Tag: geraniums

Window boxes are not just for summer

Having spent lots of years and endless money on plants to add seasonal window boxes, to dress the front of the house, I finally decided enough is enough and went about creating the perfect window box that would require, minimum maintenance yet give all year round seasonal interest, and give relief from the task of having to re-plant window boxes every season and every year. The tinybloomingplaces signature window box was born.

The base plant for the box consists of a winter hardy, trailing evergreen, yellow flowering sedum with wonderful glossy green leaves that grow and spill over the planter. the sedums perform all year flowering prolifically from early spring through to summer.

Sedum: Yellow flowers in spring, all year round green glossy leaves

The glossy leaf sedum forms a lovely backdrop to the next arrival, the yellow narcissi, which will pop through in February and stay through to early spring.

Narcissi: early spring colour, flowering every year

These are closely followed by the purple hyacinths for late spring.

Muscari: or grape hyacinth, spring flowering every year

Next there is the arrival of a deep red geranium coupled with purple lavender and this lets me know we are truly into summer.

Geranium and Lavender: the perfect summer couple, flowering year upon year

Once the summer flowers fade some pretty white cyclamen are ready to take their place, centre stage, and bloom from autumn right through to early spring. The Cyclamen with their white flowers and silvery green leaf make a lovely winter scene, set against the remaining silver leaf of the lavender (this remains all year after the purple scented flowers have gone) and the green glossy leaves of the sedum (that remain throughout the year). They have a long flowering period and are perfect for keeping the momentum going until the arrival of the narcissi again in Spring.

Cyclamen, flowering from autumn into winter

The combination also looks great in larger containers and planters that can be added to the front garden to give joy and keep flower and plant interest going all year round. The choice of colour can also be changed to suit individual taste. The container has been developed specifically to be tolerant to dry periods and not droop on a hot summer day, give all year round interest and repeat flower year upon year.

All of these plants and bulbs are put in together in one box or planter to give an effortless, low maintenance all year round display.

Summer Days Drifted Away……..

Where did they go to? Now we are well into September and many of the summer blooms have faded it seems that we hardly had any summer days at all – but my photos of a blooming garden earlier this month are telling me something different……………..

Summer Patio with white geraniums, purple agapanthus (african lilly) and lemon tree planter with white million bells planted beneath

The white geraniums are still blooming well into September.  Once it gets a bit colder I will be taking them indside to a sheltered spot otherwise they will die off in a hard frost over winter

It’s September but the marigolds are still blooming like it is mid summer – they have a fantastically long blooming period, feed them and they will keep on going long after others summer blooms have faded.  Their deep orange colour looks fantastic in the late September sunhine. Once the last blooms fade I will be collecting the seed heads to plant in early spring to produce me some more summer blooms for next year.

 

The feel and colours of the garden have however distinctly changed to darker deeper colours

 

 

The deep red chrysanthemum pot produces  early autumn blooms-a-plenty. It will bloom for several weeks on end and well into the autumn, dying back in winter only to sprout forward again starting in the spring

 

 

The beautiful deep orange of the chinese lanterns has appeared following on from it’s deep green stage – this rewarding perennial brings a very seasonal touch to the garden.  They can be invasive and travel underground via rhizomes but they are easy to control by pulling up any unwanted ones.  They give a great display in the border early autumn when most of the summer bloomers have died back. Each year they die back to ground level and sprout forward the following spring.

 

 The red berries have also started to appear on the pyracantha grown from a slip taken from my mums garden. Berries are great to encourage wildlife  into the garden.  Grown against a wall in full berry bloom it is quite a spectacular sight when maturity is reached.

 

 

The yellow pom pom dahlia bobs about gently in the autumn breeze another favourite perennial that dies back each winter and re-emerges the following year to give late summer, early autumn blooms

Geranium and Bacopa hanging basket

Would you believe a display like this could keep on going from late Spring right through to late September with no signs of fading just yet – just feed and water on a regular basis – what a reward for very little effort

 

Now is also a good time to think about getting spring bulbs down be it in pots or straight into the borders especially snowdrops if you want them popping up in late winter.  Check out the category “spring blooms” on the blog under the “about” page for memories of spring sprouters and flowers you might want in your garden next spring.

 

As the summer moves off and autumn falls quicker and faster the planetary pull on the earth will be affecting us all in a physical and psychological sense.  I came across this book about mindfullness and even if you only read the excerpt  you may find it revolutionary.

http://www.beatinganger.com/docs/angermindfulextract.pdf

 

Marigolds basking in late September sunshine