The cut annual flower plot through the months

Orange zinnias and double click rose bonbons

As its now November and a deluge of water has pretty much finished off any remaining annuals in my front vegetable and cut flower garden hybrid, now seems like a good time to take a look back over the bed through the summer months. It has been a continuing thing of beauty, but each month it has looked different. First were the cornflowers, then the gladiolus, the cosmos, the beans and then the zinnias.

I started putting my annual plants in the bed in about June, although the gladiolus started to go in before that. I grow nothing in terms of annuals from scratch in situ. I just do not have the soil. My soil would make even the most robust, eager little annual seed give up with the heavy heavy clay. Although the front bed actually isn't too bad from years of bush roots tunnelling through.

Flowering kicked off in July with my cornflowers. Beautiful dark claret tufts waving around in the wind. Also bursting into action prolifically were my four varieties of beans in white, pale lilac and orange and these provided a lot of the colour at this time. A few cosmos had struggled out and my first zinnia.

Early August

At the beginning of August the antirhinnums were livening up the bed with their small mounds of bright colour. The first gladiolus made an appearance at this point too, a lovely pale coral one and unsurprisingly the first variety I planted. The bed was still to really get going, especially as the beans had moved into vegetable production by this point, but things were starting to look up.

Mid August

By mid August I had two different colours of gladiolus in bloom - the original coral one and fresh green star. The gladiolus definitely looked best when there was an assortment of colours out at once. My yellow zinnia was also brightening up one side of the beans.

After a wet few days

This was a bad day in the annual bed. We had the most torrential downpour of rain over several days and my upright straight as a dime gladiolus all flopped over and a bit of remedial staking was required.
By the end of August the gladiolus end of the bed was really starting to look pretty. There were the glads, cosmos, zinnias and cornflowers all vying for attention. I put the plants that had reached maturity earliest down that end as I was waiting for the beans to go in before planting up the other end.

Early September

Two of my favourite coloured plants appeared at the start of September and they complimented each other perfectly it turned out. The dark red glad was a winner with the neighbours and I just loved the zingy orange zinnias. They were a star of the bed right from this point onwards in my opinion.

Other than the orange zinnias the glads were the focal point of the bed. All the different colours started coming up together and totally ignoring my planting scheme, it was a riot of summer colour and this was the point people started stopping in the street. As long as they are not clutching a big pair of scissors thats fine with me!

This purple tobacco plant turned to be a pillar of the bed, complimenting the glads and the zinnias, but I actually didn't plant it. I don't know how it got in there, but once it started flowering, despite taking up half the bed I didn't have the heart to remove it.

A stray tobacco plant

It wasn't until early October that the double click bonbon cosmos plants down the other end of the bed really reached perfection and there was a seamless line of colour from one end to the other. Although it looks great with multiples of the same plant dotted around, there clearly is room for more varieties as I have planned next year.

I thought the bed looked really odd after the height of the beans was removed at the beginning of October. I liked all the colour against the backdrop of green. The early showers started to die at this point and I turned my attention to seed collection, which doesn't exactly improve the look, but oh well.

At the end of October the colour had begun to die off quite dramatically, but some heleniums and the antirhinnums were still flowering strong and keeping things interesting until last week when I imagine the colder nights finished most things off.

End of October

Now I am just left with a lot of dead plants to pull out to leave my vegetables. I have been gradually replacing the dying annuals with vegetable and salad plants so there shown be continuing greenery out the front through the winter and the soil wont go to waste.

Im really thrilled with how my annual bed turned out this year, especially as I hadn't planned it. Where I thought I was going to find the space to plant all my seedlings without digging up the front bushes I really don't know, but in the end they had their own dedicated area and it worked really well. Next year I hope to get a wider variety of colours and plants in and really make it something spectacular.

Double click rose bonbon cosmos

Always nice to be greeted on the driveway by saucer-sized pink flowers

Double click rose bonbon cosmos is lilac-coloured and frilly, which is all anybody can really ask for from a flower.  It has been a staple in my summer annuals for the past two years, and will, if my seed collecting works, continue to do so.  It first caught my attention because the tiny picture shown on Thompson and Morgan's website shows these great ruffled flowers like skirts from period dramas on TV, and im a sucker for a ruffle. I can't say I have found my own blooms to be quite as impressive as the picture led me to believe, but they are solid bloomers nonetheless.

The positives of this particular cosmos are - rose bonbon forms quite a clump of ferny stems peppered in these sizeable lilac blooms which sort of flop about, looking rather pretty in the garden but also making a very nice cut flower. They flower all summer, one plant started in about June or July and although that one is on its last legs I have others still in full bloom with buds to come.

They have a great frilly structure - great to look at but also prime earwig hiding territory

The downsides - I have had a couple of complete stems just shear clean off from the main plant, not sure if this is to do with gravity or dampness but its a little annoying. Also the ruffles in the flower heads are absolute magnets for earwigs.  Pick a bunch and shake them and at least three will plop out and require removing.  And lastly they are an absolute pain to try and collect seed from.

Im presuming as I grew these from seed that if I collect my own seed the resulting plants should at least be similar to the parents if not identical copies.  I am loathe to have to re-buy a proper packet of seed if collecting my own works, especially as I find it quite hard to get them to germinate. They require germinating in a bag and once the first seed has germinated you've got to whip the bag off quick and it means the other seeds are wasted. So I have been allowing the plants to go to seed, which probably hasn't given me as many blooms as I would otherwise have had, but I wanted to try it.

What I have found is that 95% do not create seed that can be collected.  If the conditions are not exactly right, and im not totally sure what those conditions are but I think dry weather is preferable, the bud just closes after flowering and then just rots shut.  You end up with lots of little blackened withered buds that are no use to anybody.  I have had about 3 proper seed heads in total.  When the seed is properly ready it splays back open like some little macehead of war, but very very few have done this.  Instead I have been collecting the seed from heads that have yet to decide if they want to wither or open.  I know this means the seed is a bit young and not properly dried so I have been keeping them indoors to dry out, as you can do with some seeds and hoping this works.  I now have a nice little envelop full so next year I will give it a go with them and if it doesn't work out snap up a proper packet online, I don't want to be without!

Examples of what the few viable seed heads actually look like.
 The long spiny seeds splay out like a mace when ready

I feel like I am playing a risky game here because if I wait too long the window of opportunity for buying some will close.  The reason I am doing this though is because I want to grow more varieties of cosmos, they are such great flowers after all. I have already purchased one packet, although I have subsequently mislaid it so I will have to wait until another time to reveal it. I also have my eye on a variety called cupcake that has one single joined petal rather than separate petals.  It doesn't appear to be  listed on the website anymore so I will be keeping a beady eye out hoping for its return, and my eyes open for other good varieties!
          

My week in sowing 7 - Broad Beans, Cucumbers, Zinnia

With longer nights and warmer weather I really feel like some serious progress is being made against my long long list of things to do.  That being said I spent a good half hour wandering around the garden Saturday morning, feeling a bit overwhelmed and at a loss as to what to do first.  The weeds in my veg bed are breeding before my very eyes, and with my broad beans keen to go in soon, thats my task for the week ahead.  I am so behind with this post, normally I like to get it up every Wednesday but last week was more than faintly trying so Im only just catching up!

Broad Beans - Masterpiece Green Longpod.  I read somewhere that now is the last chance to sow broad beans, so panicked, rushed home and threw some more in.  Im not sure thats technically true anyway, but it does appear that planting them earlier makes them less susceptible to disease, and as I had a terrible case of rust last year, that would be no bad thing.  I have sown a batch of 15 beans of last year's variety.  As its the same packet I used last year, technically they are all out of date.  Hopefully they wont realise and I will get at least a few to add a little variety to my broad bean crop for the year.

My first batch of broad beans.  I love growing these, the seedlings always come up so lush and eager, if you know what I mean

Cucumbers - After a few weeks of letting my cucumber seeds get on with it I have decided I am only going to get one, maybe two, out of my first batch and its time to move on and get on with planting the second batch.  My louisa seedling quite literally gave up the ghost last week when I gave it a little prod, so I have sown two of that one, and one of my other four varieties.  I just don't understand why cucumbers appear to be so difficult to grow!  I do however have one seedling beauty which is just producing its first true leaf.  Im trying not to get too attached, it could still all end in tears.  The six new pots are lined up on my bedroom windowsill so I will be able to keep my beady eye on them!

My first proper cucumber seedling grown from seed! I don't know why this is so hard but I am so proud

Zinnia - Purple Prince.  Having decided my last zinnia sowings could not be spoilt by being germinated in their own individual bags and would have to slum it withe everything else on the garage windowsill, I was thrilled to find one pop up in every pot very quickly.  Then I waited for others to join them.  It would have been a very long wait.  In re-reading an old post it turns out I treated them to their own pots by only sowing one seed in each.  This is where having a blog comes in handy!  My first batch of a different variety are now out in my cold frame and and I am on to the next variety, Purple Prince.  I sowed four, one per pot, in seed compost, in the garage.

One of my new zinnia seedlings, comfy in a room all to itself

Cosmos - Double click rose bonbon. Five of my first batch popped up so fast I couldn't leave the bag on to wait for the rest.  Nothing else has come up so I have sown another batch.  These are such good do-ers in the summer so I want plenty of plants to keep my vases full.  I sowed about seven seeds on seed compost covered in vermiculite, in a bag, on my bedroom windowsill.

Sweet Peas - Yep been at it again.  I probably have enough already, but I look across at the neighbours excessive seven pots, feel a pang of jealousy and throw a few more in.  Im not even sure what I have sown this time, I just collected six seeds and bunged them in pots.  The lack of care is definitely because I don't really need them.  If they grow then great, but if not, oh well! These better not grow too fast as I have absolutely nothing to put them in until all the daffodils are over.

Lots of my previous sowings have popped up and moved on, but I think I will start talking about them separately in their own posts, or its all a bit much I think.

My week in sowing 6 - Cosmos, cornflower, zinnia and echinops

This weeks 'my week in sowing' is actually last week's 'week in sowing'.  I planned to put this post up last Wednesday before I jetted off to Berlin for the weekend, but as is often the case the best-laid plans of mice and men, it all went a bit awry.  Very unexpectedly one of my friends suddenly died, and obviously blogging had to take a back seat.  But I got up to a lot last week and I would still like to share it, so here is the post in its original form:

So last Saturday I was not to be found in my garden as I had people to see and places to go, and clothes to be bought.  It was all very nice, but this weekend I was back in the garden attacking the long list of seeds still to be sown.  Taking a little break was no bad thing as the garage was rammed and it allowed a few things to come up sufficiently that I could transfer them into the coldframe.  Im starting to sow all the varieties that say 'from mid spring' which is really un-specific.  I would say we are now mid-spring, but then spring only technically started a couple of weeks ago so I might be really really early.  Who knows.

Double click rose bonbon cosmos in all its glory - great flowers and great foliage

Cosmos - Double click rose bonbon. This is not a fresh packet of seeds as I actually grew these last year.  The packet really sells these, saying they are the biggest, frilliest double cosmos around, or something along those lines.  It doesn't lie, I think these are well worth the effort and if I had more room I would definitely grow more cosmos.  The flowers are a delightful pink, good and frilly, but also the foliage is rather pleasant too, quite feathery and ferny.  The only thing is I do find the flowers to be a hotbed for earwigs.  That slight flaw aside these were firmly on my list for sowing this year.  Unfortunately they are quite fussy seeds and insist on being germinated in a polythene bag to keep a temperate of about 20 degrees.  Im not keen on this as I have a habit of cooking my seedlings for far too long and then having them wilt on me, but Im sure I can time it right this time.  I sowed nine seeds on the surface of seed compost and covered with vermiculite - like I said, fussy - and stuck them in a bag on the kitchen windowsill.

Stocks - Yes I have already sown two pots of stocks but having seen the likely number that are going to germinate I want more.  They are my favourite cut flowers after all, and a bunch is shockingly expensive to buy from the shops so I want to make sure im stocked all summer long.  Same method as before; pot, seed compost, chuck them on, you get the gist.

A lovely red zinnia, they tend to have really interesting middles with contrasting coloured circles like this one has

Zinnia - Queen Red Lime.  I am very excited about these.  I have several varieties of zinnia to sow this year, but these are the ones I am sowing first.  I think zinnias make a really good, reliable cut flower and they come in quite an exciting array of bright colours and structures.  They also cross-pollinate freely, so much so I believe it is virtually impossible to stop them.  I really want to collect seed and see what appears next year.  But before then we need to get these going.  Zinnias are beyond fussy and hate root disturbance so I have sown only four so far, one to a pot.  This annoys me greatly.  Talk about space hoggers, I don't have room for such high maintenance seedlings.  And yet they are so pretty I endulge them, spoilt little things.  These will at least germinate in the garage I hope, although I believe they would prefer a bag.

Zinnias are interesting at every stage of their blooming, this one has yet to fully unfurl

Cornflower - These are new to me, and are quite frankly the weirdest seeds I have ever encountered.  Each one is like a miniature paintbrush, only with the handle cut off.  Quite large, they consist of a bunch of hairs wrapped in a partly transparent sheath.  Its weird.  That apart Im hoping these will be good.  Sarah Raven doesn't scrimp on these, giving you 300 seeds in the packet so I chucked on 10 and covered with a little more seed compost and hopefully we are good to go.

Incredible - I don't really know what these are, I have certainly never seen these growing anywhere but I liked the photo I saw and thought why not.  The seeds were absolutely tiny so I just sprinkled on a whole bunch.

Echinops - I tried to grow these last year, I can't remember what happened but lets just say, I didn't get any flowers.  So lets try again shall we.  These will be lovely blue balls.  The seeds are quite large so I buried six or seven in seed compost and they are snug in another polythene bag.

And that's it for this week.  It seems like I achieved a lot, but I didn't sow many of each variety so I could sow quite a few.  I would have liked to turf out a few more fuchsias while I was out there but it was surprisingly cold and miserable, typical Easter weekend weather so to be honest, I couldn't wait to get back indoors.