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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - 01/07/15 - BLUE SPRINGS - IVY LEAF PELARGONIUM
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Zonal Pelargonum "Dream" - and surviving the heat wave.
This single basic zonal pelargonium is certainly well named. Set against the zone-less mid green leaves, the delicate white petals flushed with palest pink, have an almost dreamlike quality. The Pelargonium Register says it was first mentioned in the Australian Garden Lover - an Australian gardening magazine - in 1935. My photograph was taken in the National Collection of Pelargoniums held at Fibrex Nurseries , Nr Stratford upon Avon, UK
Since we got back from our holiday in France we have been experiencing a heat wave here in the UK. I have a small fan in one of my greenhouses and I have had this on to cool the greenhouse and keep the air moving. The larger greenhouse does not have electricity running to it, so I have to rely on the door and window. It is not usually a problem, but this week it has been so still that I have moved quite a few of my precious plants outside. They seem to enjoy their 'holiday' outside in the fresh air, even though it is hot. The species and hybrid species are usually put outside in the plastic greenhouse anyway. This is always left open so no problems here. I am hoping for some rain to re-fill the water butts tonight. It seems to miss us here in the South East.
I am going to Hampton Court Flower Show this weekend, so hope to have some pictures to show you. I say 'hope' because the show is always very busy and therefore not easy to take photographs.
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Wordless Wednesday - 08/07/15 - Picotee - Ivy Leaf Pelargonium
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| Ivy Leaf Pelargonium - Picotee |
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Colwell - Miniature Zonal Pelargonium - and a visit to RHS Hampton Court Flower Show
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| "Colwell" Miniature zonal pelargonium |
Hybridised by Brian West and introduced through Denmead Nursery, “Colwell“is a miniature zonal pelargonium. The semi-double flowers are a dark peach colour and the leaves are green. This is a cross between Peggy West and Little Alice.
I went to The RHS Hampton Court flower show on Sunday with my friend, Marie. We had a wonderful day. It is a really huge show and we think we saw pretty much all of it. Yes, we did buy some plants – even though Marie was quite definite that she would not! Sadly I did not get any pelargoniums. Fibrex Nursery had had a very good week and did not have anything I wanted.
Here are some of the photo’s I took – enjoy!
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| A 'birthday cake' to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Hampton Court Flower Show The Flowers are begonias |
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| Part of Fibrex Nursery Gold Winning Pelargonium Display |
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| A cheery worm |
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| Not very scary Scarecrows |
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| We loved this chap in the Floral Exhibits marquee |
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| Marie is wondering if anyone will notice if she swaps her red shoes for these on the display |
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| This won the Gold Medal - the entire dress was made of flowers |
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| We were not sure if we would want this skeleton sitting in our garden - or even the chimpanzees |
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| I'm not sure my husband would cut the grass if our lawn was like this |
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| Ready - Aim - Flower |
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| We wondered what these people were looking at |
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| This is what - all done with mirrors |
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| There was a fire pit in the middle of this display |
Another peep show
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| Looking at the maize - not sure I would want either of these in my garden, although the second one with the ferns instead of the maize would be OK |
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| I wonder if I can get my husband to build one of these for our wheelie bins |
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| A snooty fox - keeping an eye on the visitors |
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| Alliums on parade |
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| I thought these were 'neat'. They are the topiary shapes you can buy in the garden centre - filled with moss and then these succulents grown in it. They make an good alternative to the usual box plants. |
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Wordless Wednesday - 15/07/15 - Orange Appeal
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| Orange Appeal - zonal pelargonium |
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Wordless Wednesday - 22/07/15 - Stellar Pelargonium "Barbara Lambert"
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| "Barbara Lambert" |
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"Alan Shellard" - tri- coloured zonal pelargonium
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| Tri-coloured zonal pelargonium "Alan Shellard" |
One of the nicest of the coloured leaf pelargoniums the tri-coloured zonal “Alan Shellard”. This has bright double salmon coloured flowers and was introduced by Andrew Simmons in 2008 through Sulman’s Nursery. Many of you will be familiar with the name Alan Shellard – he was a well known hybridiser himself and the author of two books about growing pelargoniums.
Alan Shellard’s books are well worth getting hold of if you can and they are a wealth of useful information. One is “Geraniums for Home and Garden” and the other, “Growing and Showing Geraniums” is one I refer to fairly often with plenty of information on how to prepare your pelargoniums for the show bench. You can try the Bookshop of The Pelargonium & Geranium Society– they often have used books for sale, and if there is one you are particularly looking for the Book sales Officer will let you know when he has one available.
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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - 29/07/15 - "BLIX" DECORATIVE PELARGONIUM
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| "Blix" Decorative Pelargonium |
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"Mantilla" - a miniature zonal pelargonium - and pelargonium bonsai's
A pretty miniature zonal pelargonium, “Mantilla” was hybridised by the Rev. Stringer and introduced in 1969. “Mantilla” has single orange flowers with a white eye. The green leaves have a slight zone.
Several years ago Brian, my husband, who is not a gardener, decided he wanted to grow bonsai trees. Every time we went to a garden centre he would look at the miniature trees, and often buy one. We soon had a collection of tiny trees on the window ledges in the house and conservatory (I think he was trying to outnumber my pelargoniums in the conservatory). As these tiny trees were growing indoors they needed daily misting, so he would traipse backwards and forward from kitchen to sitting room or conservatory to mist his little trees. Not being a gardener or even, I dare to say, a great lover of plants, he soon got bored of the daily traipse. So the little trees soon disappeared from our house. I kept the trays though as I had in mind an idea I had read about – bonsai’d pelargoniums.
Fast forward to last year when I visited the Toronto and the Ontario Fuchsia & Pelargonium Society Annual Show. They have a class for bonsai’d pelargoniums and fuchsias. They were all very good, but one really interested me. It was a bonsai of the scented leaf P.bontrosai – a sport of P. graveolens , and has curley leaves and as a bonsai reminded me of the Japanese Cloud Trees. So on my visit to Fibrex Nurseries last week I got a small P.bontrosai, found one of the small bonsai trays and potted up the P.bontrosai. I was enthused to then look for another miniature I could ‘bonsai’ and found a pot bound P. Sandown in a 3” pot. Then stem had hardened to brown, an ideal candidate. (I am ashamed to say it was rather old but I have another two growing well).
So, here they are, and I have to say I am delighted with them. I feel another interest coming on!
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| P. bontrosai as a bonsai |
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| P. Sandown as a bonsai |
If you've grown bonsai pelargoniums, or decide to have a go yourself, do let me know. I would love to hear about your experiences with these bonsai's.
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Wordless Wednesday - 05/07/15 - "Phyllis" Variegated Unique Pelargonium
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| Variegated Unique Pelargonium - "Phyllis" |
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Regal Pelargonium "Babylon" - and A True Fishy Tale
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| "Babylon" Regal Pelargonium |
This is another great Regal Pelargonium originating in Australia - Joyce Ritchie introduced "Babylon" in 1977 and it is said to be a cross between "Cha Cha" and an unknown Regal Pelargonium. The flowers are a deep red, with almost black blotches and with a large white throat. The leaves are green and the plant has a vigorous and upright growth.
We have had a pond in our garden for many many years – our now grown up boys were quite young when we built it, so probably about 30 years ago. But with my poorly knees last year, it sadly became overgrown. Although I have had both knees repaired, kneeling for long to clear out overgrown pots is not possible, so not much done to it this year either. We also found that with the increasing very wet winters we have had recently, it overflows. Now I know the fish would not swim out – they tend to spend their time at the bottom of the pond in the winter, but my husband worried about it and spent a lot of time out in the pouring rain pumping water out of the pond so it would not overflow. So, it has to go. The liner is big, heavy and unwieldly, so after emptying out the water, plants, four goldfish, and several small frogs (who kept jumping back across the lawn to the pond) – Brian drilled quite a few holes in it and we have filled it with rubble: broken pots and whatever else we could find. We are now slowly filling it with topsoil.
But – what did we do with the fish I hear you ask? On a trip to Australia several years ago I saw a half barrel filled with water, waterlily and fish in the garden of a friend of my sister’s. It was most attractive and I loved the idea. When my sister came over to visit us a few years later she bought me a wooden half barrel and plants for it. The barrel eventually rotted and I replaced it with a plastic one. It was however, not placed very well, being in shade for most of the day. This was good in one sense because it meant the water did not go green, but on the other hand, the water lily did not flower. So, it is now round the other side of the conservatory where it gets sun for most of the day, and is shaded by a potted wisteria. If we get a very cold winter I will have to wrap it in bubble wrap as I have done in the past in its original site.
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Wordless Wednesday - 12/08/15 - Charmay Omega - Miniature Stellar Pelargonium
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| "Charmay Omega"- Miniature Stellar Pelargonium |
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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - 19/08/15 - "COPTHORNE" - SCENTED PELARGONIUM
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Stellar Pelargonium "Pat Hannam" and a visit to The Savill Gardens
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| "Pat Hannam" - Basic Stellar Pelargonium |
This basic stellar pelargonium was hybridised by Brian West and introduced through Fibrex Nurseries. Pat Hannam has single flowers which are a delightful pale pink colour with darker veining to each petal.
The Savill Gardens is situated within the south-east corner of Windsor Great Park and was created in the 1930’s by Sir Eric Savill. The gardens continue to be developed under the patronage of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The magnificent Rose Garden was opened by Her Majesty in 2010.
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| Part of the Rose Garden - sadly the roses were almost over when I visited |
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| Geranium Palmatum growing in the trunk of a tree fern |
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| P. Shottesham Pet |
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S. A Nutt - bi-coloured leaf zonal pelargonium
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Wordless Wednesday - 02/09/1 - Monty's Magic - Regal Pelargonium
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Vectis Sparkler - Stellar Pelargonium - and Dahlias in the garden
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| "Vectis Sparkler" - Stellar Pelargonium I love these multi-petalled stellar pelargoniums - they would be called 'double', but I think some of them, like "Vectis Sparkler" is more than just 'double'. "Vectis Sparkler" was hybridised by Brian West and introduced in 2001. The pale pink petals are spotted and striped in a darker pink and contrast nicely with the gold leaves. I don't have space in my garden for many dahlias, but I grow these each year. They are the well known red "Bishop of Llandaff" and orange "David Howard". The red and orange colours compliment each other well I think.  |
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Wordless Wednesday - 09/09/15 - Surcouf - Ivy Leaf Pelargonium
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| Ivy leaf pelargonium "Surcouf" |
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Wordless Wednesday - 16/09/15 - JackieTotlis - Stellar Pelargonium
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| Jaackie Totlis - Stellar Pelargonium |
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Rushmoor Golden Ruffles
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| Rushmoor Golden Ruffles |
Raised by Steve Pollard in 2006 "Rushmoor Golden Ruffles" was introduced by Gosbrook Nursery in 2011. The double flowers are a soft shell pink set against golden foliage on an upright growing stellar with a short jointed habit. The flowers on this positively glow in the greenhouse.
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