Tag: flowering bulbs

A Mystery Lily – a case of mistaken identity

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 3, 2015

Occasionally we buy plants wrongly labelled and usually realise the mistake the nursery has made but this is impossible to do when bulbs are wrongly named. It is a long wait for the error to reveal itself. Early in the year we bought a batch of Asiatic Lily bulbs to boost the range we currently grow in containers throughout our garden. We chose varieties of deep reds with some almost black. Most performed just as expected and we loved them. They added depth to the colour range.

But one pot of bulbs was late throwing up its flowering stems and when we saw how it grew with thin dark stems it made us realise we had something rather unexpected. When it started to produce flower buds in large groups atop each stem we realised it definitely wasn’t what the label said. This Lily was supposed to be Lilium Landini with very dark red almost black flowers.

Just look at what our mystery Lily turned out to be!

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And just look how each beautiful golden flower opens up for us to enjoy!

What a wonderful mystery! A golden Turks Cap Lily!

But what would have grown in our pot if the label was correct – an equally beautiful but oh so different so dark bloom. Almost black velvet! Luckily we had three pots full of these too.

Tags bulbs, flowering bulbs, lilies, Martagon Lily, mystery, Turks Cap Lily

colours flowering bulbs garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools gardening gardens grasses hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs photography shrubs spring bulbs spring gardening water in the garden

Aiming for a year round garden – early spring.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 10, 2014
3 Comments on Aiming for a year round garden – early spring.

We looked at our garden in late winter to see if our aim of creating a garden with interest all year was paying off. Now in Early April things have changed a lot in the garden since our last look so I thought we could have a look at it in early spring. Are we getting there?

I shall start with a look out over our gravel garden, The Chatto Garden, which illustrates just how important Euphorbias are at this time of year. The second shot illustrates how our new border has developed since we planted it up earlier this year.

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Foliage is still a key element in early Spring including fresh foliage of newly emerging herbaceous plants.

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Plants don’t have to be new to be good! Just look at the old favourite shrub, the flowering currant – just ask the bees and they will say how important they are! And of course daffodils and muscari bring life to our spring gardens every year without fail. All bulbs give little splashes of colour to brighten the dullest spring day.

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Our Hellebores are still going strong.

And now a quick visit to our Japanese Garden and the pond side border alongside. There is a lot of colour to find here.

Our native Primrose is perhaps our favourite plant in our garden at this time of the year with the delicacy of its scent and colour. Other small flowers star before their larger neighbours take over the borders.

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The star plant in our garden for early spring has to be the Chatham Island Forget-me-Not, Myosotidium hortemsium, with the flowers in a shade of blue that is so intense it is impossible to describe in words or give labels to. It lives in our Shade Garden so we have to make an effort to go and see it. It deserves our effort.

One part of the garden that we have given a spring clean to is the Seaside Garden which was in need of a face lift.

And for a promise of scent and colour soon to come we need to turn to the Viburnum family.

There are just too many photos left so I shall move into a gallery for you to enjoy.

Tags bulbs, flowering bulbs, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, organic gardening, ornamental trees, photography, shrubs, spring, spring bulbs, spring flowers, spring garden

indoor plants

The Blooming of a Big Bulb

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 19, 2014
4 Comments on The Blooming of a Big Bulb

We had a lovely present from my brother, Derrick and his partner Lyn at Christmas, a big fat Amaryllis. We potted it up and waited. It seemed a long wait but suddenly there were signs of growth, buds started opening looking like little green tongues sticking out. Once they reached about 4 inches in height a flowering stem burst upwards growing at a great rate. It was noticeably taller each day and the bud at its topmost point plumped up until it reached about 18 inches. It then stopped adding any growth to the stem length and instead the bud expanded. Until.

The deepest red petals started to appear, almost black.

After a few days the flowers were huge, as wide as a saucer and each petal developed the texture of the softest most luxurious velvet.

We positioned them near some of my paintings as the petals matched colours in the paintings. these abstracts were based on a special rock structure on a beach in North Wales, where the darkest grey rock had extrusions of red forced into them.

At their peak the four flowers that topped the stem looked far too heavy. It seemed as if the stem would bend or snap at any moment. The contrast between the yellow and red became intense.

And now for one final set of photos – the bloom at its best.

Tags amaryllis, bulbs, flowering bulbs, indoor bulbs

flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening spring bulbs spring gardening Winter Gardening

Our Crocuses

We look forward to late February and early March as that is when those little jewels, the crocuses burst into bloom, attracting the local honey bees and any winter flying bumbles and solitaries.

Our crocus lawn is in its second season and is looking great.

In almost every other part of the garden they open their sunny flowers whenever the slightest sunny ray catches them. We thought we would take a wander around the garden with camera in hand and see how many different crocus we now have in the garden. Enjoy the journey with us.

Tags crocus, crocus lawn, flowering bulbs, spring, spring bulbs, spring garden

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Lottie Bulbs

A mid-February walk around our lottie site on a dull grey day was much improved by the colour of the earliest bulbs. Each autumn we invite donations of bulbs from members and now we are seeing and appreciating the results of our members’ efforts.

We grow lots of these early bulbs as they provide very early pollen for any bees that come out on mild days. We need to look after our bee friends as they help pollinate our fruit, peas and beans and many more crops.

The gold of crocuses (or should that be croci or perhaps simply just crocus?) brightens the orchard meadow.

Snowdrops and Winter Aconites go together like chalk and cheese. Together they light up the Winter Garden.

Even in the Summer Garden spring bulbs have a place. These beautiful blue iris cheer everyone up as they pass by.

The tiniest and most delicate flowers of February are those of the cyclamen which mingle with the bark and fallen leaves in the Sensory Garden. The leaves have fallen from the nearby old Oak tree.

Accidental juxtaposition of plants often give the best combinations. These crocus surprised us when they chose to flower above the bronze leaves of a Saxifraga.

We now eagerly await the masses of Daffodils planted around the site and on the grass verges outside our gates. They will be closely followed by the Tulips in their myriad colours.

Tags allotments, community gardening, crocus, flowering bulbs, garden photography, gardening, iris, meadows, organic gardening, spring bulbs, winter, winter aconite, winter cyclamen, winter gardens

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Tulip Time – Extra Time

Let us continue around our garden in search of tulips and look at some very closely ………..

Tags flowering bulbs, garden photography, gardening, spring bulbs, tulips

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Tulip Time

Every autumn we plant more tulip bulbs and inevitably by the spring we have forgotten what we planted and where we planted them. So when they start to flower we are always in for plenty of surprises.

The low light of a morning in early spring is a perfect time to photograph them. I am sure they grow just to be photographed, as they are such posers!

Let’s have a wander around and see what we have …………