Have you ever walked by a plant and been so overwhelmed by its beauty you had to have it in your garden? This probably only happens to gardeners but this happened to me quite a lot over the last two weeks resulting in some rather beautiful new additions to the cottage garden. So this week I’m sharing my plant lust with all of you which feels a bit intimate like I’m sharing a part of my soul with all of you.
As some of these are bulbs and not yet in flower I have credited the images to their relevant sites of origin. I hope you enjoy this week’s Six on Saturday:
Hybrid Tea Rose Silver Jubilee
This beautiful rose stopped me in my tracks at the Ratoath garden centre. It’s grandparent is the shrub rose ‘Parkdirektor Riggers’ and this rose has been awarded both the President’s International Trophy and Gold Medal from England’s Royal National Rose Society. It’s no wonder the scent and the beautiful double blooms had me hugging this rose all the way around the garden center. I’m not even exaggerating, I hugged the container!
Ozothamnus Sussex Silver
On a visit to Black’s Garden Centre for more landscaping
I took two home to test them in my garden and they are currently welcoming people to my front door. Every time I pass it I have to touch it making this one of the most tactile plants in my garden.
Viola
When I was captivated by the Ozothamnus I fell in love with these beautiful pale blue violas and I bought them to underplant the Ozothamnus. These ones I believe are from the sweet Viola so they should act as a perennial in our garden. I am captivated by blue/purple in gardens so I tend to offset this with hints of silver and blue.
Cyclamen
Who can get through the winter period without some Cyclamen scattered around? These happy little guys are my test plants to see how they fare duing this season. I usually only keep these in containers but due to my culling of the front bed I have added a few under planting some trees. Fingers crossed they preform well!
Fritillaries
when dreaming of Spring who can pass the Fritillaries? I added the ‘Fritillaria Meleagris Mixed’ to my containers so that the front of the cottage would have these happy little bells dancing in the sunlight which would highlight the snakeskin pattern on their petals. Word of warning if adding these to your garden sow them on their side to avoid water collecting in the crowns which can cause them to rot.
Allium – Christophii
I’ll hold my hands up and admit that this was an accident. This ended up in my order by mistake and I have always loved Alliums but I never thought they would last in our garden because of the wind. This version is the Star of Persia whose flowers are not as tight or tall as the widely known Gladiator. These are plants I always admired in other people’s gardens and not my own so we see if these break my heart in late Spring ’19.
Have I inspired you with any of my choices? These new additions along with finishing 50% of the front garden has taken a weight off my shoulders. I now no longer cringe (okay, cringe as much as I did) when I enter my garden. I can’t believe the difference just removing what was there has made. Not just to me but to making the garden that I want. One that makes my heart sing and makes me smile. One that calls me from inside and gets me out into the week winter sun. I found I will tend a garden provided I enjoy being in it. It’s inhabitants need to be beautiful and ordered to my eye not what is currently trending. Gardening is so deeply personal that having a garden on display is almost like screaming “This is Me” but without the bearded lady and backing dancers.
Do make sure that you pop over to The Propagator ‘s page to check out more wonderful gardening posts and why not search the #sixonsaturday tag on twitter too to fill your feed with beautiful blooms. There is also a participant guide here if you would like to join in too. Looking forward to catching up with all of your garden posts this week too!
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Most of the Cyclamen being sold in garden centres these days are hybrids which I would regard as being flowering pot plants rather than garden plants. Especially in a cottage garden I think you would be better planting species, especially C. hederifolium but C. coum and C. repandum as well. They’ll naturalise and will grow in places nothing else will, like under conifers. Get them in growth rather than as dry corms if you can, better still, in flower.
They are indeed! I usually buy test plants before I commit to an area and I’m very unsure what this area will look like come Spring as we are removing a lot if not all of the mature plants. I’ll usually buy a bedding tray to see if I like something in an area, test it out and then if I like it I’ll include it in my scheme. Where do you purchase your corns from?
I just pick up a few growing plants each year; a few are starting to seed around now. If I were buying corms I guess I’d go mail order.
Nadia that rose is lush! I’ve just ordered three more climbing roses. I’m fast getting thing for then. I’d like tonget some of the brightly coloured cyclamen that are knocking about at this time of year but I’m never sure of they are hardy.
Oh she is a beauty. I love climbing roses and I do need to add a few to our garden because I only have one rambling rose that I inherited with the cottage. Jim made a great point about Cyclamens. I did have a few that I bought as bedding plants that have lasted 4 winters of neglect from me but they don’t spread but they are just in the forgotten planters that have some grass in them. I’ll let you know if I find a variety that I’m going to add in here.
That evergreen interests me. I’ll have to see if I can find one nearby to sniff! You got some lovely new denizens for your garden. Glad you heart’s now singing.
I couldn’t pass the Ozothamnus. Apparently, it is an Austrailian /New Zealand native so it should survive my garden well. The Sussex Silver is more frost hardy than the Silver Jubilee. You can find the technical note from Teagasc here
I can see why that rose attracted you. Gorgeous. I’ve been growing Snakeshead Fritillaries in my lawn for the past few years although they are slow to spread. Like you I have some in pots too. They’re a beautiful flower.