to my Himalayan Blue Poppy story continuining another year, but for now I have a Himalayan White Poppy...

In other poppy news, my self-seeded ones are such a delight!! I'm so pleased I didn't go around hoiking out the Shirley poppies that didn't come out dainty pastel shades in the past. Now I have this glorious profusion of dark red poppies and they're all so individual...from single, dark red poppies to ruffled, many-petalled ones, to a tiny one with yellow stamens, and lots of big, pink ones as well! It's such a treat! I go on little poppy tours, delighting in their differences!

 

And the poppies are all combining with other plants for a wonderful overall effect...for example with the flax, with the roses, and with my Royal Purple Cotinus...

Other exciting combinations are the Ferdinand Pichard rose, looking lovely with the Rhododendron behind it...

And this little blood grass with the Alchemilla Molls behind it...

In my verge, the Achilleas I grew from seed are doing better than I ever could have hoped! They're terrifically tall and teeming with buds...and rather excitingly a lot of the blooms seem to be this gorgeous faded shade of peach, which is looking great with the self-seeded speedwell things (not entirely sure what they are, but they turn up everywhere, look great and are a favourite of the bees)...

Lots of the great combinations are complete accidents, but I'm pleased to say some of them were planned, like my Apricot Delight Evening Primrose, nestled amidst my Briza Media Limouzi. The colours compliment each other perfectly, especially when the flowers fade from creamy yellow to sumptious apricot...

And the Purple Sage and Stachys, which have always been a lovely foliage combination, are looking particularly lovely now they're both in flower... 

During my mammoth weeding session yesterdy, I was thrilled to discover another few baby Stachys plants. I've always been a bit disappointed these didn't self-seed more freely, seeing as everyone else's do! But now I've got more gravelled areas, they're turning up everywhere! Fingers crossed before long I'll have more than I know what to do with!

On the subject of self-seeding, the corn flowers have done me proud again! The blue ones always do such a great job of brightening up the garden, and this year a couple of white ones have turne dup as well. For the first time, I spotted the plants when they were still small and transplanted them to more suitable locations (with 100% success!) so they're sitting much better amidst the other plants than they usually do!

In the patio area of the back garden, I'm also very excited to see a Californian poppy has seeded itself in the perfect place...in a crack in the bricks right on the edge of a little gravelled bit. Last year I planted some into the bed and they got carried away and swamped everything, so really pleased to see they're a bit out of the way this year, but still around to brighten the place up! And I'm always delighted by their unual buds, which look like pixie hats!

In the same little gravelled bed, I've planted an Orlaya this year, which should be far less intrustive than the californian poppies and add a lovely splash of light to the corner. I took a photograph of this one in bud and was amazed by how curly and intricate it is!

And of course, aside from flowers, there are lots of dazzling seed heads in the garden. I'm always amazed by  how lovely the Alliums look even when they're over and, while Cristophii is always a bit more impressive than Purple Sensation, they're still pretty cool!

And the grasses are doing all kinds of lovely things. Unfortunately I can't remember what this one is, but it's one of my favourites at the moments, a little cloud of seeds!

And, already mentioned on this blog, my Quaking Grass is such a stunner, particularly when it gets caught in the sun like this!

So, there's that blog! I had a spree the other day and picked up a load of gorgeous new additions to my plant family! As soon as I get some good light I'll be out to capture them on camera and pop them on here!