[barbarella]

Your zinnias look lovely Jay although it wasn't easy to examine them closely as the photo was too small and wouldn't enlarge when I clicked on it. 

How come your volunteers are flowers and mine always seem to be weeds, hitching a ride in the compost between the garden and allotment?

[JayG]

Your zinnias look lovely Jay although it wasn't easy to examine them closely as the photo was too small and wouldn't enlarge when I clicked on it. 

How come your volunteers are flowers and mine always seem to be weeds, hitching a ride in the compost between the garden and allotment?

It's not something I can really claim any credit for because they really are that easy!

The pic should enlarge either by clicking on the picture itself or the filename underneath (think my camera got it a bit wrong because it looks a bit over-exposed to me; the true colours almost hurt your eyes!)

Either the donated spent compost and/or my own soil contributed plenty of weeds as well, but fortunately I know most of them by now and pulled them out!

[Optimistic Gardener]

I wouldn't be without sweetpeas, calendula (English Marigolds) and geraniums - trailing ones especially look fab at the moment in window boxes at the front of our cottage.  I'm going to try to overwinter the geraniums this year - fingers crossed.

[sion01]

I saw a lovely cosmo yesterday .The owner was in the garden and she said it was 'sweet sixteen'.I'd seen it in a catalogue but the picture didn't do it justice.Deffinetly one I'll be growing next year.

[barbarella]

I wouldn't be without sweetpeas, calendula (English Marigolds) and geraniums - trailing ones especially look fab at the moment in window boxes at the front of our cottage.  I'm going to try to overwinter the geraniums this year - fingers crossed.

It's not hard to overwinter geraniums if you have a frost free greenhouse, or even a porch or unheated bedroom.  I take cuttings off the parent plant about now and then cut it back hard  before the frosts and plant several plants in a deepish tray of general purpose compost (spent growbag compost is fine) and keep them on the dry side.

[Hey Jude]

Cosmos (bipinnatus) - it wouldn't be summer without them and Cobaea scandens!

[mumofstig]

It's not hard to overwinter geraniums if you have a frost free greenhouse, or even a porch or unheated bedroom.  I take cuttings off the parent plant about now and then cut it back hard  before the frosts and plant several plants in a deepish tray of general purpose compost (spent growbag compost is fine) and keep them on the dry side.
 

There is the problem... it's just too expensive to keep the greenhouse frost-free so unless you have a heated conservatory, or a big windowledge in the spare bedroom..................

[Plot 6B]

My fav Annual of all time is .........................................The Beano
Sorry I could not resist

[mumofstig]

  

[barbarella]

We visited the lovely garden at Lydiard House in Swindon this weekend and the walled garden there is a joy to behold.  All the plants are chosen because they would have been grown in the 18th century and there were lots of cosmos which surprised me as I thought they were a modern introduction.   There were also lots of amaranthus (love lies bleeding) which look great at the edge of the borders - they will definitely be on my list next year.  I also loved the salvia plants which the gardener told me they grow from seed.  They looked just like sage leaves only the leaves were blue or purple.  He told me the name of the variety but I have forgotten it.  Can anyone enlighten me?

[mumofstig]

was it just ordinary salvia purpurea ? plenty of google pics

[barbarella]

No, I've just checked the pics out on Google and it's not them.  They didn't have any flowers (or not when I saw them anyway).  I recognised them as sage leaves immediately but the colours were striking - some of them violet and others bright aquamarine - really unusual.  The gardener did tell me the name of the variety but I've forgotten it ( I would remember if you said the name) and I can't find it in the catalogue I've got (Mr Fothergill)

[JayG]

If you like flowers with bold, intense colours, with shapes varying from cheeky pom-poms to something dreamt up by a mad confectioner, and which are easy to sow and grow outdoors I would recommend mixed Zinnias. Amazing! 

I had already decided to try Zinnias next year.  They are in a garden featured in this month's issue of The Garden (RHS magazine) - it mentions that have been out of fashion in recent years but deserve a comeback. 

These are what mine look like (most of these individual blooms have been there for at least a fortnight, although they probably would have faded quicker in hotter weather.)

Nearly 3 weeks later the blooms in the picture (same original posting date) don't look at lot different, although I have had to dead-head one or two of them. 

(If you don't believe there is an easy-to-grow colourful summer annual whose blooms will each last for up to 5 weeks through wind, rain and cool nights I can only suggest you give them a go!)

[barbarella]

I've just been watching some old Gardener's Worlds on Blighty and liked the look of agastache (hyssop) and red orach, neither of which I have grown before.  Has anyone else tried them?

[compostqueen]

I've grown hyssop from seed this year and it's grown like weeds    Red orache is easy too

I think calendula is my absolute fave but cosmos and escholzia Red Chief is always on my list every year