The White Roses

The white roses I have are all lovely and all different and worth a look.

White Cecile Brunner has a pretty lemon centre which fades as the flower opens. Perfumed and constant flowering with healthy foliage 

Souvenir de Philemon Cochet unfortunately sometimes gets brown petals in its flowers, but not this year. This year it is beautiful and the flowers are fairly large. My plant was grown from a cutting and has taken quite a few years to establish. Its a good five feet tall with typical tough healthy rugosa leaves.

Good old Iceberg, I wouldn't be without it. Responds well to a severe pruning and bounces back with flushes of lightly perfumed flowers, which are sometimes blush in the centre.

This rose came from a cemetery. I took a cutting which grew easily but I don't know its name. The bush smothers itself in lovely perfumed flowers just in the spring. These types of roses are best pruned in summer, so I give it a trim after it flowers ensuring more blooms next year.

The White Rose of York (Alba Semi Plena) is another once flowering rose. The single perfumed blooms and yellow stamens look lovely against the grey green foliage. It has just started to flower in my garden and will be superb in another week or so. This one I leave alone as it has lovely long hips to follow which last into winter. Just a tidy up of dead wood is all it needs.

Unusual, Different

Sometimes I find some oddities in the garden when I'm poking about.

Last March I found this nasturtium doing its very best to survive. I have N. Alaska growing nearby so I assume it originated from their seed. The poor thing only lived for about a week after I captured the pic.

And speaking of N.Alaska, I moved one to a new position only to discover as it grew that it must have been crossed with the trailing Nasturiums I also grow. So now I have a variegated trailing plant. I'm trying to root a piece in water so I can keep it going. Although this is a new plant for me, I see there are seeds available.

Just this week I found something similar happening in the Disporum clump with some stems having all white leaves

And then there's the extra bud shooting from the centre of my Tour de Malakoff rose

But back to the changes that happen when the warmer weather arrives, I always forget how much growth occurs in just a few short weeks so before and after shots are always a good record..

June 2013

Nov 2013

Irises

My Irises are blooming very well this year, with plenty of flowers on each plant.
With all that wind I'm amazed their brittle stems didn't snap off. 

Here is Mum's iris Beaumonde, registered back in 1985.
Its awards are : HC (1983), Merton Calvert Award (1984), AM (1985)

and her lovely unnamed one which grows vigorously in my garden, which Barry Blythe kindly sent me after she died.

I don't think I have ever bought an iris, I could always get some rhizomes from mum's collection and bring them down to my garden. They are such a spectacular flower and I can see why she liked to create new ones as a hobby.
 The only ones I can put a name to in this group are Cameo Wine at the bottom left, and (using google) the top left is possibly Love Is All Around.

The plain old fashioned purple one which flowers early, is one I haven't seen bloom this year. Maybe there are others I have forgotten too.

Lots of Colour

After all the very ordinary weather, we are set to have 2 or 3 decent days. It's so nice to wander in the garden with the sun out and just a gentle breeze. I can even smell the perfume of the flowers in the air for a change. Dianthus, rose and iris scents wafting about. By the time I've done the rounds Forget Me Not seeds are usually stuck to the bottom of my pants, or on my sleeves if I stopped to weed. I should be pulling them all out, now that they have finished.

The poor old echium fell over yet again and has been tied once more to its stake. My aim is for it to seed and get some babies popping up.

There's plenty of colour, and although not popular with everyone, I enjoy the vivid orange Californian poppies amongst my other blooms.

Perle D'or, Cecile Brunner and White Cecile Brunner are beginning their show

The irises I moved have grown enough to flower this year, and I see plenty of buds.

I remembered liking the deep colour of Congo Song, and thought perhaps this was that iris, but after searching for images decided mine has a better form, so I've no idea what it's name is.

Another pretty one, moved from mum's garden 

This is a new plant for me. I purchased it at the Melbourne Garden Show and I'm very impressed. It is Salvia Nemorosa Caradonna and probably came from Lambley's. The dark stems and purple flowers go lovely together. I'm hoping it will spread, or seed.

I can see some red poking through on the towering Gymea, so it won't be long til the flowers are out. I would say it is a good 30 years old and has turned into quite a large clump. Amazingly it stood up to the gales, although I imagine from now on it will be more vulnerable with the extra weight. The taller stem would be higher than our roof.

While the ground is moist, the Disporum Sessile Variegatum, the Corydalis ochroleuca, and the Hostas are looking lush in their sunny position surrounding the old bird bath and its succulents.

Spring Babies

The thrushes have been busy gathering food for their babies. I see them poking about looking for insects and spiders around the garden. When the weather is bad they land at the door, sometimes with a whistle, and I throw some broken up arrowroot biscuit out. It's quickly grabbed and they fly off to feed their chicks. Just before nightfall I can usually count on seeing them for one last feed. For the rest of the year they're around, but don't come looking for extra food.

No wonder they're busy, four hungry babies.

My first irises to flower. I don't do anything with these tough old ones and they flower year after year

I've bought some Heucheras this year and so far so good. I'm blaming Pinterest for my sudden interest in them, there are so many pretty colours, so many to collect. 

 The Cotinus coggygria had a severe pruning 18 months ago when we thought it might have to go to make way for our new driveway. Luckily we didn't have to remove it and it is making a slow recovery and now with its new dark purple foliage, a lovely backdrop for Heuchera Southern Comfort

         I'm enjoying the creamy coloured silky Californian poppies that I grew from seed and that have now taken over this spot. They can spread themselves around to their hearts content. That's a Kangaroo Paw Bush Pearl to the left.

The Roses

The Roses are starting to flower.

 Draped all over the chook yard is Souvenir de Madame Leonie Viennot which smothers itself in large pink blousey blooms. The thick heavy stems are starting to bow the roof. I would rather put in an extra support beam than cut those laden branches off. There's not much perfume to my nose, just a rosy smell.

Lovely pink Lorraine Lee is doing well even after being moved. The fruity perfume it emits is a favourite, plus its long flowering period.

La Reine Victoria has only a couple of cupped lilac pink flowers. It doesn't flourish in my garden and will soon be covered in black spot. The blooms are still lovely, so she stays.

Monsieur Tillier with its unusual shade of salmon pink flowers is out. I pruned its large old canes hard one year when when I was sick of it growing the wrong direction, and it hasn't really forgiven me.

Some old tea roses probably shouldn't be treated that way. Luckily I'm still getting flowers.

Lady Hillingdon, another tea, is always reliable with pointed yolk yellow buds and sweet perfume. The flowers open out, fading to cream.

I love the colours of Hugo Roller, looking almost edible with its strawberries and cream petals. It's another tea rose I've had for many years, with a lovely fragrance. Unfortunately if the weather isn't favourable in spring the blooms can turn brown, although this year I've had no trouble.

My Sombreuil has plenty of  beautiful saucer sized white flowers with delicate flesh pink centres in the newly opened blooms. Despite growing against a warm wall, it isn't the vigorous plant I see photos of elsewhere on the net. One thick stem that I'm not game to prune but loads of flowers at least.

The last pic is, I think, Duchesse de Brabant. I moved this one from mum's garden and it has done very nicely. The lovely soft pink nodding flowers and healthy foliage are a welcome sight.

More Self Seeders and Other Spring Pics

Some more plants that pop up on their own around the garden

Thalictrum aquilegifolium with its fluffy mauve flowers and aquilegia looking leaves

this Euphorbia which can be a bit invasive, but is such a lovely colour

and the lovely ornamental glossy leaved Angelica pachycarpa 

And an update on the Echium pininana. 

Surprisingly it seems to have made a recovery, and is standing up,

 

although the leaves have suffered with some browning on the ends.

   

My Narcissus Sundisc is out. Such a lovely little variety, each flower only the size of a 20 cent piece.

The Maidenhair found locally, which I suspect is Adiantum aethiopicum, has shot up with new fronds in a foamy mass. It has slowly filled this little area in front of Cocky's cage.

  

And finally, an achievement over the weekend, shovelling some stones onto the sedum bed. which has made it look so much neater.