New Arrivals

Yesterday Hils took me out to look at a Bonsai specialist.After a long drive through flooded roads and diversions we pitched up by the Bonsai nursery.I had my camera ready to go...but discovered it was shut.

We went to Hampsons, the huge plant Nursery with millions of plants.Im terrible for going to these places and never leaved empty handed.

Outside the Nursery centre was a section of FREE plants.That could not be sold.I took pity on some of them and loaded a few more plants that


needed some TLC to make them look good again.

The free plants were:
1)two trays of Mimulus (see the red flowers)

2) three courgette plants (top photo)

The plants I bought were:

1)Passiflora Caerulea: the Brazilian passionflower, ideal for growing as a pot plant untill I get a garden.
2) Stephanotis: The Madagascan Jasmine, also called the Hawian wedding flower.It has big white starshaped flowers with an overpowering smell of Jasmine.It is trained around a hoop, and is what Mum had growing in the kitchen in Cheltenham.Thats what I wanted before for a scented plant (oops i have a Star Jasmine as well!)

3) Sea Holly: Eryngium Varifolium.The label reads "A clump forming evergreen perennial with rosettes of drak green leaves mrabled with white veins.Stiff branched stems bear cylindrical umbels of grey blue to pale blue flowers with longer sharply pointed silvery white bracts".
It can grow in well drained or dry soil in Sun, with protection from wet.It looks thistly but is not sharp the leafs are soft.
The Indoor greenhouse is bursting at the Seams now with plants, summer bulbs, seedlings of Pansy Rippling water, and common garden mint.I have potted up Amaryllis Bella for Autumn Flowers.The Stargazer lilly flower bud is changing colour and is of good size now.
The passion flower has multiple flower buds, and has some new sticks to grow up as it totally over ran the two hoops it has got already.
The Mimulus look perky now after new soil and a watering yesterday.Their flowers are like works of art.
Believe it or not this is my one hundredth post in June.Thats about four a day :) I never knew I had posted so much.I have also upgraded to the new Blogger Templates because I will have fun trying to change how the blog looks.This new look will do to start.
Hope you all like the new look, but there will be more to come, once I work out the changes I can make with the new editing.

Aspidistra flying in...

The Aspidistra Elatior was one of my prize finds yesterday at the plant stall.It has beautiful two foot long leaves, and the stems are like thick green sticks (I thought they were green canes keeping it upright, untill i looked closer).

Also called the Cast Iron plant it loves low light areas, occasional watering, and has some purple flowers that grow at the base occasionally.I have mine about eight foot from the window.It likes half strength fertiliser during the summer every few weeks.

Joining the Richard E Grant loving plant are ten other kinds of flowering plant or grass.

These new plants are:

1) Aspidistra pictured :)

2) Fuschia Alice Hoffman

3) Salvia red plant

4) Penstemon Amelia Jane, small plant

5) French Marigolds: eight plants

6) Nicotiana Domino, eight plants with flowers of red, white, and pale green.

7) Streptocarpus from Hil's house.A hairy leaved flowering plant..

8) Festuca Glauca, two pots of the green/blue dwarf growing grass

9) Bougainvillea

10) Unknown name Hellebore, a baby plant

11) Geum Yellow, with its crinkly green heuchera like leaves.

12) Aeonium Schwarzkopf, a strange looking Succulent.like a house leek on a long stem.Its so big the rossette it tips the pot over.

Thats given me loads more plants to photograph.I took over a hundred yesterday from Hilarys garden, and one of her friends who had the most glorious Peony in pink and white flowering.They will be posts this week, between my seven night shifts.

Hope all your gardens are growing, and that the sun smiles down on you :)