A year and a half ago, we planted some "Blue clips" campanula (common name "Carpathian Harebell" - I love it!) in one of the back beds by the deck. Following the rule of three, we planted three of the little sweeties. This summer, one of the clumps has finally flourished! Here it is, along with the indestructible "Lamb's Ear" (stachys byzantia) and another blue charmer, some sort of anemone (?), over to the left.
It's very handsome, and a welcome bit of rich colour as the rest of the garden gets a bit bleached out in the dog days of summer.
Just to the right of it, in the next photo, you can see the second campanula (marked with the little plastic tag), which is very dead.
And a little further to the right is the third one, which is doing its very best but is looking pretty pathetic. Now that I have remembered where it is, I will make more of an effort to keep other stuff away from it, and to give it some water.
Meanwhile, further back, to the right and in front of the pergola, is a little scene I'm proud of.
The low, handsome mound is some cranesbill (alpine geranium). These guys bloom in May and then get all floppy, so I hack them right back. This time, though, I noticed that some of the floppy stems had made their way up into the camellia bush behind . They were still blooming away merrily, and the glossy camellia leaves hid most of the bare stems, so I just left them. And they're still blooming - very pretty all threaded through the camellia!
A little further back, the site of pulmonaria-under-seige-from-the-comfrey (I am still digging out that wretched stuff, and you can see some new bits coming up over to the left, below) is a wee plant that Mum rescued from the other side of the pergola last spring. Anyone know what this thing is called? I love the fringed "bottle-brush" blooms it is producing.
And one more little scene that is a nice contrast from all the pink and blue I've got going elsewhere: frou-frou shasta daisies and crocosmia, tucked in by the neighbour's fence, almost under the pergola.
As I am waltzing around, snapping these photos on a hazy, warm, late afternoon, Ozzie is curiously AWOL. Usually he's right there at this time of day, reminding me that the dining hour approacheth. Harriet had to fill in for him.
"Listen, could you just put the stuff in the dishes?"
8 comments:
From Mum:
"Sweet about the ' 'Blue Clips' - could the anemone? possibly be a scabiosa? looks like. Having the geranium/cranebill climb like that is really cool. I know what that bottlebrush cutie is but the archivist hasn't come back from the stacks yet. Not sanguisorba...."
and
"I love the "get the dinner in the dishes" comment"
Yes! I looked it up in my perennial book, and the picture matches perfectly:
"sanguisorba obtusa" or japanese burnet, from the rosaceae family.
And yes! the other blue thing is "scabiosa columbaria" or 'Butterfly Blue' pincushion flower - that picture matches too.
Man you're good.
I'm glad Oz came home; hate to think of him missing a meal.
From Chris:
"By the way, your blue anemone is a scabious. It’s one of my favourite perennials –makes long-lasting cut flowers as well. It also comes in a white form (although mine didn’t last)."
Teya - he came home, but the reason he was lying low was that he had a great big abcess on his face from defending the garden from an invader. I think he realized it was going to mean another trip to the vet. He was right! But he's feeling much better now. Although he wiggled when they were shaving his cheek, so now his whiskers are lopsided.
Oh no, poor Oswald. How brave of him--he just does not look butch enough to get war wounds. Silly old Ozbert. Hope he isn't too embarrassed by his uneven whiskers.
Teya- what makes me laugh about Oz taking it in the face for the good of the pride is the fact that the one time Harriet had to have an abscess lanced, it was at the base of her tail.
Same with Ferdie--his one war wound was on his tail. Big does not always equal bold.
Post a Comment