Favourite flowers

[boltardy]

Continuing with wild flowers, my mother likes to leave some patches round the back largely to nature. Some things she's seeded others have just come.

Dog daisy and campion growing round a greengage tree.


Cornflower, campion and corn poppy.


Foxglove and by the looks of things, a load of nettles.

 

[Lanolin]

Apparently foxglove has beneficial effects on other plants around them. It makes them grow faster.

Although all flowers bring bees.
I would like to grow some campion. Its also called rose campion or lychnis. Ive seen pictures of red ones.

Does you mum have a wildflower garden boltardy? Or is it a cottage garden?
When people ask me about gardening, I notice many men just assume I am growing vegetables. When I tell them I grow flowers...(i also grow veges...but its flowers I love) they are not really interested. I dont know why this is, without flowers how can you expect a good crop. Bees need somewhere to go, and you cant have fruit and many veges without flowers!!

 

[boltardy]

Does you mum have a wildflower garden boltardy? Or is it a cottage garden?

She has different gardens, Lanolin. It's a bit late in the evening (9pm) here but I've just taken a couple of pictures to try to help explain.

This is the front garden as it is facing the bungalow:

Another one of the front garden.


The front garden is the only land with the property but she also rents a couple of bits of land adjoining it. One of these is the wood garden. It's only a small patch of trees really. In here, you will see the snowdrops early in the year. This is near the entrance.


Finally, there is the field garden. The dog daisy's I took a picture of are on the left of this. Then then there is a small pond you can't see and then our veg plot and some fruit trees. To the right, there are sheds and my greenhouses. The middle bit we keep mowed is (not that they ever use it) a farm track.



Of course there are other corners but those are the main parts.

 

[boltardy]

To the right, there are sheds

Actually old pigsties. For the gardener, this one is the best:

You can make a cup of tea and/or shelter from the rain in there.

 

[Lanolin]

Wow thats so cool thanks for sharing boltardy.

I've been noticing a lot of red hot pokers lately.

 

[boltardy]

Wow thats so cool thanks for sharing boltardy.

I've been noticing a lot of red hot pokers lately.

Glad you like it. When I first moved here. I used to like going to that shed after dark for a cup of coffee. There was a Calor Gas heater which I'd light when needed and for lighting, I got 4 paraffin hurricane lamps. I used to enjoy that but haven't done it in over 10 years.

A plan I did have for the shed was to put a small fridge in there for cool drinks in the summer and to have LED lighting available (the oil lamps in some ways are nicer). I did run AC from the solar panel to there but hadn't realised how much power the inverter was going to draw... Maybe one day I'll add a second panel (I need 24v because of voltage drop) and see what I can do on DC but other projects crop up and take priority.

Anyway, I must try to stop rambling and get back to flowers... No red hot pokers here. I'm not sure they are my mothers favourite of flowers but I could be wrong on that.

 

[Lanolin]

I dont have any Ive just seen them around, they are quite distinctive this time of year. Also bird of paradise flower.

At the wintergardens, few weeks ago they had the stinking arum lily in bloom. It only flowers for a few days and smells like rotting corpse..and it is huge, like at least a metre high. I wouldnt say its my favourite flower!!

 

[boltardy]

At the wintergardens, few weeks ago they had the stinking arum lily in bloom. It only flowers for a few days and smells like rotting corpse..and it is huge, like at least a metre high. I wouldnt say its my favourite flower!!

Sounds horrible. There are a couple of small native arums in the UK but nothing like that.

Something that sometimes grows in the "wood garden" is the stinkhorn It lives up to its name.

 

[Lanolin]

Ive just been to a fernery and they had some plants for free so I took home another hibiscus. Its red.

 

[boltardy]

Ive just been to a fernery

I'm not sure that I knew the word "fernery". I quite like ferns though and we have a couple of patches of them, one of which gets a bit overgrown this time of the year. Here's a couple of pictures:

A couple in pots by the little pebble fountain under my windowsill:


One of the ones that has found its own place in the wood garden:

 

[Lanolin]

Id really like to grow more ferns on the shady side of the house.
Thing is theyre so expensive to buy in the garden centres! And you cant just take them from the forest.
NZ does not have a lot of showy native flowers, but we do have kowhai, pohutakawa and manuka. Yellow, red, pink and white respectively.
Otherwise the land used to be covered in bush and ferns.

 

[Lanolin]

The stinky arum is not a native.
Im not sure where its from but its not from around here! Some tropical land.

 

[boltardy]

Id really like to grow more ferns on the shady side of the house.
Thing is theyre so expensive to buy in the garden centres! And you cant just take them from the forest.

I've just looked at cost of ferns in the UK. Seem to vary from about £4 for some small plants to several hundred pounds for one big type of tree fern.

We can't just go taking wild plants either. At a minimum, you need permission from the land owner. On top of that, some areas, eg. National Trust Sites and Sites of Special Scientific Interest are protected and there are some plants that have special protection.

NZ does not have a lot of showy native flowers, but we do have kowhai, pohutakawa and manuka. Yellow, red, pink and white respectively.
Otherwise the land used to be covered in bush and ferns.

Thanks for those. The only one I'd heard of was manuka and that was only because of the honey. I've never tasted it but had it applied to a wound on my back.

 

[Lanolin]

Manuka honey is very good. We use it for everything. Medicinal and tastes great too!

 

[Lanolin]

Manuka is called nz tea tree. You can make tea from this tree as well as use the tree for oil..tea tree oil, sort of similar smell to eucalyptus.

And actually very easy to grow, great for bees, and not expensive like ferns. Ive planted two in my patch. Theres also ornamental varieties.

 

[boltardy]

Manuka honey is very good. We use it for everything. Medicinal and tastes great too!

I'll have to get myself a small pot to try sometime. I don't think its ever cheap but it can be horrendously expensive depending on the grade over here, eg. I've just seen one place asking £72 for a 250g jar of 25+ and another £60 for 22+. I've just had a quick look at one page and it looks to me as if the ratings are really for antibacterial uses. Would I be right in thinking that something 6+ could taste as good as something 25+ ?

 

[Lanolin]

Oh the plant is cheap i mean but the honey is not!

I think just try it...it tastes the same to me as long as you get pure manuka honey and not the blend. But its worth it.

 

[boltardy]

My mother's birthday is coming up and I thought I'd get her some heather. Anyway, I thought I'd better check with her and showed her the web site I was thinking of ordering from.

She has picked 5 different heather plants and

Thrift (armeria maritima)

And Geum "Mrs Bradshaw".

 

[Lanolin]

I dont have those, I have sweet william and iceland poppies at the moment.
Hyacinth is also flowering.

 

[boltardy]

I dont have those, I have sweet william and iceland poppies at the moment.
Hyacinth is also flowering.

Apparently we do have hyacinth in the garden. They come out in the spring and have died down. We have had sweet william in the past and may well plant some in the future but we haven't got any at the moment.