your grasses look great @owd potter the second picture looks great
Thanks @Perki, @philippa smith2, Stipa Tenuissima, of course, grown from seed planted in April. This bed was actually just meant to be a temporary nursery for my excess seedlings. Turned out a serendipitous planting experiment I guess They have been marvellous, bowing their heads under the heavy rainfall but responding and standing again beautifully and are still going strong. I also love them frosted as in Pic 2, but I imagine the first decent snowfall will flatten them finally.
...and are we allowed to include duds? That will be the Geums.
You could try Geum 'Leonards Variety' which has been the only one (in many years of trying) that has survived longer than two years. (Yes, I do divide them).
Helleborus 'Winter Moonbeam' Galanthus 'Ailwyn' Arum italicum 'Good marked form' from Bob Brown at Cotswold Garden Flowers Eurybia schreberi Geranium 'Azure Rush' Clematis 'Royal Velours' Agapanthus 'Star Quality'
All my hydrangeas died in the heatwave and Roscoea 'Blackthorn Hybrid' only surfaced too late to flower. And one of my lilies went down to rot! If it's not one thing, it's another.
A new garden here too. I think I'd count as my best my rhododendrons - I bought one a month over Autumn and Winter last year and each one of them thrived and flowered beautifully in succession. They are now all covered in buds which makes me very happy so it will be interesting to see how the timings work out this year. I also plunked a bargain basement magnolia in the ground when it was just sticks last year and it is now covered in buds and twice the size. Best unexpected garden inheritances were an old viburnum and winter jasmine both currently flowering and bringing colour to an otherwise quite stark scene.
Biggest disappointment were my oriental poppies. Giant hairy leaves, long stems but somehow they didn't make me as happy as I thought they would. They just looked very messy very quickly, the colours weren't as I'd imagined them and I hadn't appreciated how long they would last (a day or two). Not their fault really - I should have done my research. I'll move them to a less central bed next year.
Oriental poppies--I know. You need lightish soil, or they rot off underground. Only some varieties are worth growing, particularly ones that have lasted the test of time. Put something like Geranium 'Rozanne' nearby, then it can ramble over the spot as the poppy leaves die down. Go for one colour only. Good varieties in my experience are 'Cedric Morris'--not such a pure white as 'Royal Wedding' but a 'good doer'; 'Goliath' which appears in two forms, the best being the one you can get from Great Dixter; I keep wanting to try 'Karine' but I was sent 'Watermelon' instead, which was actually really beautiful (but it died after two years).
Two years seems to be the lifespan of most things in my soil.
Biggest let down?.. my hanging baskets - filled with plants I had spare - and it showed - all year - they were crap. All my own fault...even my wife said "those baskets are rubbish"...so the clues were there!
IMHO the overwhelming majority of hanging baskets fall into that category. For every stunner you see a hundred horror stories.
...and are we allowed to include duds? That will be the Geums.
You could try Geum 'Leonards Variety' which has been the only one (in many years of trying) that has survived longer than two years. (Yes, I do divide them).
The rivale types I don’t think would suit my climate, but glad yours are doing well for you Cambridgerose. Mine were duds imo because the flowering season was too short (various chiloense types) and I was just generally underwhelmed by them.
@Perki I have ordered 50 of your Allium Purple Rain, far too many but the sale price was too good!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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Stipa Tenuissima, of course, grown from seed planted in April.
This bed was actually just meant to be a temporary nursery for my excess seedlings. Turned out a serendipitous planting experiment I guess
They have been marvellous, bowing their heads under the heavy rainfall but responding and standing again beautifully and are still going strong. I also love them frosted as in Pic 2, but I imagine the first decent snowfall will flatten them finally.
Galanthus 'Ailwyn'
Arum italicum 'Good marked form' from Bob Brown at Cotswold Garden Flowers
Eurybia schreberi
Geranium 'Azure Rush'
Clematis 'Royal Velours'
Agapanthus 'Star Quality'
All my hydrangeas died in the heatwave and Roscoea 'Blackthorn Hybrid' only surfaced too late to flower. And one of my lilies went down to rot! If it's not one thing, it's another.
Onwards and upwards.
Two years seems to be the lifespan of most things in my soil.
For every stunner you see a hundred horror stories.
Crocosmia George Davison
Lobelia Tania’s Sister
Agapanthus North Star