Thursday 19 September 2013

5 hot and 5 not - what's still flowering out there ??

Hot :


Passionflower - hot, hot, hot !  Flowers blooming thick and fast, seemingly untouched by the chills of Autumn. Foliage still green and perky!



Eucomis Bi-colour ... definitely still a hottie - fresh, crisp and green with lots of flowers still to come.



Dahlia Fascination - so hot it's smokin' ... If you can remember to deadhead, there is an unending supply of blooms. Although we have had a lot of rain, they seem unspoiled by it.


White hot ! I gave this Phlox the Chelsea Chop earlier in the season, for the first time, and I am so glad I did as it is blooming strongly now, when many of its siblings are just a distant memory !


How could I ignore this little beacon of hotness !! Rudbeckia, flowering its heart out for the third or fourth week. A lovely splash of vivid colour in the border.



Not hot:


Not even lukewarm. Liatris was a fizzing firework of colour a couple of weeks ago, now it has fizzled out !



 Hot pink petunias were sizzling and have been great for weeks but now just a bit ... 



...  'Backendish' as my grandad used to say. A bit overblown and tired now. Past their best, despite copious deadheading. They also hate the rain and cope very badly with it, as you can see!




Not a hottie now, or ever!  Don't ask me why, but I have taken against this poor old Fuschia, and think it looks like 'deadman's fingers'. Don't think I'll grow it again as I don't like the coral pink colour of the flowers or their form.



These white Cosmos have been hot all summer ! There has been a gorgeous profusion of flowers but they are now tall and leggy, with foliage looking a bit tattered and torn. I really, really want to pull these out ...


It is with a sorrowful heart that I have to report that my sweetpeas ('Midnight') are no longer hot. Again, they have flowered well all season, but now all they really want to do is to set seed and die. I keep cajoling more flowers out of them but they have had enough.

There they are ... my 'Hotties' and 'Notties'  . What are yours for this season ?


14 comments:

  1. Hi Jane - I have enjoyed looking through some of your posts. Thanks for sharing all these thoughts

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  2. Hi there and thanks for your comments, glad you have enjoyed popping over here !!

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  3. Oh Jane those white cosmos and phlox pops are really something!! Love them :-D I hope Autumn comes later LOL... Have a great weekend and enjoy the gorgeous blooms.

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    1. Thanks for your comments Stephanie. Phlox are fab - keep meaning to grow some from seed !

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  4. I really don't know why I don't grow rudbeckia, it seems to be a favourite on many blogs at the moment, perhaps because it's such a good doer, and the fact that it looks so good at a time when most things in the garden are winding down. I'm definitely going to get one for my garden. I love passion flowers too, though it's something else I've never grown. The flowers look so mystical and intricate. I love the story of how it got its name too.

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  5. Ooh, how did it get its name Jo ?I love a good story!

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    1. The passion is supposed to refer to Christ's suffering. The five petals and five sepals represent the ten disciples less Judas and Peter. The corona filaments represents the crown of thorns. The five stamen with anthers match the five sacred wounds and the three stigma the nails. The vine tendrils represent the whips which were used to scourge Jesus. I've had to look this up, I can never remember it.

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    2. How interesting !! Thanks Jo

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  6. Oy, my list would be long! I love rudbeckia and have a lot of it but had to pull out an entire clump because of disease. I like petunias but they can be babies sometimes. If you chop off the part of the liatris that's past its prime, they look less pathetic. :o)

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  7. Hi casa Mariposa - keep meaning to add your blog to my side bar ! You have jogged my memory !

    Thanks for Liatris wisdom - I will get chopping ...

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  8. Dear Jane,
    This is a lovely site and the flower pictures are beautiful. I mostly vegetable garden - though growing flowers is definitely therapeutic.

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  9. Thanks Jay. Much appreciated ! I am a bit of a rubbish veg gardener if I am honest !!

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  10. Love the white cosmos, I've had good luck with them lasting throughout the summer too. Unfortunately my favourite orange cosmos doesn't seem to last near as long :(

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    1. Hi Marguerita, I have never grown the orange as the sefseeding Callendula seems to pretty much cover the orange spectrum in my garden ! Will have to check it out !

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