August Top Ten Blooms.

This is going to be my last monthly Top Ten Bloom post . I have been doing it for several twelvemonth now and it is getting to be a bit repetitive . Right now I would rather be writing about my Mediterranean garden or my Henri Rousseau garden or beautiful leafage . The other problem is that sometimes at the kickoff of the month there is something stunning that I would like to write about and then by the 23rd it is past its best and so I never do get rotund to it .

Anyway , I shall try and keep off industrial plant I have mentioned in former posts , I do n’t want to repeat myself year after year . And I shall keep this short ; I wo n’t be ramble today or sneakily fitting in far more than ten blooms as I commonly do because I am writing with only one operable eye . The other is calamitous and blue and swollen after coming off worse in an disceptation with a brutal , pointy arm of silver birch , Betula allbosinensis‘Pink Champagne ’ . Actually , it was n’t an argument , it was an unprovoked fire .

I lie with daisies of any variety so this is where I shall begin . Echinaca purpureais true and the cluster get self-aggrandizing every twelvemonth . It seeds around too .

Lilium Josephine’

I ’m only at number one and all quick I am popping in a few additional blooms . This yr I broke my rule of not buying any fancy new genus Echinacea crossbreed because so far they have never come through to see another year . But I could n’t jib ‘ Tomato Soup ’ .

And then this one with a topknot see my eye ; ‘ case ’ is a adept name for it .

And then as I was really getting into buying genus Echinacea I thought I would throw in this wan pink one too . I have hardly bought any plants during this plague twelvemonth so a little over - tomfoolery in echinaceas of doubtful validity is allowable .

Lilium Josephine’

I eff rudbeckias too and commonly I grow some from seed but this year I did n’t get round to it so I bought one . It has the nonsensical name ofRudbeckia hirta‘Happy Smiley ’ . I intimately give it a miss because of its farcical name but it is so pretty . you may also get ‘ Laughing Smiley ’ or ‘ Giggling Smiley ’ if you may bear to have plant with such whacky names .

I persist in growing genus Hosta despite the constant battle with slugs and snails . But if I ever gave them up I would always keepHosta plantagineaor one of its family because the flower are so pretty and most significantly they have a delicious scent . I haveHosta‘Guacamole ’ in a cast iron urn so it never gets attacked by biff and I pick the flowers because they make the room smell adorable . This gorgeous hosta is a sportsman of ‘ Fragrant Bouquet ’ . It has shiny , apple- green leaves streaked with dark unripened so it is passably all summer long , but it is the fragrant flowers that I grow it for .

Each year I arise a few dissimilar creation , they are so quick and easy from seed and they are endearing for cutting . This year my favourite is Cosmos ‘ Cupcakes Blush ’ . I love the shape of the flowers and the pinked edges to the petals .

But I also like the ruffled flowers of Cosmos ‘ Double Click Cranberries ’ .

I seem to be err into more than one for each bloom , so for the repose of my August excerpt I will confine myself to just one . It is a disgrace to miss outCrocosmia‘Lucifer ’ or ‘ Limpopo ’ and ‘ Hellfire ’ or dainty ‘ Golden Ballerina , ’ but never mind I can show you another clip . Today I am featuringCrocosmia’Fire King ’ because it was a newfangled one last year . It looks endearing with the jolly French Marigolds ‘ Flamenco ’ . I guess these are rather fun , I might put some in a pot next year . How times change , a few old age I would have been shock at the theme of growing French Marigolds . Now my Henri Rousseau garden has opened me up to a whole new world of color .

Nearby Ihave a little species Dahlia pinnata call ‘ Dark Desire ’ which look honorable with the stripeyTagetes patula‘Jolly Jester . ’ on the right there are the orange pocket ofCalceolaria‘Kentish Hero ’

I have a go at it white bell- shaped efflorescence and I love white flowers andGaltonia candicans ticks both boxes . It is a bulbous perennial and as it produces lot of seed it is soft to get on and I always have some to give away or put in a pot . I also grow a green- flowered one calledGaltonia viridiflora .

If your idea of glad is the large- flowered , ( dare we say earthy ) bloom that Dame Edna Everage used to pelt her audience with , then I think that the elegantGladiolus‘Papilio Ruby ’ will astonish you with its advanced charm . It rise in my crushed rock garden and I trust it will live the winter , I am not quite indisputable of its hardiness .

I enjoy the Pyxidanthera barbulata cap flower of the climbing plant , Codonopsis lanceolatawhich is happy with a pair of bamboo sticks to surmount . It dies back each twelvemonth after flowering . I grow it in pots although I have found that it last outside in my crushed rock garden too . It has delightful doorbell -shaped green flowers which are cross out with rusty purple inside . I believe the roots of these plant are eat in their aboriginal Korea and they have medicinal dimension . But I ’ll stick with carrots . This plant produces plenty of seed so you never demand be without it .

I have another codonopsis with double-dyed blanched peak calledCodonopsis greywilsonii‘Himel Snow ’ which bloom a footling earlier in July .

I shall finish with my Chaste Tree , Vitex agnus- casti . Last year I saw this growing wild around the ancient site of Mystras overlooking Sparta in Greece . We should be move there next workweek but this twelvemonth I shall just have to enjoy it in the garden rather . The Ancient Greeks grew it round temples because they think it helped to keep women chaste whilst they were in frenzied adoration during rituals lionise their virgin goddess , Artemis . Pliny wrote of them‘They made their pallet and bed with theleaves therefrom to cool the passion of their lust ’ . Centuries later , I trust monks made tea from leave of absence of the flora for the same purpose . Nowadays , it is a useful plant for former summer bloom . LikeHibiscus syriacus , it come into leaf late in the year . I am recount the leaf are similar to those of cannabis . I have never see cannabis maturate but I have seen it recommended as a handsome leaf industrial plant in onetime gardening books . I am not very keen on butterfly bush but although the flower spikes of this are alike , I retrieve it is much more attractive .

So there we have ten August blooms with just a few digressions . It could be worse , if I had n’t convey a black eye I should probably have gone off at a full tangent into the cult of Artemis in the Peloponnese which I find fascinating . And there would be more flowers . As it is I am saving my beloved dahlia for another post and here are a few more in a verandah .

So that is the last of my Top Ten Blooms . It would be endearing if you would share some of your August dearie .

From now on each month I shall boast either whatever is looking good in the nursery or I shall choose something a bit rare or strange . I have n’t quite decide which . I would appreciate a little input , which would you prefer ; monthly greenhouse plants or something unusual ?

39 Responses toAugust Top Ten Blooms.

That ’s one reason I opt write and post something weekly into of an all - inclusive monthly account . Gardens constantly evolve . Tomatoes ripen ( finally ) while cucumber baby dry up and fall off the vine and squander no time about it . And a gorgeous rose one week may be eat animated by aphids the following week . Oh , well .

I trust your optic better quick ! I understand how you feel about restate yourself as I feel that about my mid - month Bloom Day posts ( and my quarterly wide crack ) too but the photographic record is utilitarian so I persevere . I suspect your reader are n’t at all perturbed by any repetition , especially turn over the largeness of your plant life accumulation . There ’s always something that catch my attention in your Charles William Post , even if / when I lamentably have to accept that it ’s something I ca n’t grow . I require that I ’ll enjoy whatever you take to sport in future blog post , although as I do n’t have a greenhouse to grow in , I ’d probably get more out of Emily Post focalize on unusual plant .

Oh that eye injury sound filthy Chloris . I hope that you heal speedily . Your posts are always a joy to translate whatever topic or industrial plant you are writing about . Look forward to whatever you decide to focus on . By the way does codonopsis smell unpleasant or am I confusing it with something else ?

August Top Ten Blooms.