Annuals as cut flowers, and update on gardening jobs!

This Acer is the first to leaf and its colour is always bright orange with a shrimp pink edge.

Later in the year it changes to apple green.

The colour on this photo isn't quite as strong as it actually is. But its such an unusual colour this time of year, I thought some of you might like to see it.

Although the wind has whipped up the last few days, and it remains to be seen whether the leaves can withstand the weather!

There's always something to worry about in the garden isn't there?

Sorry Wwmk2 .. I've seen them in others gardens and on tv but I haven't ever grown them myself.

WW2 I have 2 clumps. The first one is in a border with not much sun and it didn’t flower, other than once. Last year I divided it and put a small clump in a sunny place, it’s greened up so I’m hoping for flowers this year.

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These pink tulips have just opened and I was quite surprised by their inner colour!

I have those and they spread - every year there are more.

I’ve sown lots of seeds and they are all popping up except the larkspur. I never ever have any success with them. Had anyone got any ideas?

J52 I love the look of them so might give them another go but not successful so far.

We’ve had tremendous winds recently as well. My front garden is supposed to be a Japanese zen garden, and I have some rhododendrons in pots. One pot smashed, I found another one on its side this morning and plant fallen out, and another dead because of wind burn I think. The only thing looking totally happy is the a Japanese cedar. Nice plant - recommend it if you are looking for something like that.

We never used to have such cold high drying winds.

Lovely photos lisagran the second one looks a bit scary or am I being ridiculous?
A bit like day of the triffids!!

Lovely Tulips Lisagran . Mine aren’t quite out yet.
Leafing through this months RHS magazine, there’s an article on the tulips and those at Arundel castle.
Such a pity that we cannot get out and about to enjoy the beautiful gardens.
I’m tailoring my daily walks past houses with pretty front gardens.

Any one have knowledge of Dahlias as I have a question.

Do the cuttings taken from the tubers result in flowers the same year?

I've spent the day trying to glue back together a broken pot, and I thought of your garden Wwmk2.
Did you get to put it all back together after the wind damage?

It's that fussy time weather wise. On and off with the bubble wrap. Opening and closing doors to stop the draught or heat!
How long is it since we've had rain? 2 weeks I think, I shall be getting the hose pipe out if it carries on.
Dragging watering cans around is wasting too much of my energy.

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Tulips coming out here........

namsnanny no I’m still waiting for a pot to arrive and the rhododendron is sat in a bucket waiting for its new home.

Yes I think the cutting will flower.

lisagran glorious.
Tulips are lovely aren’t they, I’ve decided I’m going to try to go for early mid and late next year to extend the season as long as possible.

Should have done more than I did today feeling lazy though.

Wow lisagran … that last photo definitely looks like something out of Day of the Triffids!!

So unusual, and such a lovely true pink.

I also like the peony tulip.

Once again lovely photos Thanks

Funnily enough me too Wwmk2 … emoji is the nearest to a yawn!!
Gnet is a bit behind on choice for emoji.
As far as next season is concerned, I'm not thinking too far ahead. I don't have the brain to work out where the economy will be by then......will everything be expensive, or in short supply? I don't know, so I'll do what I swore I would never do again (because it was such a lot of work) and feed, dry off and replant my bulbs instead of relying on the shops having what I want.
Not looking forward to the faff though!

Oh well back to my and garden seat.
The way I feel I might break out the G&T's later on, feels quite festive and summery here!!

What's this do you think? It's appeared in the Honeysuckle!

sorry a poor photo, but my first visible Ladybird yay!
I haven't even seen any aphids yet!

Your plant in the Honeysuckle looks like Green Alkanet/Bird's Eye/Evergreen Bugloss......Pentaglottis sempervivens.

If so, it's a self-seeded perennial wildflower, been around since the 1700's. Bees love it and will travel a long way to track it down, the idea is to leave it in the garden until the last flower has gone, then cut it down to the base. If you need to touch it later in the season when the furry stem and possibly leaves will be quite prickly, it's an idea to wear gardening gloves. If you decide to dig it up, any root that you leave will grow into another plant.

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Just some photos of Acers coming into leaf.

The lime green one looks good against the dark ivy I think.

Grandmafrench … Oh Thank you for identifying it. I like the idea that it is loved by Bees!! I think I'll keep it.
Where it's growing is a bit wild and to be honest if I propagated it (sounds as if root cuttings might be the way to do so) I could have a little patch to attract more Bees.
Thank you for all the info.

I'm an avid amateur but not great with seeds.
My dad was brilliant in the garden and grew everything from seed, keeping me well stocked with bedding plants.

A funny story.
Every Spring dad's greenhouse was full of seedlings, then pricked out etc. He gave loads away to the neighbours and had a wonderful 70' long garden that was full of sweet pea, dahlias, gladioli, cosmos, all for cutting projects smaller bedding like marigolds, etc.
His greenhouse was shelved beyond capacity. Over 40 trays of seedlings watered faithfully and the greenhouse window opened daily and closed at night.

Dad was fond of a drink.
One night after a few, he went to water his seedlings which were coming along beautifully. Temporary shelves squeezed in and balanced on all sorts of tin cans. No rhyme or reason to it.

His balance wasn't perfect and he stumbled, hitting a shelf or two. Well.... When one shelf toppled they all toppled. Dad on the floor of his greenhouse and the majority of his 40 seedling boxes scattered around him. They weren't even all lightweight plastic trays. He used old wooden fish boxes as well.

Poor dad, he sobered up pretty quickly. All his work.

Next day was a busy one. All hands on deck. Everything out of the greenhouse, shelves reassembled, seedling trays set up and as many seedlings as possible saved. We did ok. He was always well overstocked anyway.

He never ventured into the greenhouse again after having a few.

Those are the stories that family histories are made from !

I adore bees Namsnanny and they are SO important to us, aren't they. I shall think of your bees turning up from as far away as 3kms just to taste your new plant. They'll probably all get drunk on the honeysuckle and have a big party !

I’m hoping that my idea of a night perfumed garden will attract moths.

So far Ive got a datura looking like a twig with a couple of leaves and seedlings -night scented stock, nicotiana and night phlox. Fingers crossed.

Wwmk2 … Your perfumed night garden sounds magical. How are the seedlings coming along?
Some of my Cosmos are a bit leggy. :-(

Grandmafrench … I love the idea of keeping bees, but not now.
We always get a Bumble bee visit us on Christmas Day! Since we noticed he visited the Cyclamen flowers one year, we made sure we have some every winter.
I've just planted loads of Cyclamen coum under a tree. I don't know if the bees like them, but they do flower throughout the autumn and winter, so I'm assuming they will have some nectar.

Coolgran … Your poor Dad, all his careful work on the floor!
Thank goodness he didn't break any of the glass windows,
So funny to read though
I'm glad you shared that story, it really gave me a chortle!

Bumble bees are so sweet. We have them here in the S..of France almost all year round. We have many hedges of Eleagnus and the flowers almost make us - and the bees - drunk on the perfume from late September until the New Year. Then the little fruits are the birds, especially the starlings, and one of my dogs - fruits that he eats endlessly! When we lived in Normandy we had "bee adventures" which still make us laugh now, so although we declined the offer of having hives in our grounds, we did learn so much about bees from a mad keen apiarist. I have a huge pot of night-scented stock which has been flowering since last summer and I am longing for a time when we can get some seeds from the Uk again to fill the corners of the garden. We used to grow tobacco plants, which I would like to do again for the perfume and also I am looking out for a Clematis Montana for a wall here. I used to have the one named "Elizabeth" which smells of marzipan. So pretty. Autumn flowering cyclamen and freesia grew wild in our garden in Greece and we had lots of cyclamen in our little wood in Normandy. Big pink and white clumps attract the bees so the cyclamen must have nectar. Currently I have huge hedges of Stephanotis which is a real "knock you down" perfume and we are waiting for the flowers to die before lowering the height of the hedges this year.
I have a Datura whitewave, rescued in a sale from the garden centre, but disappointingly - although we have massive blooms - it doesn't have the wonderful perfume. I shall look for another - I was put off in the past because certainly the perfumed one is poisonous and I worried about small GC. However, safe to grow now. Good luck with a perfumed garden, such a lovely idea.

namsnanny night perfumed garden update. Datura beginning to grow. Keeping it in the conservatory until the nights are warm. Night scented stock seedlings have been planted out in various pots on the terrace nearest the door. It’s very sheltered so hopefully they are ok. Nicotiana is growing in the greenhouse in their pots and night phlox still need pricking out. I think I need to sow more night phlox.

I love bumbles as well. We grow a winter clematis and they visit the flowers the whole winter. I do try and grow everything for pollinators.

Cold wind today so staying in.

I’ve put the pots with the rhododendrons in a sheltered spot. They’ve survived the whole winter until the spring winds.
grandma french you are lucky as I’m sure you can grow all sorts of lovely stuff that won’t do so well in the U.K. Do you ever have frost?

First rose of the year. I think I’ve put it somewhere else. It’s an old French rose called Etoille de Holland - lovely perfume and a good doer. Flowers until autumn.