Flowers

Everything is looking great at the mo, so this is a post with lots of pictures. I'm generally more into big foliage than flowers, but at the mo there are loads of things flowering their socks off. I'm also being intoxicated by the scent from a Trachelospermum jasminoides and from a lemon tree that was rather beaten up by the hard winter, but has survived and is coming back into leaf again.

Agapanthus: looking fab, but only flowering for a short time. They like being pot bound so are idea for lazy gardeners!

With NGS you only tend to open one day a year and it is so hard to pick a date when your garden looks the best as it is always changing with some areas looking great, then rubbish, then great again. I think if I didn't have so many annual plants then I would open about now as everything looks so fresh and has a lot of energy. I'm also wondering if I will have so much bedding stuff next year as I spent all last weekend weeding, and the idea of perennials that can fight the weeds off is very appealing.

Amicia zygomeris: this was a bit of an obsession to find last year. Great and odd looking plant loved by Christopher Lloyd, leaves fold up at night!

Clary: I'm growing this on the veg bit of the garden for cut flowers...pretty plant and a little odd

Everyone loves a good Corocosmisa, this is Lucifer the one most people seem to have. I had plans to have loads of Crocosmias as I found a specialist nursery in Casitor which was great, however all apart from Lucifer don't seem to like me! I'm particularly excited to grow one where the leaves get to be 5ft tall. I think the leaves are particularly good and a bit like young palm fronds

Day lily: I wasn't sure about these as I didn't think they are very jungly and have composted lots of the common orange one which was already in the garden, but I really like this red one as it has big flowers of a sultry red. I must admit it is still in a pot and I have no idea where to put it (and the 5 others I have) but seeing it flower has brought me round to them a lot more. Particularly if they are planted in a block, or to look like a river bank with their very fresh coloured leaves

Eucomis bicolour, Pineapple lily: I love these and have grown them for 15yrs as they look so exotic with their crazy flowers and mottled flower stem. I'm trying to grow lots together this year as they look good on mass....the only thing is they are smaller than I remember, but have just re dosed with 6X

Perennial digitalis (sorry Im forgetting my Latin today!) lovely and primordial, I think I will collect the seed and grow lots next year

Dahlia 'Roxy' which all of a sudden seems to be everywhere and honeywort which Im growing for the first time. honeywort is great as the flowers are a bit odd and the foliage is a glaucous blue that I like..however I do have a horrible feeling that it will be looking tatty come September..

Musa basjoo and Iris confusa...annoyingly i stuck this banana right in the corner between a tree stump and the wall during a time when I was more keen on Musa sikkimensis, however Im very fickle with my love affairs and now its all about basjoo again, I show my love with a big scoop of pelleted chicken manure

Nigela hispanica: new one to me, relative of love in the mist Im growing for cut flowers, beautiful shade of blue and foliage, Im hoping it will seed around

Paulownia is another lover at the mo as I just love how quickly it is growing and just stand staring at it

This is Persicaria virginia? I love the foliage but until now it hasn't done that well. Red dragon is the one everyone grows which is also great but i think the whole family is worth exploring

Podophyllum...obsession from earlier in the year (thank you mark and Gaz)

Pumpkin terrace finally going a bit crazy: Beena and Stu your namesakes are both in the foreground, how are your big boys?

Salvia involucrata "Bethellii".

Solanum laciniatum: kangaroo apple: thankfully the slugs didn't eat all these: great foliage and odd fruits

Tithonia: first year of growing it and I will grow loads more next year. Great simple flowers, very bright, tall (about 3ft so far) and quite exotic, also very easy from seed

I have also 'planted' this tree trunk that has been rotting there for many years. I think it looks quite interesting up and a bit like those fossilised trees you pay loads of money for

Finally a Zinnia (note the a-z theme here) pretty and nice colour but I was wanting something a bit more like the Tithonia, big and a bit aggressive...The zinnia is a bit too twee, but perhaps they will grow...