Whats Looking Good August 2022

Salvia atrocyanea

Echinops tjanschanicus flower head

Echinops tjanschanicus plant


Origanum Kent Beauty

Buddleja weyeriana

 

@NigelJ the origanum is lovely and the echinops a lot nicer than e ritro I grew from seed. The leaves would twist and curl unpleasantly later in season though I couldn't find any pest

 

Thank you Jenny, i haven't noticed a smell of them. Yes i remember them from my childhood as well as lupins, calendula and cosmos.

 

@CarolineL I'm surprised that I don't see the Origanum more widely grown as insects lovely and doesn't spread much or self seed.
The Echinops I grew from seed nearly 20 years ago and it gradually formed a 1 m diameter clump and then stopped spreading. In most years it's about a foot or so taller than it's current 5 -6 ft, like a lot of things the cool dry spring slowed it down. The dried leaves after flowering are uncomfortably prickly.

 

Not much.

Last year...




This year...now.

 

Next year it could look the same as the first picture.

 

Oh too true Pete....we gardeners have to be optimistic, that's why we sow seeds in Winter... and take a mug of hot chocolate out with us into the greenhouse in January to tend to our over-wintering plants!! We are always hopefully aiming for a beautiful Summer garden.

 

Oooooh Lupins.... I could still recognise that perfume blindfold....saw a wild field of them in Southern France once...that perfume.....awesome..,♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

 

I think that it's only the wild ones that are perfumed.

 

Another big fan here of Origanum 'Kent Beauty'. It's really proved it's worth this year, coming through the horrendous drought unscathed.

 

We have some colour despite the heat and no rain.

 

@roders Looks very nice. Who is the black Furry?

 

I think they use them as a soil improvement crop in some countries they plough them in.

 

Lupins 'Blue Sonet' is a hardy annual green manure that can be planted from March to July and is part of the legume family. They suit light sandy acid soils and soils up to pH8 and are a hardworking leguminous plant that has very long tap roots that dredge up minerals.

 

Chilopsis linearis , (desert willow), it loving the weather.


Hibiscus syriacus, these are just self sown seedlings I've collected over the years.


The neighbours view of half of my jungle allotment.



No its not Albizia its Calliandra surinamensis.


This is Albizia.