Nothing But Flowers

Quickly snapped in the evening - but you get the drift right? Flowers! Lychnis, Daisies, California Poppies, Hollyhocks... on Dog Kennel Hill everything is going bananas. As I thought there are Hollyhocks springing up EVERYWHERE - they really need transplanting. I added in 2 x Day Lilies [poisonous to cats you know] and 1 x Liatris, and did 2 bags of rapido style weeding.

Before/After

Alrighty. So I met up with the Chef Solaire and enjoyed revamping a tree pit with a. company, b. some fresh compost, c. a slew of plants, and d. passersby who actually talked to us! The Chef scored the compost and some very clay based soil which we dug in after removing loads of cooch grass [sp?] and groundsel and moss and a few small tree roots too. It is a pretty congested pit, however the plants are tough and they will have to cope. We planted: 2 x Dipsacus [teasel], about 5 sprouting roots of Echinops [blue thistle], 1 x Liatris, 1 x Aquilegia. Plus.... I accosted a woman carrying a tray of Busy Lizzies. I thought she was coming to donate on purpose, rather than because I guilt-tripped her... Anyway she donated 2 of them [no nectar! but some colour....]. Another woman en route to Church asked me if I was afraid of being bitten... Of all possible worries that really wasn't among them.  Then, after I had gone home I realised that I hadnt taken an 'after' photo so returned with the lovely N with a batch of vinca, a pink hardy geranium and one of those lilac michaelmas daisies [surprise, Chef!]. So it looks drastically improved and hopefully everything will get going...

On the dole

One of our cats, Finn the Mighty, has been very sick [90% better now] and the vet suggested something in our garden may be the culprit [shock and horror - we have no lilies and no foxgloves for that very reason]. J found out that annual cornflowers [Centaurea Cyanus] are toxic for cats - and thus, alas, I pulled all 6 of them out. They have gone to the raised bed next to Camberwell Green Job Centre, along with 1 x Solidago, 1 x bronze fennel, 2 x shasta daisies and 1 x helio-something [yellow perennial sunflowerish thing]. I cleared up 2 bags of detritus and weeds to fit them in, and the soil is very poor... [any donations gratefully accepted]. luckily my lovely neighbour N joined me in watering them with liquid feed so maybe they will all take. Passed by on the 12 later that day and no one has taken them. Photos to follow.

New sites [for the Knights who say Ni!]

I have my eye on the sorely neglected raised beds/walls next to the Job Centre on Camberwell Green. Someone gardened there at one point, there's some box and euonymous amongst the weeds, bottles and other detritus. This could be a great spot to relocate a bunch of yellow flowering plants, including fennel [which is SO great, but does need watering when it is first transplanted or it sulks to death] and golden rod. This would jolly up my time on the no.12.

 

Chef Solaire -  thinking of the Stories Mews patch, I can pull up some mint [a thug in open soil, but will cope with shade] and some michaelmas daisies [lilac flowers, v tough, copes with dry] and probably some white daisies [leucanthemum, tough, but wont want to be baked] and a pot of crocosmia [tough, self seeds, should need sun but seems ok with half-shade], I think I could also part with a pale pink hardy geranium [tough, self-seeds, ok in shade].

Also - I would love to make over that raised tree pit at the end of Stories Mews/bordering Champion Hill or is Dog Kennel Hill already? Huge potential for a maintainable marvellous flower bed. Atm it is so dry as to be undiggable but maybe it will rain as the temperatures dip over the weekend...

Ni!

Progress Report

Emergency weeding tackled and 2 x Liatris [gayfeathers] plus 1 x Dipsacus [teasel] added in. The Hollyhocks are monstrous - and really need thinning out and tackling with secateurs. I yanked off some particularly rusty leaves to let some light return to Euphorbia Wulfennii. Meanwhile the Geranium Johnson's Blue are in flower! As is some kind of oriental poppy [orange] and the Aquilegia [white and pink]. Thus it does look like a garden, even if it is one highly vulnerable to dryness [yes even now] and cooch grass [sp?]. The Sisirynchiums are all producing flower spikes even though they are small plants, probably desperate to get out that flower, and the mystery Euphorbia is out looking splendidly exotic. Photos not really up to par - taken quickly on a cameraphone and the weather is overcast...

Nasturtium Nights

A few days of sun, a little more rain, hey presto. Checked 4 sites around Camberwell Grove/Grove Lane and the seeds have germinated. Planted 2 more seeds in the tree pits opposite Johannsons [the Council have at last replaced the missing tree, alas with a London Plane rather than what I think was an Acacia]. Chatted about this to a couple of local hoodies, who asked me if I had planted a seed in the middle of the weed pit in the corner of the carpark at the back of Morrisons. Yes, I said.

Mystery Plant Revealed

Ok. Maybe not _that_ exciting however I think the prolific blue leaved plant that I have planted about 4 clumps of up the Dog Kennel Hill patch is Sisyrinchium (which apparently means 'pig-nose'). As suspected it is very hardy and drought resistant. So far my own clump - in situ for about a year - has not flowered, but my neighbour mentioned yellow spikes. Whatever, its a really useful structural shape and perfect for the patch.