Had pretty much given up on these Penstemon after they didn’t flower for 2 years. Put them in some pots last autumn and they are finally giving something back.
And somehow this colour combo with the wallflower works for me. Feel free to disagree 😁
I do like that colour combination Of the white cosmos and what looks like a dark leafed Dahlia Kili lovely. keep the pictures coming all, it’s like doing a garden visit.
@Fire is that salvia hotlips? On my phone, so all photos are about 2mm large . It looks really healthy, what's your approach to deadheading it? I find it's too fiddly and time consuming to deadhead each flower spire so I just haircut the whole plant every month, but not sure that's the best approach...
@strelitzia32 There is Hotlips at the front and Royal Bumble at the back. A hair cut every month sounds like a lot - I'm not sure there would be time for the flower buds to form. I gave it a Chelsea chop in early May. I have to do a fair amount of light pruning as it runs along two narrow paths and we can't get in the front door otherwise. It seems a great year for these bushes. I'm not sure if it's all the sun (street trees just pollarded) or the early chop or some pruning out of old wood that I did earlier in the year. Maybe I'm just that I'm paying more attention to them as I sit on the doorstep to chat to neighbours and so notice them more - a topic of conversation. Perhaps they've just come of age.
Because they have long flower spikes, the flowering goes on a long time. When one whole spike seems exhausted I cut it off, if I notice it. I'd prefer to have all Bumble there - a big block of red, but I won't take out the Hotlips now. The particolour intrigues passers by and the kids on the street love it. I run a local community gardening group and we plant under some of the street trees. I took loads of Bumble cuttings this year and have given them to neighbours. So Bumble is springing up along our street, in gardens and planted under street trees and in fairy gardens. (Bees love it). I like that the neighbourhood is turning red.
I love Nachtvlinder and Clotted Cream too but have no space.
@Fire that's useful and good to know, thanks. So you do light pruning but not lots of deadheading, just when you notice it? Maybe I'll just leave my hotlips for now and pass on the haircut for a while, see if that improves the display (which isn't bad, but nowhere near as full as yours). We like the leaf smell, so quite happy to leave it overhanging paths
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And somehow this colour combo with the wallflower works for me. Feel free to disagree 😁
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw'
keep the pictures coming all, it’s like doing a garden visit.