More Greek plants

So I promised more pictures of plants I’d seen whilst on holidays in Greece. Again not sure of many of their names but had to share.

I think this is a wild eryngium.

A stunning cycad in bloom.

An stunning black form of an Aeonium, possibly Schwarzkopf.

Enjoy your green space and remember to water. Even use old veg water and washing up water. Think about the environment too.

Have fun 🙂

Greek Plants

After a recent holiday I thought I’d share some pictures of Plants and flowers that were growing in and around the Sporades Islands in Greece. Alonissos, Skiathos and Skopelos.

I’ve tried to give names where I know them, if I find out later I will update. Enjoy!

Trumpet vine and some wild flowers.

Mirabilis jalapa – yellow and pink splashes. These are highly scented at night and grow like weeds!! Perfume fills the cobbled streets!

Simple succulents growing happily together. Kalanchoe and echevrias.

Ρόδι or pomegranate grows so well here. They have stunning pink flowers which are also extremely delicate. Of course the delicious fruit too!

A beautiful red hibiscus flower.

A euphorbia baking in the sun.

The highly scented wild thyme in flower.

A mix of a dried up fig and euphorbia.

A nice huge variegated agave.

You can see the seed heads of a dried up allium.

A sole clump of wild poppies brightening up a rocky scree.

A lovely pink flower from a bulb. I think it’s called Zephyr. I wouldn’t quote me on this.

A simple yet colourful Ganzia.

A lovely window displaying agapanthus and a few others.

The aptly named shrimp plant.

An impressive begonia.

I have never known the name of this plant but it reminds me of fireworks!

I’ll leave you with these for now, there will be some more to follow.

Have a great day and remember to keep your plants watered!

Plant frenzy yarden jungle

We haven’t had any rain for some time and it has been so warm that all the plants having been growing faster than I ever imagined!

Space in our yarden is getting more and more sparse! Though I can always fit in just one more plant.

Lately I have had lots of deliveries and at one point I thought that I got a delivery every day of the week!

Here are some plants that’s have arrived recently:

In a clock wise direction. Setaria palmifolia, Impatiens tinctora, Canna x ehemanii, two Eucomis pole evansii and Hedychium yunnanense. This was literally when I had just unpacked them. They are all doing great now.

I bought the impatiens as this is a white variety and is meant to have an incredible scent. The canna is meant to grow huge! These Eucomis are meant to grow really big too and the Hedychium has luscious leaves and hopefully will have beautiful white flowers. Fingers crossed!

I am really lucky that one of my friends was recently holidaying in Cornwall and she was generous enough to get some plants from my wish list whilst there. Here is another Setaria palmifolia, an exotic grass that has palm like leaves, giving that truly tropical feel and Zantedeschia ‘White Giant’, a much larger version of my already much loved Zantadeschia aeotopica, I’m hoping that this will grow to to about 4.5 feet in the next couple of years.

Also I am so pleased at how the plants have been flowering; if you have read some of my previous posts you may realise that I tend to grow more leafy plants; yet I have had great pleasure in some of the recent colour, variety and most of all scent that they have brought to our tiny yarden.

I thought I would share some of these flowers.

I fell in love with this tiny flowered shrub when we visited Kefalonia last summer. This is Cestrum nocturnum, which although has greenish insignificant flowers, more than makes up with an intoxicating scent that gives the air a Mediterranean summers evening; even here in Stockport!

The lovely white flowers of these cosmos are brightening up a darkened area of the yard and bees love them!

Here are the Zantedeschia Aeotpica I mentioned earlier, these are a real statement plant and already stand about 3 feet tall, I can’t imagine what the ‘White Giant’ is going to look like in the hopefully near future.

This tiny annual is called Alysum, and though I never set out on using this in my yarden, a recent visit to a plant nursery changed my mind! Another scented plant and invaluable to accomplish my goal. Basically the lesson here is don’t be a plant snob!

Another of my favourite species of plants has to be geraniums. They are tough, hard working and give you lots for your money! In this case, this stunningly tiny white flowered geranium was given to me by a friend. As much as I think I have planted it in the wrong area, this is definitely an accidental keeper! I’m expecting it to self seed all over. It reminds me of gypsophila and bouquets of flowers.

You all know I love hostas and I love everything about them, here is Hosta ‘Queen of the Seas’ with lovely white tubular bells, again another regular stop for the bees.

You may have noticed, I generally grow blue and white flowers and perhaps some black, but these are harder to come by. This is Allium carulem, it is only a very dainty flower but added colour nonetheless.

I may have mentioned these beauties before, but I cannot get over how blue and stunning they are. They keep growing, flowering and though they do not provide scent like many other sweet peas I guarantee they will make you smile.

Another amazing scent in my yarden is this small alpine plant that I bought from a plant fair. I had never come cross a Zaluzianskya ovata before; I had to give it a go and the evening perfume is heavy and unmissable.

Apologies for the delay in publishing this, I am currently on holiday in Skiathos, Greece. I am currently taking lots of pictures of the amazing plants out here and will have another blog soon.

Enjoy your green space!!

Another Bank Holiday gone …

I hope this weekend finds you ready to enjoy your outdoor space and with a little luck be able to sit, relax and enjoy the sun.

The last bank holiday for me was all about gardening and plants.

On Saturday my friend and I visited Jefferies Plant Nursery in Gatley. This is family ran and they are extremely good value. It’s not a posh garden centre with a coffee shop, it sells plants. The majority of their plants are annuals or tender plants for the summer season. Needless to say we always come away with a car boot full!

Then we headed over to Bud Garden Centre for yet more compost and a quick nosey round. I really like Sylva Grow Compost that they sell. They also sell Dalefoot Compost this is slightly dearer and slightly different, I save this for my hostas.

All spent up, we got stuck in by doing some much needed gardening at my parents whilst they were in holiday. We did it to surprise them.

It was hard work, digging holes to plant my 2 musas (bananas), 4 cannas and 3 hedychiums (ornamental gingers), we also planted some pelargoniums, cosmos, coreopsis, mimulus, eucomis and an abuliton. I threw lots of annual seeds on to the bed too for good measure. I’m hoping that parents are going to like the colourful display once is gets more established.

I’ve actually still got plants on their way and some how are meant to fit in here too. Where there’s a will there’s a way. Or so they say!

On Sunday I drove up to a small village in Yorkshire, just north of York for an NGS Open Garden.

I’m pleased I made it as it is a beautiful garden, lots of lovely plants and many ‘rooms’. John is also a Hostaholic and Heuchera grower. He had lots of both for sale, along with many other plants.

I can highly recommend visiting Rewela Cottage, it’s inspirational! The hard landscaping is softened by the huge variety of plants he grows. I thought the meandering path kept interest and I couldn’t help admire the organisation! John has an amazing work bench, pots all stacked in order and his labels are all catalogued in order by using recycled toilet roll tubes.

Needless to say I made a few purchases.

Here is Hosta ‘Cherry Berry’, Hosta ‘Colour Carnival’, Hosta ‘June’ and French Tarragon.

For more information about John’s lovely garden and when he’s next open take a look here.

Bank Holiday Monday gave me the opportunity to potter in our yarden, I made more progress with the planters I’ve been making out of recycled corrugated metal roofing and some scaffolding planks.

I’ve also been really excited to see that some of my seeds have finally sprouted and are doing really well!

Before I leave you to carry on watching Gardeners World, if you’re local to Stockport you can find three great events this weekend.

Alpine lovers should visit

Burnage and Levenshulme Open Gardens are back! We visited a few years ago and loved the variety and creativity of these hidden green spaces.

If you’re in the centre of Manchester, King Street has been turned in to a flower and plant haven, worth a nosey..

I’m currently on the train to Leicester to help the in-laws with their garden.

What ever you’re up to this weekend enjoy your garden!