Rhododendron flower stages

All photos above were taken at Dawyck Botanical Garden on May 20th 2008.

Garden Bloom Day September 2007

The supporting cast of my September garden is shown below.

Photos above from top: Golden Hop, Red Campion, Jasmine and Cranes’s Bill Geranium are behind my garden gate in a shady wild area.


Photos above from top: Hosta, Campanula and Japanese Anemone are looking good tucked around the base of shrubs with their bright white flowers lifting any shade of green or yellow-green foliage.


Photos above from top: Shasta Daisy and Drumstick Allium are passed their best but I am not quite ready to cut them down as I feel they give character to the borders. The Allium will get a chance to self seed and when the rain spoils the daisy I will then cut it down.

Photos above from top: Seed heads from Aquilegia, Red Campion and Clematis Miss Bateman. I love to see the fluffy seed heads and capsules and often leave them like this for a while.


Photos above from top: Borage white and blue and Astilbe plumes going past. I have really enjoyed the borage this year. Both these plants give and airy feel to the borders.

Photos above from top: Clematis ‘Silver Moon’, Jack Frost and Hebe. Ah these plants are in my new silver border and I look forward to seeing them spread into a carpet of grey with the other foliage plants.


Photos above from top: Lavendar, Geum, Dianthus and Sedum. These plants are tucked in corners with very little in the way of flower this year but they all add to the tapestry of ground cover in my garden.

To return to the main cast on shirls gardenwatch go to Garden Bloom Day September 2007 .

The photos above were taken in my garden on September 15th 2007.

The Rose

Cardinal de Richelieu

Silver Anniversary

To return to the post on shirls gardenwatch go to The Rose .

The photos above of ‘Cardinal de Richelieu’ were taken in my garden on June 20th 2007. The photos above of ‘Silver Anniversary’ were taken in my garden on August 31st 2007.

Wild Flowers July 2007

The photos below were all taken in North Wales and the Isle of Anglesey. For a change, as I am not a wild flower expert, I would like to invite any suggestions from the wild flower enthusiasts to help identify these plants by comments or email. Alternatively you can just enjoy looking at the selection. I was thrilled with my collection even though many are a bit out of focus – I could barely stand with the strong winds when many were taken!

Identification thanks go to Celia at Purple Podded Peas and Sara at Farming Friends .

C1 Spear Thistle and C2 Creeping Thistle.

C3 Marsh Thistle perhaps?

D1 and D2 are Self Heal - seed head and flower head. (Thanks, Celia)

D3 is Red Deadnettle (Thanks, Celia)

E1 Lesser Trefoil? or Black medick - hard to tell from just the flower (Thanks, Celia)

E2 Common Centaury and E3 Ribwort Plantain (Thanks, Celia)

F1 to F3 Clovers in various stages of growth

G2 Himalayan Balsam (Thanks, Celia)

H1 Herb Robert - a type of wild hardy geranium (Thanks, Celia)

H2 Common Mallow (Thanks, Celia)

H3 Bell heather

I1 to I3 Bird's Foot Trefoil (Thanks, Celia)

J1 Scarlet Pimpernel? (Thanks, Celia)

J2 Fox-and-cubs (Philosella aurantiaca) orange hawkweed.

K1-K3 Hawkweed - various forms (Thanks, Sara). When I photographed these flowers I had no idea how varied the petal structures were. It is hard to beleive they are not cultivated flowers.

L1 Hawkweed again - Sara suggests. At the time I thought it was a dandelion but on looking again at the original photo I agree it could be a Hawkweed (Thanks, Sara)

L2 Perforate St John's Wort - I thought so (Thanks, Sara)

L3 Ranunculus but the leaves will help to identify whether it is the creeping buttercup or the lesser spearwort (Thanks, Sara). I have looked again at the original photo and looking at the foliage I agree it could be a spearwort - but perhaps the greater one?

M1 Cabbage family but need leaves to identify which one (Thanks, Sara). This was a very windy shot and all foliage was blurred.

M2 Lady's Bedstraw (Thanks, Celia)

M3 Tormentil I thought - Sara agrees (Thanks, Sara)

N2 Soldier beetle and N3 Ladybird. I also came across many insects, including bees, when taking photos and the occasional mushroom!

O1 Red Valerian (Thanks, Celia)

O2 White Cinquefoil (Thanks, Sara)

P1 Hogweed? (need to see the leaves to be sure) (Thanks, Celia)

P2 Yarrow (Thanks, Celia)

P3 Bindweed - large perhaps? (found growing twining through plants up a wall)

R1 Maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes)

R3 Rusty-back fern (Ceterach officinarum) found growing in walls.

R2 – barley grass perhaps (small low grass, photo taken at the top of the great Orme in Llandudno).

To return to post on shirls gardenwatch go to Wild Flowers July 2007

Wisteria from bud to flower

To return to post and main blog go to shirls gardenwatch

Meconopsis Magic

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The photos above were taken in my garden on June 5th 2007