GARDENER'S WORD

While I was mooching around the garden centre today, buying echinacea plants, I saw this strange-looking bud on one echinacea plant.  It seems to be two stems fused together into a thick flat stem, topped with two flowers which are fused back to back with the pink petals facing outward.  Anyway, have a look for yourself. Weird or what? Echinacea double-headed flower on single stem.  

I have crocosmia, or montbretia, flowers appearing each year in a ridiculous stony place right next to some concrete steps, right next to a gate.  You'd think they wouldn't survive but, each year, up they come!  This year, so that I can enjoy the sight of the flowers for longer, I have cut them and put them in a vase on the kitchen windowsill.  They look lovely between the two  Phlebodium aureum 'Blue Star ' ferns, also known as Rabbit's Foot Fern .   Crocosmia aka Montbretia, cut flowers Here is a RHS link to a post on Crocosmia vs Montbretia .

One of three echinaceas I bought today is White Meditation.  I love white flowers because when the sun is going down, white flowers just stand out when all others are fading to grey as light diminishes.  Echinacea 'White Meditation' Echinacea 'White Meditation' might not be the prettiest white flower on the planet but I like it for its simplicity and also because it is extremely attractive to pollinators like bees and hoverflies, and butterflies too.  The label says that Echinacea 'White Meditation' is an erect perennial with long-lasting daisy-like pure white flowers, ideal for attracting bees and butterflies. It is ideal for the front of beds and borders for late summer colour.  It achieves a height and spread of 45cm (18in).

Bought three echinacea plants today.  'Delicious Candy' was mentioned in my previous post and I also bought 'White Meditation' and 'Sunseekers Pink'.  While I think they are pretty, I didn't buy them for their looks but for their lateish flowering and, most importantly, because pollinators are just crazy about them.  I mean, I was going around the garden centre with bees hanging onto my plants.  Sweet or what!  Hoverflies don't sting (they're good guys) and I have never, in decades of gardening, been stung by a bee.  I treat them with respect (I don't try to grab hold of one!) but I don't mind them flying around me.  Echinacea 'Sunseekers Pink' The label says that Echinacea 'Sunseekers Pink' has an abundance of flowers with pink petals radiating round a central button-like disc, held on sturdy stems throughout summer.  It achieves a height of 55cm (22in) and spread of 45cm (18in).  It is suitable for borders and patio con...

Pollinators love echinacea (coneflower) and the sign in the garden centre was not kidding!  I picked three different echinaceas and was trundling them along in a shopping trolley and the sweet bumblebees and harmless hoverflies just kept on coming and I was wondering if I was going to have a car full of pollinators on my drive home.  A bit of a trolley shake made them head for pastures new but it was delightful, really it was.  The plant I am going to talk about here is Echinacea 'Delicious Candy'.  It's such a beautiful colour. Echinacea 'Delicious Candy' enjoyed by White-tailed Bumblebee Please, grow plants attractive to pollinators .    Save our pollinators . The label says: " The stunning fluorescent pink flowers are an amazing addition to your garden.  Flowering from mid to late summer, it will attract bees to your garden.  The attractive dark green leaves and stems have a compact habit.  It is hardy and foliage will die down i...

What a year for slugs and snails in my garden.  I think they are moving in from all over Yorkshire.  In all my decades of gardening, I've never seen so many.  I've given up on the beer traps because I think the slithering little critters are getting a skinful and then p***ing off to sleep it off where I can't find them.  My container grown hostas, which usually get through summer without too much damage are riddled with massive holes and I cannot decide whether it is the slugs and snails which are doing it (can't see any), or that infernal vine weevil which I can't find either.  For the vine weevil, I am having to resort to a pesticide to kill the weevil as well as the grubs which eat the roots of plants.  I'm not happy.  I even found a number of tiny snails in my outside pot containing ivy today and it's high off the ground. Slug with pests of its own (mites) Had a surprise today though while desperately trying to find the reason for the infestat...