Purple Flowers and Foliage
If you’re looking for a purple rambling rose, there aren’t many to choose from. Rosa ‘Veilchenblau’ has its passionate fans and detractors, as do many roses. It only flowers once and is not resistant to blackspot: this plant has a freckling of it on the leaves. The spent flowers don’t drop cleanly, so the plant becomes scruffier towards the end of flowering. But what a rare beauty it is at its zenith, throwing out arching canes of flowers that become more purple with age. Continue reading “Purple Flowers and Foliage”
Echeveria ‘Tarantula’
Echeverias’ neat rosettes brighten up considerably when the plant flowers. Tall scapes carry orange flowers tipped yellow and topped with hairy sepals. The flower is bell shaped with upcurled petal tips. Continue reading “Echeveria ‘Tarantula’”
Wordless Wednesday
2020 Photo Challenge: Textures
HeyJude has invited us to share a picture of something wuff with something smooth.
Wordless Wednesday: Floral Design
Woolly Cobweb Houseleek: Sempervivum arachnoideum ‘Clärchen’
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.
Delicate webbing covers each chick from infancy, stretching out as the evergreen rosette swells to maturity. Continue reading “Woolly Cobweb Houseleek: Sempervivum arachnoideum ‘Clärchen’”
Susan Rushton 