Never thought I'd enjoy flowers too

[HeyWayne]

Amazing how we change innit?

A while ago I decided the garden was a bit to colourless - so set about making a flower bed from part of my lawn (marked out on the right of the picture).



Anyway, planted a few bulbs to see what would happen - and nothing did for a bit. Then, the first things to bloom were the "short stemmed lillies" I'd ordered from J Parkers. They look quite nice now:



I also planted some ground cover and bedding plants (marigolds and something LW picked up at the garden centre), and planted a few seedlings that I'd grown from some seeds Hazel at the Hill had kindly sent me eons ago.

As yet, the only things that have flowered is the Love in a Mist, which looks quite pretty. Just wish I'd planted more now.



Speaking of J Parkers, of the many Astilbe bulbs I planted that I bought from them, only one has grown.



Still, looks quite pretty - if a bit lonesome.

I could get quite into this!

[lynda66]

i got my first dark red nasturtium today, to be honest, i think anything growing in my garden is a bonus, cos i've been looking at nothing but green lawn and soil for 3 1/2 years ... but i was really excited, cos i have loads of them, they should be gorgeous when all the flowers come out

[zazen999]

Nice selective focusing HW.

[terrier]

i got my first dark red nasturtium today, to be honest, i think anything growing in my garden is a bonus, cos i've been looking at nothing but green lawn and soil for 3 1/2 years ... but i was really excited, cos i have loads of them, they should be gorgeous when all the flowers come out

all of the plant is edible as salad,BTW, the young leaves taste nice. Don't let it go to seed though or else next year you'll have nasturtiums coming up everywhere.

[Alice]

Very nice Hey Wayne. I like to grow veg and ornamentals.
You could grow some great stuff up those fences. Edible if you like. Beans, and they do pretty flowers.

[Snadger]

I went the other way Heywayne, graduated from flowers and shrubs to vegetables.
I didn't used to grow veg because I had smallish gardens and as the kids were growing up I needed lawns, patios and sand pits. A house with a small garden can also have it's value upped by planting what the housebuyers like to see.........and unless it's a large garden which can accomodate a special patch, thats usually NOT vegetables.

Now I have my allotments I can live the good life to my hearts content..........but I still like to grow a few flowers to gladden the heart as well!

[lynda66]

all of the plant is edible as salad,BTW, the young leaves taste nice. Don't let it go to seed though or else next year you'll have nasturtiums coming up everywhere.

i know they are supposed to be ...... but i just can't bring myself to eat flowers, anyway some of the leaves have been munched by something, don't fancy that ........ they are supposed to attract blackfly, but theres none on them, actually i haven't seen any creepies on them, so dunno whats doing it.

yeah i think i sowed too many anyway, i didn't realise they would get so big, so not letting them seed is a good plan, i think i'll give them a corner to themselves next year.

[Tam]

You can always collect the seed and use it in place of capers.

[Two_Sheds]

You get different types of nasturtium, Lynda. Some are small compact plants, others are great big sprawling trailers/climbers. They are delicious to eat, really peppery, and full of Vitamin C.

[Two_Sheds]

Wayne, the border is coming along nicely. Blue & yellow really zings when planted together (personally I hate anything pink, so the Astilbe would be compost)

[HeyWayne]

Nice selective focusing HW.

Thanks zazen - I just set the camera to macro and it does the rest. Not great with all the techie side of taking photos - more a point and shoot kinda guy.

Very nice Hey Wayne. I like to grow veg and ornamentals.
You could grow some great stuff up those fences. Edible if you like. Beans, and they do pretty flowers.

I think I'd put some kind of trellis up rather than grow it up those fence panels - at £30 a panel I want them to last!

Wayne, the border is coming along nicely. Blue & yellow really zings when planted together (personally I hate anything pink, so the Astilbe would be compost)

Thanks TS, just want it to fill out a bit now and cover the ground - it's getting there.

The Astilbe is more a crimson kinda colour - the photo above shows it with the sun behind it (it's actually situated behind the green table/chair cover shown in the first photo). Here it is looking the other way:

[SlugLobber]

That Astilbe is amazing! I know what you mean about seeing colourless gardens. I thought the same a couple of months ago when the flowers suddenly went 'quiet'. I have bucketloads of Love in the Mist and I expect I'll have even more, now. Mine went to seed a couple of weeks ago, so I've dead-headed the straggly ones and shaken all the seed out, before adding soil improver.

That's not your pyjamas in the first pic, is it? :P

[HeyWayne]

That Astilbe is amazing! I know what you mean about seeing colourless gardens. I thought the same a couple of months ago when the flowers suddenly went 'quiet'. I have bucketloads of Love in the Mist and I expect I'll have even more, now. Mine went to seed a couple of weeks ago, so I've dead-headed the straggly ones and shaken all the seed out, before adding soil improver.

That's not your pyjamas in the first pic, is it? :P

Oi! That's two of my favourite shirts!

Ooh, do the Love in the Mist seed pods look like poppy seed pods? If they do, then I've got a few too - will dead-heading make it flower more?

[Flummery]

Love in a mist will seed itself very happily - I sowed some 5 years ago and it comes every year. I can let you have some seeds of an orange poppy, small, more like the Welsh poppy than the big oriental jobbie, but it flowers for me on and off from May to the frosts and seeds itself all around. Easy to pull up if you don't want it where it lands.

[smallblueplanet]

I'm a big fan of daisy-type plants, and reckon they give good 'bangs for your bucks'! Try some rudbeckia and galiarda (sp?), also osteospermum too. Oh and lavender and verbena bonensaris (sp again?) and dahlia's and marigolds and marguerittes....oh hang on this is just a list of my favourite flowers!

We've been trying to grow a good herbacious border for a couple of years, mainly from seed - it takes a while to get big plants and then also a while to decide they're in the wrong place!

A work in progress, altered by our neighbours putting up a 6ft fence (which we don't mind), but means certain plants get less sun and damper winter conditions...



Don't forget echinacia (sp!) and (okay non-daisy) hostas - I've been amazed at how much the buzzees LOVE hosta flowers.