Gosh – it’s been such a long time since I blogged (my August Indulgence, in fact), never mind contributed something to Cathy’s nice meme at Rambling in the Garden.
Fully determined, I was, this morning, to pick some of the last roses flowering in the garden. But the endless rain did for them yesterday and instead of coming back with a large bunch of ‘Louise Odier’, ‘Mme Isaac Pereire’ and ‘Mme Alfrede Carriere’ (the first two being Bourbons, the last a climbing noisette, I think), I tried to focus on my snapdragons instead.
There are only two this year and, actually, they also are not too hot at the moment either! I grew ‘Black Prince’ (with nice dark foliage, but stems that are really too short for cut flowers) and ‘Rocket White’ (much more pleasing, with lots of long-stemmed flowers over a long period). I think I had a mind’s-eye picture of a small vase of the red antirrhinum with maybe some small Ammi majus flowers as well.
But as happens only too often, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Still, I like the autumnal feel of the vase. There are two roses – climbing ‘Wollerton Old Hall’. This is one of the most luscious roses it’s ever been my privilege to give a home to, but you can see it’s suffered from our heavy rains this year. More than its fair share of black spot – when will I learn to do the last minute primping properly!
And then there’s a bud of ‘Sweet Juliet’, which I’ve found makes a really good cut flower, along with ‘Queen of Sweden’.
However – and I will probably be accused of being a bit retro here – the truth is I’ve never regretted buying three Hybrid Teas in 2017. They make much more classic cut flowers than the old roses or David Austin’s group. Long stems and plenty of perfectly shaped buds. The best has been white ‘Pascali’, followed closely by sweetly scented dark red, ‘Mr Lincoln’. Pity I never shared them with you, but I’ll be adding some more colours next year and I’ll try and do Monday vases with them. Can you suggest other good cut flower HTs?
And there is an unnamed pink dahlia …
Pink is not usually ‘my’ colour in dahlias – I prefer the dark purples, which I keep losing over winter – but this flower has a sort of grace and delicacy that I’ve enjoyed greatly this year.
Then I added some Zinnia ‘Benary’s Giant Lime’ and the greyish-blue foliage of Thalictrum flavum subsp. speciossisum, which was cut back in July and is now good and fresh again. I seem to use it endlessly – hopefully I’m not boring you?!
Finally three flower spikes of Pennisetum alopecuroides. I’m still struggling to find a good position for this grass which was, as they say in the States, a ‘pass-along’. It keeps being dumped down behind other plants and never gets to show itself off much as it deserves.
Isn’t it funny how you spend a fortune on some plants that don’t thrive, and then others – lovely gifts – are neglected, but still persist. There’s a bit of transferable gardening philosophy there.
Lovely to be sharing with the Monday vasers again. Life has just been so darn difficult recently … time for another new leaf, I think!
Now pop on over to Cathy’s meme at Rambling in the Garden for plenty of inspiring vases …
It was nice to see your blog post pop up again, Cathy! Your roses may not be what you’d hoped for but they’re beautiful and so much nicer than the paltry rose blooms in my own garden. Peach-colored roses are at the top of my list so I adore your ‘Old Wollerton Hall’. My own dahlias and zinnias are long gone for the season so I enjoy seeing those too.
Thanks Kris – I do love the peachy ones too. I suspect when it becomes daylight today I will discover that my dahlias and zinnias have passed away too!
Hello Cathy, nice to hear from you again. A lovely arrangement. I love your roses. Kristina grows that zinnia and it is definitely on my next year’s list. I am not terribly keen on HT roses but a good one for cutting is Savoy Hotel.
Thanks for the tip Chloris – just looked it up and it is a real contender for the cut flower garden! I’m limiting them to that spot and will try and limit the numbers too, although when I saw my first ‘Pascali’ in a vase in the kitchen, I knew why I’d had a yearning for a plant that I don’t particularly like!
Nice to see you back Cathy with such a lovely vase!
Thanks so much Donna – and looking foward to catching up with your blog as well.
What a lovely jug/mug of blooms that is (and augemented by its own blooms too!) – you wouldn’t think it was the end of October looking at its abundance in the sun. Wollerton Old Hall is a gorgeous rose (and a lovely garden to visit) and the dark antirrhinum is so striking. Are you still having to do a lot of juggling? Sorry things have been so difficult for you…
I’m just not as good at juggling as you are, Cathy! It’s a real talent which I wish I’d learnt years ago. Too many things got in the garden’s way this year – but there’s always 2018! Sometimes I’d love to be back in the UK and visiting all the lovely gardens (like Wollerton) that I’ve never seen. Thanks for your kind comment. Hope to be with you again next week.
And yet strangely there are things I find harder to fit in since I stopped working – because there are so many other things occupying my time now and vying for attention
This is a very lovely mix of things and a great run down of the contents reminding me that I don’t have Thalictrum flavum any more. Perhaps I should look for it. As Susie from PBM Garden pointed out, passalongs are sure to do well. I’m sure you’ll find the right place for the grass and the spikes add a good balance to your lovely jug.
It is a lovely jug of flowers and nice to see your vases again. My vases rarely end up what was in my mind’s eye! The Roses are lovely and I have just planted some Dahlias for a Floridian experiment. Inspired by vases from all over. Pennisetum is an amazingly hardy plant, it even grows here!
Lovely to see a post from you, Cathy. This is a beautiful collection of flowers that matches the jug/mug perfectly. And photographed in such gorgeous light. Hope life settles down for you soon.
So very pretty! Wollerton Old Hall is one of my favorite roses, but it’s too cold for them up here. I like the Black Prince snapdragons, too!
It’s a beautiful vase, and such a girgeous photo of it too. I love that green zinnia and the thalictrum foliage. I had no idea the foliage comes back if cut down.
I get so I can’t bear it anymore around July – then it gets cut and by September it is about 9-12″ high and gives the impression of a silvery groundcover.
Cathy, your flowers are all lovely. The Wollerton Old Hall with its apricot hues is just what a rose should be.
Couldn’t agree more – all gone now!