A fruit with a mesh cage
plants
everything that grows and stays put
Dahlia fever
I can hardly take my eyes off this one: bicolour petals – darker on the reverse, which produces kind of a magic contrast as the petals unfold. And the sunlight produces neon magenta reflections inside the flower!
Dahlias are definetely not maintenance-free. I find they do best when dug up in autumn. But they reward everyone by putting on an enormous show come summer.
Winter Garden
Front Garden
Fluffy Salvia
Cobea scandens
Finally, in October, the first flower opened! Now it’s November and it is unfazed by all the rain we had and the snails and slugs go past without noticing. I actually failed to grow this from seed and a friend gave me a seedling. Such a nice plant! It’s an annual, so I will have to try again next year.
Sweetpeas Color Combination
I have very fond memories of the scented sweetpeas growing over a fence. I was too young to record when my grandmother was actually sowing them each year. These sweetpeas I sowed early this year in pots, pinched them out, but they grew vigorously anyway and then I had trouble to detangle all the stems before planting. It is worth any trouble: They have a divine scent!
Furry Lichen
This is at the edge of a damp meadow near the plant centre. The large trees are wingnuts and the opulent lichen create an eerie atmosphere. It attaches itself not only to the trees, but also to the wooden benches. And to my hair probably, if I keep still long enough.
New Plants from Leaves
This happened by accident. Family bought these, Echeveria elegans I think, from Flying Tiger and after some neglect, they dropped a few leaves – from which tiny roots started to appear. It was taking advantage from us not cleaning the window sill obviously. We transferred them to some pots and from the base of the leaves, tiny new plants grew. That’s it. Propagation from leaves in a nutshell.