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.

Dahlia inspiration - part 2

So on to part two of my round up of dahlia inspiration from UK gardener Sarah Raven's garden. Part one can be found here. First up is this collerette variety Night Butterfly. While I am always a fan of the more simple things in life, including flowers, I do like the extra ruffles in these blooms in the contrasting colour. A good autumnal palette.

Night butterfly, this little red one in the front is charming

I liked this orange variety because its got a bit of a raggedy appearance. Its not too neat, much like myself. I also rather like the fact it is a light shade of orange on the top with a much darker shade on the underneath of the petals meaning, if like me, you're a titch and therefore spend time looking at the underneath of flowers there is a bit more going on.

Its raggedy and its orange and I like it

I think this one is 'shooting star', a rather prickly-looking semi-cactus variety with very spiky petals. The colour of this is what drew me in, the pale acid greeny-yellow with touches of pink. Its different, the colours shouldn't work but they do, and I like things that are prepared to make a statement.

This shooting star has an air of alien about it to me, but it breaks up
the usual pinks and oranges and is very zingy

I don't know what this pink one is but I rather like the shaggy-headed appearance, like a pompom made from cut bits of wool. I probably wouldn't rush out to buy this as I have seen others I would buy first, but I still think it is a worthy contender for a place in anybody's garden as it is quite fun.

This one reminds me of woolly pompoms. It wouldn't be my first choice
but I think its nice in its own way

The only white variety I took a picture of is this great big blousey number. I think if anything is going to add weight to my original arguement that dahlias are naff, its this one.  Yes im sure it would be great at a wedding, and white flowers are always nice, they are clean and provide a good backdrop to other colours, but this one is boring. Its big, blousey and boring. Its not doing anything I wouldn't expect it to, no unexpected ruffle, or sudden flash of colour underneath. I probably wouldn't find a space for this one either.

White and blousey, not much else to say

One thing I did particularly like about the way Raven grows her dahlias is that she grows so many of each variety. I know this is because she has the space to, and she is actively selling both the tubers and the cut flowers to paying customers, but it means she has these great blocks of colours all contrasting against each other. For example, im not particularly fond of any of the varieties in this photo, but together in the numbers they are I think it is really striking and pretty. Especially with the pink pompoms floating about in the background. Lovely.

I love all these dahlias grown in such numbers with great blocks of colours, even though im not so fond of the actual varieties 

This photo also demonstrates the numbers that she has. Its a riot of colour and just so darn pretty. I would love to be able to do something like this, but the coffers wont allow it and I would literally have to dig up the centre of the lawn. Im already champing at the edges! It would be amazing to go down into the garden and come back with great armfuls of flowers, some people are so lucky.

Its a riot of pink!

And there we have it. Although I said this was inspiration some of them I wouldn't actually buy, but that's also inspiration of what to avoid. Nothing like seeing a flower in the flesh for knowing if you like it or not. And next we are moving on to the four varieties I had a go with myself this year, oddly none of which are from my inspiration list!

Dahlia inspiration - Sarah Raven's garden

I used to be dead set against dahlias. I thought they were old fashioned and a bit naff. That's until I visited UK gardener Sarah Raven's garden in East Sussex, where she has half a garden dedicated to these zesty little bloomers. My opinion has been changed and I can see that they bring much needed colour and brightness to the world, just as most summer flowers are beginning to wilt and fade and the keen gardener is facing winter stuck inside right in the face. I have grown four varieties of dahlias myself this year, but before getting onto that I thought I would share some of my favourites.

I now know what I like in a dahlia, I like it bright, and ideally I like it pinky-coral. Its not until now as I am sorting through the pictures that I realise that most of the ones I took a picture of, because I particularly liked them, are basically coral-coloured. I have also decided I prefer single-flowered or collarette types, rather than the big 3D balls of the pompom dahlias. Annoyingly I did not choose to make a note of any of the varieties which is just daft because I couldn't now buy them even if I wanted to. Maybe they weren't labelled? I can't remember. Some are for sale raven's website, and some I will have to hunt down on the internet.

The combination of totally tangerine and panicum elegans is a winner
in my book, the grass picks up the pink hues of the dahlia, its textural.
Its almost too much

First up is the only one that does have a name and the one that pretty much sums up what I appreciate in a dahlia. Totally tangerine is a single flower whose petals are pink at the tips and bleed to yellow near the centre. The middle of the flower is a frilly mass in bright orange. And I love it. Simple but bright and uplifting. What really made these is the fact they were buried in a cloud of panicum elegans which is a pink tinged grass. After seeing this combo I ran out and bought the grass, but not the dahlia bizzarely. Straight on the shopping list it goes.

Love this waltzing mathilda, its fun and I love a bit of coral

Next up and continuing the coral theme is this sock-it-to-you number. From her website it seems most likely to be 'waltzing mathilda.' Talk about highlighter bright. I love everything about this, the slight twist to each of the petals, the vividness. So pretty. This would liven up anybody's day.

Bright eyes is the most vivid shocking pink set against yellow. Think we know where the inspiration for the name came from

Moving more to the pink side of the spectrum, I thought this one was rather lovely. Some investigation skills on Raven's website reveals this one to be 'bright eyes'. Such a deep bright pink set off by the vivid yellow. I appreciate the simpleness of this. I thought the second photo showed the same dahlia, but I actually think it is 'tahoma moonshot'. What a way to flower! It doesn't appear the petals ever fully unfurl, but it adds a bit of variety.

This tahoma moonshot is a bit different. Like a starfish with too many legs.
In shocking pink

On the orange side I photographed this orange ball. I like the colour of 'happy halloween', a bit of zesty orange never goes amiss in the garden, but im not actually such a fan of this shape in a single monotomous colour like this. I just think its a little boring.

No offence to happy halloween, but other than resembling a pumpkin,
I just think its a little dull

Similarly this one, potentially 'wizard of oz', now im at home looking at the photos im not sure why I felt the need to particualarly capture it. I think the baby pink colour is a little insipid and overly feminine, but not in a good way. I don't know, maybe the picture hasn't captured it in its best light. Its a bit bridal for me as well.

Similarly wizard of oz is a bit of a bland insipid pink

What I much prefer are these bicolour pompom types. I think the way this one has white petals with a thick outline in dark pink really makes the most of the fact it is 3D, unlike the single-coloured ones which are just a bit dense. Maybe it just depends on the colour. Im not even that taken with the actual colours, but the overall effect is more pleasing.

Not sure what this one is, and its not my favourite by far, but I do prefer pompom style dahlias coloured like this

This one however, is most definitely my favourite. The combination of orange and baby pink - a winner in any colour scheme - is incredible and the way it seems back to front to me - orange suddenly transitioning out to baby pink - is really effective. I love it. It pains me this one is not on her website for sale. Im going to have to make it a top priority to track down what this is and buy it.

My favourite! So snazzy

Rather than make this post 3 miles long with twenty photos I will save part two of my dahlia inspiration for another day, before moving on to what I have grown this year. Clearly dahlias are not as naff and boring as I initially thought!

Gladiolus in bloom

I don't don't about this pink and yellow one specifically but it is just
as lovely as all the rest. I believe it is aftershock 

People have been stopping in the street to admire my front garden since I turned it into a flower/vegetable garden hybrid.  I would say they are appreciating my innovative planting scheme and colour palette, but they’re not.  They all stop for one thing; my gladiolus.  They have been an absolute picture, and if when I was breaking my back chiselling away at the soil, digging through to Australia trying to plant the corms earlier in the year you would have asked ‘will it be worth it?’ I would probably say no. But it is. It truly truly has. 

My neighbour came over one day specially to tell me how wonderful Blackstar is, and how much his wife and him had been enjoying them,just after a cut everything in flower to take indoors which then made me feel bad.  This has been a problem.  They look so wonderful on mass in the garden that I am loathe to cut them and bring them indoors, which was kind of the whole point.  But I did have the good sense to plant them in line with the kitchen window so we can still enjoy them indoors, although I am never at home during the week when its light outside so my enjoyment is limited to the weekends.

They first ones to pop up was in Chitchat which are a light pastel coral colour, very feminine and pretty and also funnily enough the first ones I planted. 

Next up were one or two of my bright green variety Green Star. I always like green flowers because they seem slightly odd, if you know what I mean.  Very subtle though, and I would actually say having grown a whole bunch the brighter a gladiolus, or the more impactful the colour the better.

The ones everybody has loved are these, Black Star. They have the most beautiful dark velvety petals that really sing out. I remember the popular UK gardener Sarah Raven saying on her website that she only plants really dark ones and I thought she was crazy at the time, but I get it now.  They are truly splendiferous, and that’s saying something.  I feel the need to explore what other dark varieties there are for next year.

Magma is a lovely bright red variety, a really sock it to you shade, and that’s always good. The father keeps buying red gladiolus from the shop for indoors because I wont cut mine and they are just a completely different animal, smaller and the colour isn’t quite there. Mine are definitely a cut above.

I also really liked this more subtle purpley-pink tinged with beige one, Indian Summer, which reminds me of old furniture, it’s a bit old-fashioned in the colouring, a little faded, but I like it.

I know gladiolus have the reputation of being a bit naff, but I really think they are worthy of a space in every garden. Especially if you can plant them on mass like I have. I put in about fifty bulbs, and although they started flowering in mmmmmmm and still continue to this day, those fifty plants have continually made such a show. Although they initially came out in planting order, now I have a real mixture out at the same so its like a vase flowers but just planted in the garden.

I noticed the spent flowers at the bottom where trying to form what I presume are seed heads deep in where the flowers were, but I managed to resist temptation to allow these to form and cut off the spent flower stems to ensure good corms for next year. I also discovered that pulling out the withered flower heads once they die encourages buds still to come out further up to appear. This does mean there has been a little pile of dead gladiolus heads on the edge of the border from when i have had a two minute pick but can’t be bothered to go round to the bin. Because im that type of gardener.

I really can’t get enough. When I the mother was intent on returning her front garden to bushes I had intended to dig up the corms for planting next year, but now that I seem to have convinced her to stay with the annuals I plan to leave them where they are, save my back and just give them a protective layer of mulch instead.

That’s not to say I plan to rest on my laurels, oh no. Big plans have I.  There is always room for expansion and Im sure I can find a few more lovely varieties to add to the mix. I didn’t buy anymore this year at Hampton Court because I had only just finished planting this batch and I could remember the pain. But now there is a bit of distance between the back ache, and I im feeling spendy again.  

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!
          

zinnias - queen red lime, red spider, purple prince

Such a beautiful flower the zinnia, such dense complex blooms but with
surprisingly dry petals, or at least this one has

If there is one annual that is guaranteed to liven up a bunch of flowers then it is the zinnia in my opinion.  Yes they are a little princessy as seedlings desiring as little manhandling of the roots as possible, but once they are past that stage they truly are worth their weight in gold.  For that reason they have been a staple in my annual border this year and brighten up the garden every day.

Last year I grew two varieties, double envy and a whirlygig one. Green envy was a great variety with lovely green petals in that shade I always think seems unnateral in a plant although clearly green is the most natural colour for a plant to be! Whirlygig were less successful but I think this is more to do with where I planted them out the back where they get less sun as the year draws on.

Zinnias have such interesting centres when they first flower but as they get older like the one on the left the centre vanishes, bizarre

This year I have really expanded my collection, growing several quite different varieties encompassing sinlges, doubles, bright, pale, big and teeny tiny flowered ones. Each one is worthy of praise in its own right.  And one of the joys of zinnias are they are rampant maters. Keeping them pure to a variety when grown in the garden in nigh on impossible so while you can't grow the same variety again from seed you collect yourself, the possibility of getting wierd and wonderful concoctions from the babies opens up and im down for that.

They were lovely blooms, but I only got the two purple princes unfortunately! 

It has not all been a bed of roses though.  One variety was particularly disappointing purple prince has huge dark pinky purple single blooms, really big and imposing.  Only I only got two flowers, one of each of my two plants before both keeled over onto the path after some heavy rain and literally uprooted themselves.  To say I was disappointed is putting it lightly.  If I could have stuck them back in I would have done but the damage was too great.  So while I thoroughly enjoyed those two flowers, I did not get any more.  Next year I will make a note to stake this one!

I just love these bright zingy orange blooms, they really brighten up the flower border. The centres rise up as these age

The brightest zinnia I have grown this year is also probably my favourite.  I have decided it must be a sprite zinnia because I only sowed a few varieties and I don't remember any of them being particularly orange, except in the sprite mix.  Orange is putting it lightly.  These are sock-it-to-you orange, and I always appreciate anything that really goes for something.  These have been great in vases in the windowsill but I can't really bare to cut them because they look so great in the garden.  One particular featre of these is the central cone really protrudes out from the flower as the bloom ages, making it quite dynamic and rather similar to echinacea.

These queen red lime zinnias vary slightly from the other plant I have of this variety, these
have a whole section of lime petals, but are equally big and round

These really highlights how zinnia flowers never remain static, they start one shape and colour and continually evolve 

My only double zinnia is this badboy, queen red lime.  Look at that for a flower.  I don't understand how flowers can possibly construct themselves so intrically in a bud, but clearly they can.  These start out flecked with a lime green colour and turn a lovely dusky rose colour with age. These big pink balls last literally for ages.  Only one came out to begin with and even the mother commented on how long I held out for before finally withering.

I didn't know I had planted any yellow ones, but up it popped! Such a nice shade, this shows the true pastel quality

Again I think this pale pastel yellow one must be from the sprite mix because I didn't plant any yellow ones and I only have the one.  It contrasts beautifully with the lilac cosmos sat next to it, a real pastel combination. Im very fond of a yellow flowers, and while I love a good honking yellow I can also appreciate the subtleties of life so this one has very much been appreciated.

This photo makes it look more saturated than it actually is.

And finally to my last and teeny tiniest, red spider.  I bought these at Kew in London from a stand of seeds from around the world.  They looked exciting with their thin blood red petals, and they are.  They are just absolutely miniature. I do think some measure of scale should be included on seed packets because I was rummanging about one day, came across this didy flower and actually exclaimed "thats it!?" In my mind it was going to be so much bigger.  But no matter.

One of my teeny tiny, itsy-bitsy, diddy red spider flower. Yes its a zinnia, just
an absolute miniature one!

What I have been attempting to do all summer with limited success is collect the seeds from my zinnias this year so that next year a whole world of mixtures is openend up.  I just can't get the blooms to dry and make seed without wilting into a black rotting mess on top of the stalk.  Its been quite a challenge but I am perserveering.