Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
Denzil is demanding we share our cheeriest pinks this week. If forced to pick the cheeriest from my selection, I’d go with the flowers below. They’re being true to both meanings of their name: pink in colour and pinked as in the feathery effect of the petal edges.
I felt like we all might need a treat today – myself included. So I’m sharing a few pictures of delphiniums, one of the best loved cottage garden plants, as part of my pictures for dreaming series. Continue reading “Cottage Garden Flowers: Delphiniums”
Regular readers will know of my fascination with blue poppies (meconopsis). My timing has been out and I’ve only seen the odd one or two this year so here’s a picture from Harlow Carr last year.
Sightings of delphiniums are always very welcome too, be they stocky little spires or towering ones. The lovely folk word ‘bee’ describes the petals at centre of each floret. The stocky delphiniums above have white bees and the ones below, lavender-blue ones.
This year hasn’t been a flower dearth – far from it. Rosemoor provided me with as many flowers as I could hope for, even setting aside the roses I shared a fortnight ago. and even though my capacity to hope for flowers is huge. Continue reading “Blue Flowers”
Not a title I was expecting to write, but I had to share this snippet from one of the nurseries taking part in the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show. This peacock was (metaphorically) strutting its stuff as part of the silver-gilt winning display of elatum delphiniums by Home Farm Plants of Covington. Continue reading “Delphinium Peacock”
During the summer, I dedicate more time to taking photos than to sharing them. If you’re a flower stalker too, you’ll understand the temptation. After all, a delphinium waits for no man (or woman), blooming in response to triggers we understand at an abstract level rather than feel happening at a cellular one. It’s somewhere between a pleasure and a frenzy to be in full-on photo gathering mode, so, as September taps on the door, it feels good to slow down and enjoy revisiting summer’s photo stash.
This plant wasn’t labelled at RHS Tatton Park, where I saw it, so I’ve had to look it up. Delphinium ‘Flamenco’ is part of the Highlander series of Scottish-bred delphiniums. Continue reading “Delphinium ‘Flamenco’ from the Highlander Series”
I prefer to use white flowers as an accent colour, but I know that many people love all white gardens (sometimes called moon gardens because of the way the flowers reflect the light). Here are some of my favourites – I hope you like some of them too. If I’ve mentioned where I photographed them, the gardens are well worth a visit. Continue reading “White Cottage Garden Plants for a Moon Garden”
It’s been a real treat for us to spend time with friends visiting some of our favourite English gardens, including Hidcote Manor, Kiftsgate Court, Rousham House, Powis Castle and Wollerton Old Hall. I’ll be sorting through pictures for a few more days yet, but wanted to share a glimpse of some classic cottage garden plants that seemed to be enjoying the sunshine: roses, delphiniums, clematis, verbascums and foxgloves.
Susan Rushton 