Some like it hot
Phew, what a scorcher that was! I imagine I'm not alone as I wander around my garden to see what has survived and what has been fried to a crisp after those record temperatures earlier in the week. It was as though someone had taken a huge hairdryer to some of the plants. But not all is lost and, indeed, some seem to like the heat so here are my #SixOnSaturday in the series inspired by The Propagator.
1) Canna "Wyoming"
Well look who likes the heat! This is this plant's fourth year and third location. Only last year did it flower for the first time and it is promising a good show again this year. It sits well with the blue geranium, hemerocallis and salvias in the same bed but I'm thinking I'll place it further back in the bed next year. .
2) Rudbeckia
These were grown from a packet of seeds acquired from one of our garden club members. They've been very floppy and I feared that the slugs and snails would devour them as soon as I planted them out. But no, they've survived and like the Canna, seem to like the heat and have now started flowering. I love that the yellow petals look like they have been dipped in chocolate, or is it that the chocolate petals have been dipped in yellow?
3) Zantendeschia
Another heat lover, apparently. These are in their first year and have produced lovely soft yellow blooms. They are not hardy so will have to be brought in at the first sign of frost. Just right now that is pretty hard to imagine!
4) Another sunflower
Yes, for the third week in a row I give you a sunflower, another from he seeds acquired from one of our gardening club members. This one has a double row of more rounded petals and the flower head is more palm sized than dinner plate.
5) Salvia guaranitica "black and blue"
Another first for me and one acquired in a moment of spontaneity. We have a lovely local independent garden centre just opposite the station entrance. Occasionally I'll pop in on my way home from work, if nothing else for the gorgeous scents and the calming background jazz that is often playing. It is a teeny bit of paradise in south east London. On this occasion I had a mission - to acquire a late flowering clematis. They had none. Instead, this salvia grabbed my attention with its distinctive deep blue flowers and black stems. The leaves are larger than the other salvias in my garden. It has survived the heat and is throwing off a succession of blooms. It is in the same bed as the hemerocallis and I like the contrast of the orange and the blue.
6) Spider plant flowers
Having had spider plants for most of my adult life, I honestly don't ever remember one flowering. This is one of several plantlets that I harvested from a mature one growing in my office and I've started them off outside. I popped this one into a larger pot a couple of weeks ago and it promptly threw off its own new clutch of youngsters along with these two pretty white flowers. I quick look on t'internet confirms that they don't actually flower at all regularly and that when they do, the flowers are short lived so I'm right not to remember them and glad that I captured these ones in their prime.
That's all for this week. This weekend I'll be deadheading and possibly planting out some of the more vigorous inhabitants of the greenhouse. Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.
