"Collecting ripe seeds and growing plants from them
is one of the great joys for gardeners."
- Christopher Lloyd
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| Dianthus superbus and Stipa tenuissima |
In hot summers it's vital to have some light and airy plants to give the impression of a draught wafting through your garden... even if it's only the mildest of breezes!
The popular Mexican grass, Stipa tenuissima, took hold in our courtyard some years ago and we liked it so much we've just let it flourish.
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| Dianthus superbus 'Superb Pink' - from Chiltern Seeds |
It seeds itself happily in the chalk base of our gravel courtyard and just needs a comb every once in a while to draw out the dead 'hairs' which tend to get matted after rainfall.
Then, voila, it looks like the finest of blond tresses after a rainwater rinse!
Now we've found a similarly tall, wavy companion flower called Dianthus superbus 'Superb Pink', which I grew from seed last year. It must have taken about twelve months to start flowering and patience was wearing thin as some of the grass-like specimens in our raised bed started to look very dry and frazzled.
But, finally, it has rewarded us with a positive exuberance of flowers - delicate and fringed, ever so slightly scented and good for cutting. As light levels decrease in the evening, its finely cut petals glow beautifully against the dark shadow of our little garden house behind.
We also grew some of these in a shadier border under the ash tree and foliage has stayed a better, deeper green. The flowers are just as good, having come a little later but lasting for longer in the relative cool.
When my cousin came to stay recently we took her to one of our local beaches where there are carpets of wild pinks flourishing in sandy soil beneath the pine trees. She noticed that some had already formed ripe seed capsules, so we took a few just to see if we can grow them in the garden.
I have to agree with Christopher Lloyd that raising your own plants from seed is hugely satisfying.
Pinks are amongst the easiest to grow, provided you use seed when it's fully dry and ripe, scattering it over sandy or gritty soil in a warm site. They need very little in the way of watering - in fact putting them into humid compost is probably the worst thing you can do for successful germination.
In England I was told that mixing a bit of brick rubble and mortar into your soil would make a good cuttings medium for pinks... Over here we just add some of the chalky bits that accumulate down our back lane. Another way of using what Nature has so generously provided for free!
Recent hot weather has encouraged lots of butterflies to visit the garden, especially when we've used the watering system and they can have a drink at the same time as collecting nectar. It seems the large blooms on these scabious are popular with most winged insects and a single flower can host two or three visitors at the same time.
One of Christina's favourite plants, also grown from seed, is the flouncy tree poppy or Romneya. It sits well amongst a border of tall echinacea, coming into flower now.
The RHS classifies Romneya as a "suckering sub shrub" (not easy to say after a glass or two!) but gives it their seal of approval for the garden. It grows to about 2m, with tough but attractive grey-green foliage which enables the plant to thrive in hot climates and be fairly drought resistant.
I find many types of poppy difficult to raise from seed because they don't like being pricked out from a tray to a pot and are better grown in situ where they are to flower... which can be awkward in a small garden, with space at a premium and weeds liable to overtake seedlings at any moment.
So, Romneya is ideal in that respect: easily grown from seed and happy to be transferred from tray to pot.
Another Mediterranean-type plant which is popular here is the oleander. It does particularly well in town gardens where it's more protected from frost and harsh winds and, so far, we've resisted the impulse to try and plant one on our own wind-battered site.
They are, however, sold quite cheaply in pots at the start of the season and do make a handsome container plant which doesn't need too much water.
We chose two different pink varieties and the paler one has come out well before the other for some reason. No matter, they will provide a couple of nice punctuation marks on either side of the driveway.
Here you can see it next to the lavender border which is in its second summer.
The lavender plants have grown quite large and now need to be kept tightly trimmed... we experimented by cutting back every other plant just as it was about to flower.
This had the effect of delaying flowering and it's noticeable that new blooms are smaller and shorter than the first growth, which is somewhat lax and inclined to flop over our black edging. For the sake of neatness and uniformity, we may decide to give them all a June-prune in future.
Shrubs like smoke bush put on a huge amount of growth in midsummer and we suddenly noticed that ours is about 4m tall, with lots of dark leaves which almost burn with colour in the evening light.
By contrast, our new raised bed falls into shade by late afternoon, so the pale blues and whites really stand out.
We looked for a long time to find the achillea called 'Terracotta' because its lovely apricot hue complements anything with a bit of mauve in it. Hence we planted it close to a small catanache, which is slightly lilac in tone, and to Veronica spicata which is a darker mauve.
Playing with colour gives you an almost Monet-like ability to turn your garden into a canvas, with constantly moving light providing some deft brushwork which can be caught on camera and creatively manipulated for hours in Photoshop.
But, contrary to appearances, the following shot really hasn't been cloned!
Then, voila, it looks like the finest of blond tresses after a rainwater rinse!
Now we've found a similarly tall, wavy companion flower called Dianthus superbus 'Superb Pink', which I grew from seed last year. It must have taken about twelve months to start flowering and patience was wearing thin as some of the grass-like specimens in our raised bed started to look very dry and frazzled.
 |
| Dianthus superbus and Veronica spicata |
We also grew some of these in a shadier border under the ash tree and foliage has stayed a better, deeper green. The flowers are just as good, having come a little later but lasting for longer in the relative cool.
When my cousin came to stay recently we took her to one of our local beaches where there are carpets of wild pinks flourishing in sandy soil beneath the pine trees. She noticed that some had already formed ripe seed capsules, so we took a few just to see if we can grow them in the garden.
 |
| Wild pinks by the beach |
Pinks are amongst the easiest to grow, provided you use seed when it's fully dry and ripe, scattering it over sandy or gritty soil in a warm site. They need very little in the way of watering - in fact putting them into humid compost is probably the worst thing you can do for successful germination.
In England I was told that mixing a bit of brick rubble and mortar into your soil would make a good cuttings medium for pinks... Over here we just add some of the chalky bits that accumulate down our back lane. Another way of using what Nature has so generously provided for free!
 |
| Scabious caucasica 'Fama Blue' with Marbled White butterfly |
Recent hot weather has encouraged lots of butterflies to visit the garden, especially when we've used the watering system and they can have a drink at the same time as collecting nectar. It seems the large blooms on these scabious are popular with most winged insects and a single flower can host two or three visitors at the same time.
 |
| Tree poppy or Romneya coulteri |
The RHS classifies Romneya as a "suckering sub shrub" (not easy to say after a glass or two!) but gives it their seal of approval for the garden. It grows to about 2m, with tough but attractive grey-green foliage which enables the plant to thrive in hot climates and be fairly drought resistant.
 |
| Romneya in full flounce |
So, Romneya is ideal in that respect: easily grown from seed and happy to be transferred from tray to pot.
 |
| Nerium oleander |
They are, however, sold quite cheaply in pots at the start of the season and do make a handsome container plant which doesn't need too much water.
We chose two different pink varieties and the paler one has come out well before the other for some reason. No matter, they will provide a couple of nice punctuation marks on either side of the driveway.
The lavender plants have grown quite large and now need to be kept tightly trimmed... we experimented by cutting back every other plant just as it was about to flower.
This had the effect of delaying flowering and it's noticeable that new blooms are smaller and shorter than the first growth, which is somewhat lax and inclined to flop over our black edging. For the sake of neatness and uniformity, we may decide to give them all a June-prune in future.
 |
| Cotinus coggigrya or Smoke Bush |
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| Raised bed with Achillea 'Terracotta' and Catanche caerulea in foreground |
We looked for a long time to find the achillea called 'Terracotta' because its lovely apricot hue complements anything with a bit of mauve in it. Hence we planted it close to a small catanache, which is slightly lilac in tone, and to Veronica spicata which is a darker mauve.
Playing with colour gives you an almost Monet-like ability to turn your garden into a canvas, with constantly moving light providing some deft brushwork which can be caught on camera and creatively manipulated for hours in Photoshop.
But, contrary to appearances, the following shot really hasn't been cloned!
 |
| Young storks in a freshly mown hay meadow |
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