Now the allotment is (nearly) no longer mine, the focus of this blog changes to my garden.
I don't have a huge amount of blooms on my plot: as the picture to the left shows. I do love the acid green of the dogwood's leaves against the dark glossy red of the heuchera. (The Allium christophii was the sole survivor of several blubs planted two years back, and had been well and truly battered by the rain - only the branches of the dogwood were holding it in place for this photo.)
But the flowers that have given most pleasure for least effort so far this year are the red and white campion that are sprinkled on the bed outside my kitchen window. The plants were a Valentine's day gift bought from Wiggly Wigglers a year or so back and they've been no trouble - aside from a small amount of blackfly easily removed with some soap spray. The pink flowers dominated at first, but now the whites are taking over.
They need no staking, are slugproof and very pretty in an understated way. The fact that they're "wild" is neither here nor thereto me, really, although I have noticed more birds in the garden since I introduced the campions. I've recently bought some devil's bit scabious and stinking iris (which, i am told, don't actually smell that bad), but does anyone have further recommendations for expanding my little patch of wildness?
Another wild flower that i think is absolutely beautiful, and which would follow on from the campion, is rosebay willow herb.
I know it's a bit of a weed - it will spread itself - but it adds so much height in the garden - getting up to 4-5 foot tall - and it has these gauzy curls of seed which get lit up in afternoon sunlight - looks amazing.
You can get it in white too if you go to a specialist nursery. Apparently Elephant hawk moths love it - now that would really impress your daughter!
Posted by: emma townshend | June 28, 2008 at 07:23 AM
Good choice! We had a bit of a thing about rosebay willowherb in my family - one of those things we always pointed at and jumped up and down when we spotted it (or was that just me? I am sure my sister will correct me if I am wrong).
I thought some had arrived in my garden by chance this year but unfortunately it was a much less dramatic and disappointing weed ...
Posted by: Jane Perrone | July 01, 2008 at 09:15 AM