Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: New shoot on April 14, 2018, 20:24

Title: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on April 14, 2018, 20:24
My nomination today is primroses.  Just the plain simple yellow ones are my favourites and are like dots of pure sunshine in the garden.

It is even better to see them doing so well, as I found them in the communal dumping ground at the plot.  I saw a single flower peeping out, investigated and unearthed a whole heap that someone had weeded out and chucked away.

Its like they are saying 'Thank you for rescuing us'  :D
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: RJR_38 on April 18, 2018, 06:44
I love daffodils for this - especially the bright yellow ones (rather than the paler lemon ones). Something about the colour after a great winter really cheers me up
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: mumofstig on April 18, 2018, 07:50
I brought a couple of tiny primrose off-shoots back when we holidayed in Cornwall, about 5 years ago. They grew and I have patches of them all over the sunny side of my garden now  :)

Bright blue Anemone Blanda has just started flowering now, absolutely gorgeous  :) but there's never enough of it - despite me planting corms every year. It's a shame that it is obviously not that happy in my clay soil :(
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: Veg Plot 1B on April 18, 2018, 08:37
I to like the primroses, there is a small bunch on the side of the ditch on the way to the plot. They look so lonely all on their own when further up there are loads of daffodils.
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: rowlandwells on April 18, 2018, 17:48
when we went tour local nursery a couple of weeks ago  they where selling polyanthus £3.00 a tray of 15 some where out in flower some where still green but started to bud up couldn't understand why they hadn't sold there now coming out in fabulous colours well worth buying two trays just for the colour when we went  back the other they had all gone maybe they didn't sell because of the wet weather
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on April 21, 2018, 19:42
My new tulips are all coming out, plus the mini white narcissus.  It seems odd seeing them out when we are having summer weather.  I'm sure the cooler temperatures next week will suit them better  :)
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on April 21, 2018, 20:56
My new tulips are all coming out, plus the mini white narcissus.  It seems odd seeing them out when we are having summer weather.  I'm sure the cooler temperatures next week will suit them better  :)

They’re beautiful new shoot
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: mumofstig on April 21, 2018, 21:17
Next door have some lovely Snowflakes - will someone please remind me to get some bulbs to plant in autumn  ;) 
I have lots of 'foreign' bluebells in flower near the house and native ones about to open at the far end of the garden, plus some violets which have seeded themselves in the path  :)
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on May 02, 2018, 21:28
I snapped these yesterday in my garden

Still do not understand why 1 photo is displaying the right way up & the other 2 sideways on this time, they’re all the right way up in my photo roll.
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on May 03, 2018, 10:15
Very pretty  :)

Still do not understand why 1 photo is displaying the right way up & the other 2 sideways on this time, they’re all the right way up in my photo roll.

If you are using your iPad, its an Apple thing.  My iPhone does it as well.  Even though the photo looks OK on your photo roll, it is pot luck which way up it will be once it loads.  It happens to me on other forums as well with my phone.

I don't have an iPad, but on my phone I sort it by tapping on the photo, going into edit and rotating it round 360 degrees.  That always works and they load right way up.

My contribution today is my apple arch which is now in full bloom  :)
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on May 03, 2018, 12:16
Thank you ,I’ll take a look next time I pos5 a photo, only use my iPad for forum etc, I find my phone too small & fiddly.
Lovely blossom, I noticed my cherry tree at the allotment was flowering yesterday, but not as much as it had a very heavy prune at the end of last year to stop it escaping from the fruit cage🙁
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: John on May 03, 2018, 14:16
We've a terrible problem with these weeds popping up all over the place - they're just too pretty to grub up!
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on May 03, 2018, 16:42
We've a terrible problem with these weeds popping up all over the place - they're just too pretty to grub up!

Lol I wouldn’t  grub those up either
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on May 04, 2018, 08:24
We've a terrible problem with these weeds popping up all over the place - they're just too pretty to grub up!

Lol I wouldn’t  grub those up either

No weeding needed there :lol:  I feel the same way about the wild violets that seed round my garden  :)
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on May 04, 2018, 10:48
Today the quince tree has started flowering as well  :D  I'm hoping for some fruit this year, it had a rest last year  ::)
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on May 07, 2018, 20:31
I smelled them before I saw them.  A beautiful scent as I went through the side gate between the front and back garden and there were the Lily of the Valley, so small and unassuming, but packing a punch way beyond their size  :D
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on May 07, 2018, 20:51
Yes I spotted mine today.
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: madcat on May 08, 2018, 09:57
Spotted the first may blossom out in the hedge this morning.  I'm please to see that at last ...  The apples are glorious.
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on May 11, 2018, 11:35
Alliums today - these are Purple Sensation.  The slightly tatty looking leaves belong to them as well.  It seems as soon as the flowers open, the leaves give up the ghost and die back, but that is fine.  It makes room for everything else coming through  :)
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on May 17, 2018, 11:37
I couldn't choose my favourite today - foxgloves or Iris sibirica.  Both so easy to grow and look so spectacular when they start to flower  :D
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: John on May 18, 2018, 09:32
Lovely foxgloves, New Shoot.  Not noticed any here this year but we're a bit behind you.
My Bardsey apple is looking pretty
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on June 01, 2018, 20:44
Peonies today  :)  I have had these 2, bought as bargain bare roots, for a couple of years and had no flowers.  This spring I spotted bargains again and bought more, thinking the original weren't going to do anything  ::)   The 3 new ones are growing in pots and 1 has a flower bud on it  :D  Oh well, can I have too many - nah  :lol:
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: sunshineband on June 02, 2018, 15:27
Roses for me! Our garden is full of them at the moment and they smell so good in the sunshine
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on June 12, 2018, 18:29
3 from me today
Crinodendron,peony & Poppy Pattis plum- for mumofstig
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on June 24, 2018, 20:19
The first dahlia flower opened today  :D  This one is Darkarin. 

I'am also pleased with the bidens mix I bought.  They were an 'add these to your order for only £1.99?' when I was buying some mail order stuff.  I might have the price wrong but I know it started with a 1  :lol:  Anyway, the 5 little plugs are growing into a really pretty potful  :)
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: John on July 01, 2018, 22:10
For one day only - but what a day!
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: sunshineband on July 02, 2018, 09:00
They are worth waiting for John  :D :D

Sweet peas are top of our Hit Parade right now, by the bucketload
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on July 02, 2018, 10:50
Mine are 2 of those 'add to your order for only ...' tempters.

The lilies were £1 last year and did flower, but the bulbs had grown hugely when I lifted them in the autumn.  This year they are loaded with buds and just starting to open.

The zinnias were this year and £1.99 I think  :unsure:  Anyway they filled 2 pots and are lovely  :D
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: Goosegirl on July 07, 2018, 12:18
My new Lavender Hidcote that I planted in a square stone pot is flowering its heart out!
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: JayG on July 10, 2018, 17:00
2 Alstromerias and 2 Heleniums - all brilliant bloomers and all of special significance to me because they were either bought by, with (on one of our many holidays together), or propagated from plants belonging to my best friend's mum, who died just over 2 years ago aged 92.  :wub:
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on July 10, 2018, 20:03
2 Alstromerias and 2 Heleniums - all brilliant bloomers and all of special significance to me because they were either bought by, with (on one of our many holidays together), or propagated from plants belonging to my best friend's mum, who died just over 2 years ago aged 92.  :wub:

They’re lovely, how tall are they?
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: JayG on July 10, 2018, 21:15
Somewhere between 3-4ft max I reckon.
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on July 11, 2018, 09:05
Thanks, I’ll  have a look for similar ones, I’ve got just the place for them
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: JayG on July 11, 2018, 09:45
The plant second from the left is Helenium Wyndley, the Alstroemeria with the strikingly dark foliage and stems to the right of it is 'Indian Summer' - can't remember the other two (but at least I've learnt how to spell Alstroemeria correctly!  :lol:)

Very undemanding in my sandy soil in a sunny position, all you need to remember is to get there before the slugs do when they start to regrow in spring.
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: Growster... on July 11, 2018, 12:34
Sweet peas are in charge at the moment - at least a bunch a day! I also wish that the scent of a broad bean flower could be cultivated, because it is fabulous! I used to walk the dog through a field of these and it was almost intoxicating!

And the next heart-gladdener is the first sunflower out! We have just one out of several, and it's like having a light on in the garden!
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on July 16, 2018, 10:47
One of my new dahlias.  This is Penhill Watermelon and I'm thrilled with it  :D 
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: Growster... on July 16, 2018, 18:15
That's an absolute beauty News!

Well done that girl!
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: jaydig on July 16, 2018, 18:21
One of my new dahlias.  This is Penhill Watermelon and I'm thrilled with it  :D

That's beautiful - both the shape and the colour.
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on August 04, 2018, 19:19
Sunflowers on the plot today.   Not fancy, not fussy, just lovely and a spirit lifter every time :D
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: Growster... on August 05, 2018, 12:12
Beautiful, News!

By the way, can anyone tell me when Cobaea flower please? I have a couple and gave a friend a plant, and while they're getting very leggy, they don't seem to want to put on a show yet!
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on October 20, 2018, 20:04
Amarine Belladiva - a new one for me.  Huge bulbs the size of amaryllis. but with flowers like a super charged nerine.

I just remembered to grab a piccie on the way in from an afternoon of gardening at home.  They were glowing in the late afternoon sunshine  :)

Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: mumofstig on October 21, 2018, 10:47
NS, the bulbs I planted last year still only have leaves, so maybe I have to wait another year or maybe they're just not happy *sigh*

BUT the Schizostylis plants I bought this year have flower spikes on so  :D about that!
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: snowdrops on October 21, 2018, 12:54
Newshoot was that the one Monty was showing on Friday’s programme? A real stunner. My nerine that I bought at Kew in August doesn’t seem to be going to flower, serves me right for choosing one not in flower so I could get the most from it!
I picked these from the plot & around the garden the other day & what a joy they are
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: Growster... on October 21, 2018, 16:50
We've now got six long trays of 'Sugar Rush' wallflowers, which just keep going and giving until Spring! Last winter they didn't bat an eyelid, got on with the job, and we eventually had to turf them out to make space for the summer geraniums!

Also three long trays of violas and great pots of cineraria...
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on October 21, 2018, 20:35
NS, the bulbs I planted last year still only have leaves, so maybe I have to wait another year or maybe they're just not happy

I did read that they do like to be crammed in like agapanthus.  I do intend to empty the pot out over winter and store them as bulbs, but they will be going back into that pot next year.  I also planted them so the necks of the bulbs were just proud of the compost, like you would a nerine.

Not sure if they were the ones on GW Snows, as I didn't see it, but hang on with your nerine.  Its not too late yet for it to flower.
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: mrs bouquet on October 22, 2018, 23:08
I lifted my Nerine this spring and gave some to friends, I replanted and dreaded losing them, but they are flowering away now, but not so many of course.  I shall leave them be for a few years now.   The Agapanthus are in a Terracotta pot, and the leaves are just going yellow at the tips, what do I do next, and should I pop them into an unheated greenhouse ? 
Title: Re: Heart gladdening flowers
Post by: New shoot on October 24, 2018, 11:25
The Agapanthus are in a Terracotta pot, and the leaves are just going yellow at the tips, what do I do next, and should I pop them into an unheated greenhouse ?

You could and that would protect them from the worst of the winter weather.  They are quite hardy, but don't like being in very wet soil.  Keeping the pot on the dry side over winter would be best and that is easier under cover.

The leaves will slowly die down and you can clear them up once they are completely brown and dried up  :)