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”
Although we think of hellebores as having petals, technically they are sepals, which accounts for their flowers’ longevity. This single hellebore is one of my favourites I’ve seen this year. Continue reading “Hellebore Hybrids: How Doubles Evolve”
Auriculas have an old-fashioned quality: something about the green flowered and mealy grey flowered ones on display at this year’s N.A.P.S. show mades them seem as if any decent Renaissance poet ought to have written a verse or two in their honour. Continue reading “Flower Macros: Primula Auriculas”
You don’t need me to tell you how the cobweb houseleek (hen-and-chicks, or in botanical terms, Sempervivum arachnoideum subsp. tomentosum) got its folk name. Those with a fear or spiders or a compulsion to dust might find this plant unsettling. If it looks on the creepy side, try to imagine the leaves are playing cat’s cradle.
Pulsatilla vulgaris (Pasqueflower) has furry, feathery foliage that catches the light
This garden plant stopped me in my tracks on my walk to the local park. Purple, silken flowers were lit up by a golden boss of stamens; the foliage throwing a silvery mist into the mix.
I’ve never seen pulsatilla growing wild in the UK, and perhaps I never will. This increasingly rare wildflower must be a magical sight. The young, emerging foliage is covered in long hairs creating a halo effect around the buds. Continue reading “Pulsatilla vulgaris: an Easter Treat”
Peonies in pastel shades: Paeonia ‘Coral Charm’ with Paeonia lactiflora ‘Sarah Benhardt’
If I was forced to name my favourite flower, there’s a good chance it might be the peony. I love to see the red fronds of the herbaceous type pushing through the soil back to back together in their unearthly fashion around this time of year, full of promise for the season to come. And when their blooms appear – well, could you blame me for deserting the rose in favour of these?
Primrose Hall, a fixture at all the best UK flower shows, are currently teasing a sketch of their proposed 2019 Chelsea Flower Show design online. Arrangements of blooms tower over a garden of peonies. In the background, a garland tumbles down towards flowers floating in a traditional clawfoot bath. That’s my kind of outdoor bathroom!
The pictures I’m sharing here were taken on their stands at last year’s RHS Chatsworth and Hampton Court Flower Shows.
Paeonia ‘Coral Sunset’ on the Primrose Hall display at the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show
I had thought that there must be more than one peony here but as Primrose Hall’s Alec White, who kindly agreed to identify the peonies, observed, “Note that the corals change colour quite a lot as they mature!”. Continue reading “A Celebration Of Peonies”
