Magenta sage

These captivating, richly textured magenta flowers belong to Buchanan’s sage, or Salvia buchananii. It may not look anything like common Salvia officinalis, yet both belong to the same family of Lamiaceae.

Native to Mexico, Salvia buchananii was brought to Europe just half a century ago. It was first grown in England by Sir Charles Buchanan, thus its name.

The sage was awarded with the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

Knowing nothing about its background, I noticed Salvia Buchananii at the Orticolario garden show in Como last autumn. There was a vendor with different species of sage. This one caught my eye with its unusual hairy flowers of bright magenta colour.

Magenta sage grows in a herb patch among oregano where it creates an attractive bright spot. It has already started to flower and should continue flowering all the way through summer till late autumn.

Here are two pictures taken a day apart.

#salviabuchananii #sage #buchanansage #garden #spring

Lady’s mantle

This is a glorious time for Alchemilla Mollis, or lady’s mantle. It has spread well in its patch and started to flower.

Clumps of alchemilla were planted last June. It struggled for a long time, practically until spring. I hope the experience is now behind us.

In the past few weeks, after some good rains, the lady really opened its mantle high and wide. Charming plants with frothy lime-green flowers and neatly pleated apple-green, fan-shaped leaves are thriving.

I find alchemilla most attractive after the rain. The leaves hold dozens of drops of water. When the sun is out, they sparkle like precious diamonds.

#alchemilla #alchemillamollis #ladysmantle #garden #spring

Sea Pink

Of all the names under which Armeria Maritima is known, I prefer sea pink. When there are lots of flowers, they look like small waves of pink.

At the moment my Armeria is too small to create such waves. It has, however, grown considerably since I planted tiny clumps in March. And it started to flower. Small pink balls are propped up on slender stalks above the grassy part.

Sea pink grows at the edge of a flower bed, interplanted with lavender. I chose it as a sun loving plant that is very easy to care. In fact it is almost care free.

I can’t wait till lavender starts flowering, to see what should be a lovely combination of lavender purple and armeria pink.

#armeria #armeriamaritima #seapink #seathrift #garden #spring

Sweet smelling sarcococca

Sweetbox, or Sarcococca, is a rival of star jasmine in my garden. It kicks in just a few days before star jasmine comes forward.

The bush is native to the garden. Thus far I’ve only been able to identify it as Sarcococca (thanks to the power of the Internet!), but I don’t know exactly which one. It doesn’t look like any of the common species.

The bush spreads by long, crawling shoots rather than growing upwards. In fact it hangs like a big cushion over the terrace wall. It is very vigorous at this time of the year.

The most remarkable thing are the flowers. They have petals (some sweet box doesn’t), and they have filaments. The same plant has white and creamy-yellow flowers. They are wonderfully fragrant.

Some Sarcococca blossoms in winter or early spring, but this one is at its best now, in the end of May. One day I will find out which species it is, but not knowing its name doesn’t stop me from appreciating it in my garden!

#sarcococca #garden #spring

Roses are red

This bush of red roses is special.

I need to start from the beginning. In the old, abandoned garden there used to be two rose bushes. One was growing in a tight space between the palm and the wall. The rose was magnificent, with huge yellow-pink flowers. The other was this one, then very small bush of red roses. Despite its bright colour it paled in the presence of the other, royal bush.

Last year, when the garden got a drastic makeover, I asked the gardeners to keep the big bush. I didn’t much care about the small one. I don’t quite understand what happened, but the gardeners killed the big bush. It was terrible, because it had survived through years without care and had been fine.

By the gardeners’ initiative, the red bush was replanted on the herb lawn, next to the wall. I didn’t like it because there was jasmine there already. I asked to plant it in the current spot, but everybody was against. They said the rose would be in the shade and would never flower.

I replanted it anyway, myself. Nobody realises that the sun shines directly on the wall all morning. It gets the shade from the tree later on. So there is enough sunlight there.

I’ve never seen this rose blossoming so profusely. I’m so glad it enjoys it there. I hope it will gradually cover the wall.

On the adjacent wall we have the white ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’ rose. They make a great contrast. This is our ‘Peace of roses’, not the war, that was represented by red rose of Lancaster and white rose of York.

#rose #garden #spring

Oh-so-romantic roses

White roses climbing an old brick wall is an ultimate romantic setting. Probably all of us dream to have it in the garden. The dream has come true for me, and I am thrilled with joy!

An old brick wall and a rose bush are two essential elements. You can’t do it if either of the elements is missing. Luckily, we did have the wall. There used to be an old chicken shed which we knocked down, but kept the outer wall.

Last June the rose was planted. It is ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’. It was chosen by our garden designers, and it was a great choice. The rose is very vigorous. It has spread incredibly quickly this spring!

In winter I was much concerned about it. The leaves were attacked by mould, and had lots of black spots. I was spraying them with a horsetail and nettle infusion.

This is the first year when the rose is profusely blossoming. Its white flowers with a pink hue are so fragrant!

#rose #MadameAlfredCarriere #wall #garden #spring

 

Irises – ultimate Art Nouveau

Gorgeous purple irises have taken the centre stage in my garden. They started to open over the May holidays. First there was one, next day there were four, and now there is a multitude.

Iris comes from a Greek word for rainbow, which is also the name for the Greek goddess of the rainbow. Mine are monochromatic purple, but you can see the variation of colour on petals.

I don’t know which variety my iris is. We ‘inherited’ it when we bought the property. All I know is that is a genuine bearded iris. Those yellow fluffy things which look like caterpillars are called beards.

Iris is a very hardy flower. It survived all those years when the property was abandoned, and keeps flowering abundantly year after year.

It spreads, not very vigorously, through rhizomes. Some flowers are now precariously hanging at the end of a terrace wall. I already replanted some in a safer position, and will need to do more once they finish flowering.

I love irises, their curvy shapes, their graceful posture, their unusual ‘centre bending’ and ‘falling down’ petals. For me they are ultimate art nouveau flowers.

#iris #spring #garden

Garden card May 2016

#garden #spring

Jolly geraniums

Everybody has seen those red, pink, orange flowers on windowsills. They look especially good in chalets and wooden houses. Everybody calls them geraniums but they are not. They are pelargoniums.

Geniune geraniums are used more for ground planting than for pots. By the way, the difference between the two is in the structure of flowers. Geranium has 5 radially symmetrical petals, while Pelargonium’s two upper petals are different from the three lower ones.

Last year garden designers chose two geraniums for my flowerbeds.

Geranium machrorrizum ‘Czakor’ (what a complicated name!) grows in clumps. When leaves are rubbed, they release a particular scent. Czakor didn’t flower last year because it was planted late, in June. Now is the best time to enjoy its bright magenta flowers. Bees love it too, there is a constant buzz around. It wasn’t difficult to get a bee for the photo.

The other geranium is Rozanne, or ‘Gerwat’. It starts as a clump. Then it vigorously spreads with tails of violet-blue flowers, densely covering the ground. The flowers appear slightly later than for Czakor, but I already spotted a few. The thing is it will be flowering now until autumn, and maybe even longer. Last season the last flower disappeared in January!

This is not all. I also have Geranium dissectum, or Cut-leaved Crane’s bill. Native to Europe, it is generally treated as a weed. Mine is growing spontaneously in the crack of a wall, between the ivy. I will let it stay there. The flowers are much smaller compared to the cultivated geraniums, but they are lovely in their own way.

#geranium #GeraniumMachrorrizumCzakor #GeraniumRozanne #GeraniumDissectum #garden #spring

Lustrous buttercups

They appeared discreetly a few months ago – just nice small clumps. I wasn’t sure what they were. They looked similar to geraniums and I let them stay.

In early spring they started to grow, and then came their lustrous yellow flowers. Buttercups!

These buttercups are so different to the ones I used to see in my childhood. They were small and had a lovely sweet smell. These ones keep growing and expanding until they take all available space.  They are probably giant buttercups.

Buttercups, or ranunculus, are described as opportunistic colonisers. I cannot think of a better way to present them. They grow happily in the open space and in the middle of flowers and shrubs, pushing others out.

I like buttercups because they give extra volume and add colour. However, when they grow too big, they do look like weeds. They also get mildew which makes them even less attractive.

The common verdict of gardeners is to get rid of ranunculus as soon as possible, or it will be a lifetime fight. At the moment I do it gradually, pulling the plants out when they finished flowering or overgrown.

I put yellow buttercups in vases, thus prolonging their life and enjoying them a few days more in the house.

#buttercups #ranunculus #flowers #weeds #garden #spring