Category: Gardening

Posted on

Trilliums At Harlow Carr Garden (Mainly)

Large flowered trillium
Trillium chloropetalum var. giganteum with erythroniums and an emerging fern

These trilliums are from RHS Harlow Carr’s beautiful Spring woodland garden on the hillside behind the stone building used for exhibitions. It’s a little out of the way and I wonder how many visitors have discovered it – I only stumbled on it by mistake. It struck me as being fairly newly planted but if so, they’ve done a great job.

RHS gardens are rightly closed to help protect us, but of all the gardens that are out of reach, this is the one that calls me most plaintively.  Continue reading “Trilliums At Harlow Carr Garden (Mainly)”

Posted on

Calycanthus ‘Venus’ | Carolina Allspice Hybrid

Calycanthus 'Venus' - Carolina allspice

Q: When is a Magnolia not a Magnolia?
A: When it’s a Calycanthus.

Calycanthus is an ornamental, multi-stemmed shrub that caught my eye last year at one of the flower shows. Large, creamy flower buds open out to fragrant blooms held above the foliage. The fleshy flowers are often compared to a magnolia, although the petals are slim, curly and more plentiful. Continue reading “Calycanthus ‘Venus’ | Carolina Allspice Hybrid”

Posted on

Sheeny Petals

Close up of a double apricot rose with sheeny petals
Rose

I loved these petals with their soft, complimentary colours and mix of light and shade. I took the picture at Farmer’s Branch, Texas a couple of years ago and know that someone is going to ask me which rose it is, which gives me a problem. The form reminds me of Rosa ‘Lady Emma Hamilton’, and the colour of Rosa ‘Jubilee Celebration’, but I believe it’s Rosa ‘Lady Of Shalott’, which was looking so good during our visit that I later persuaded my sweetheart to plant one in his garden. Continue reading “Sheeny Petals”

Posted on

Fritillaria Imperialis – The Crown Imperial Fritillary

Fritillaria imperialis yellow

Fritillaria imperialis are very attractive in flower, although they are decidedly pongy when grown in a big group. Folk names for them include Crown imperial and imperial fritillary.

Walking around a woodland garden last spring, my nose picked up something foxy in the air. I thought I knew what it was, but not where it was coming from. By following my nose, I eventually tracked down this clump of flowering bulbs, a bit deeper in the woodland. Continue reading “Fritillaria Imperialis – The Crown Imperial Fritillary”

Posted on

Azaleas In Flower

Orange azalea in flower at the edge of woodland
Dorothy Clive’s woodland garden in spring

My sweetheart calls Azaleas ‘party girls’, because they burst into flower, divert our attention from everything around them, drop their flowers and then leave things looking a bit boring. His words, not mine! But while they last… Continue reading “Azaleas In Flower”

Posted on

Flower Fantasia

Bright tulips with white daffodils and blossom
A layer cake of flowers: tulips, daffodils and blossom

You might claim this is just on the edge of too much – too bright, too packed, too flowery, if there is such a thing.

It’s the latest in my series of pictures for dreaming. You may need to rein in your imaginations to prevent your senses overloading, especially if you were thinking of adding in bees hovering and humming and birds flying overhead. Continue reading “Flower Fantasia”