Blog – Thomas Stone MCI Hort MPGCA

Posted on June 18, 2018 June 18, 2018

The glory of the moss roses

Moss roses are a distinctive group of roses, their flowers fill the air with fragrance whilst the soft sticky growth that covers their buds, act as sellotape on anything that passes by. The moss roses are indeed part of the larger centifolia group of roses but these roses at sometime, produced sticky soft growth to ward off sap sucking insects like aphids. The rose breeders during the 1800’s leaped apon this natural deviation and bred even more roses that were covered in this sticky soft mossy type growth. Some as a result were slightly less sticky than others!

This mossy growth is basically formed from the glandular projections that cover the Rose stems and buds, this is what gives the roses the scent. In moss roses this somehow took a slight turn and became this soft sticky fragrant growth, which to many smells of spicy apples.

The moss roses were introduced to the uk from Europe in about 1700 and indeed many 100’s were bred although sadly we only have a handful of that figure left

Well here’s 10 great moss roses to give you a taste of what this fabulous plant can bring us, some grow to a few feet tall while others make 8ft quite easy. They are indeed a great group of roses to grow

Mousseline was bred in France in 1855 and repeat flowers thoughout the summer, fragrant and gets to about 4ft tall

General kleber was bred in France in 1856, great quality blooms which are highly scented, flowers in June and July only. grows to about 5ft tall and is great rose for a large pot

Celina was again bred in 1855 in France, smells Devine but does suffer quite badly will mildew but the striped flowers are stunning to say the least

Henri Martin, bred in France in 1863is one of the real stunners of this group, it’s flowers are one of the darkest of the moss roses and changes to a deep red as it ages. It is well scented, can can be successful grown either as a supported shrub rose or as a climbing rose

Rosa oeillet panache is the only stripped moss rose left now sadly, it’s fragrant flowers only born during June and into July. It is a sport off the common moss rose

James veitch is a little stunner, bred in France around 1864, it barely gets to 2ft in height and flowers all summer long although sadly the flowers aren’t the most highly scent of the group. It also grows well in pots

Little gem is One of my favourites as well, wonder scent and gets to about 3ft high in the garden, it’s featured in my six on Saturday a few times now. Bred in the uk in 1880

Muscosa is the father of them all, this stunning rose has been around for over 400yrs now, it can get to nearly 4ft in size and flowers just the once

Shailers white Mose rose is a sport off the common moss and can indeed at times revert back to the pink form just as the pink form can at times throw up this white form, again highly scented and once flowering. Though to of been around since 1790.

William lobb, well I am saving the best to the last, one of the most highly of scented and beautiful of all the moss roses, indeed is one of my top ten roses of all time, bred in France in 1855 it a big rose growing to over 6ft as a shrub or 8ft as a climber. It works well trimmed as a shrub or having the long stems pinned down, but it is as a climber it performs best as. It flowers on and off all summer long

I hope you enjoyed my brief look at moss roses and this will led you to enjoy, study and hopefully grow many of these stunning plants. There are lots more available than I can list or feature here but this is just a taste for you all

Posted on June 16, 2018 June 16, 2018

Six on Saturday, 16th of June, 2018

Ahh back to Saturday once more, it’s been a busy week to say the least and lead to not a lot of time spent in my own garden but that’s the delights for the time of the year, plants and ideas are there, just need to be added to the garden! I would do it this morning but off to work again this morning but at least I have fathers days off only thing that’s worrying me is the lack of rain, both my front and back gardens are looking a little tired already, even though I am watering young plants and recent planting’s, I won’t water the established plants as I hope they should be big enough to look after them selves, tough love

This weeks six comes from my own little space so I hope you will enjoy my little 6

I have always had a soft spot for campanulas and it is many due to this lovely form called persicifolia and it’s a great form to grow with roses and in the front of the borders

Rosa iceberg was in the garden when we started renting it about 8yrs ago now, was a rather poor specimen and now its stunning!

Geranium palmatum is one of the half hardy hardy geraniums, confused? Well add me too that list, comes from the canary island but has been growing in mine for 4 years, could of been longer but it’s still going well. The foliage is stunning as well and evergreen!

I have a huge soft spot for moss roses and this is one of my favourites, Eugenie Guinoiseau scented with a little bit of repeat flowering

And how can anyone not love staychs Byzantina or lambs ear, these tactile plants to me are the unsung hero’s in my garden, their silver foliage does such great work in the borders and then it flowers

Cat mints are another favourite of mine (really need more space to grow all the plants I love!) this is a slightly different form called nepata nuda and is new this year

well that’s me done for this weeks six, next week I shall hopefully finished a couple of things in the garden so hopefully will showcase them but that said it’s another manic week planned but I hope you all have time to enjoy your gardens and are time out to read about others too, the memes founder has some great sixes every week so why not pop over to mr propagators and take a look

Posted on June 13, 2018 June 13, 2018

Identifying rose stock

Most rose that you buy here in the uk, have been grafted or budded as it’s called, onto a root stock of another rose. This is done for various reasons,

the Rose maybe difficult to propagate from cuttings and budding is done to produce a higher success rate,
the rose maybe weak on its own roots and not make a good garden plant on its own, and need a stronger growing root system to produce a garden worthy plant
To contain some roses, some like Rosa gallica and rugosa have a habit of spreading on their roots and being budded, they are more controlled
It produces a bigger plant for sale quicker than by taking cuttings

The method of budding is quite simple, a 1 year old root stock is planted in the spring, then in July, a T cut is made into the rootstock and a bud of the rose you require is slipped in and held in place with a special rubber clip, left for the summer and then top of the rootstock is removed down to the bud in the spring, that inspires the bud to break producing the rose of your choice. This is lifted in the autumn for sale as bareroot or containerised. R V rogers produce an excellent blog on how it is done please click here to read it That’s a simple guide to budding

Many roses have been used for the root stock over the years but now for most roses, only one in the uk is now commonly used and that is Rosa laxa or Rosa corynbifera ‘Laxa’ to give it’s full name. The English dog rose Rosa cainina has also be used in the past. Rosa laxa was choosen as it suits a wide range of soils, produces longer lived plants and is more disease resistant than other types used but when it does how do you tell it apart? Well here we go!

Firstly the leaves normally have 7 leaflets and have a slight sliver tinge to the older leaves while the younger ones are a bright green colour

The thorns are also slightly different with the barbed points facing downwards and with a distinct twist at the ends

The stems are often a giveaway too, being a big green colour while young and maturing to a deeper brown colour with whitish lines on the stems

Then there’s the flowers at this time of the year, the top one is Rosa laxa and the bottom is Rosa cainina, some people put the two forms into the same botanical group and they are almost identical

Best way to remove them is to pull them up, tearing them off the root system more than cutting them down as when pulled off, all the buds below ground are removed while cutting down leaves the buds underneath and allows them to regrow again

I hope that helps with Rose stock problems

Posted on June 11, 2018 June 11, 2018

Gallica roses, forgotten gems

Once flowering roses are having a hard time of things of late, mainly as there are some great repeating roses that do have some great scent as well. But let’s not forget these beautiful roses, some of which, have been around for many hundred if not thousands of years. Yes they may only flower once but that is also a good reason to plant them in our gardens, it’s something positive to look forward to each June, seeing the rose slowly open and that delightful fragrance hitting your nostrils, either from close up or from a distance. These roses also have a flower unlike no other, the shape and the way some of the petals are formed within the flower, some are quartered, some semidouble. The colour range may also be limited to the pinks and reds but does that matter, not too me I may add. But anyway, enough of me singing their praises, you can see for yourself below, with 10 great forms just showing you a little of what they have to offer

Charles de Mills is a famous and well grown form, just look at the flower shape and colour!

Alain Blanchard is one of my favourites too, great for bees the the mottling on the flowers is quite special

There a several stripy galliacas, Camuyeax is one of my favourites

Lycoris with it’s green button eye is quite distinctive

While complicata is one of the daftest named forms, nothing complicated about this rose

Look at the colour of Cosimo Ridolfe

Belle Isis is one of my favourites and just look at her, the Greek goddess

Tuscany also needs no introduction, been around since the 16th century at least

President de Seze is another great form

These were also the first roses to really be hybridised, many by the French but also the English, German and Italian gardeners. This breeding has been going on for hundreds of years and sadly what remains today.

These are also pretty tough roses, Rosa gallica grows naturally in sandy free draining soil so these types will take some poor soils. One word or warning though, on their own roots they do like to spread out a little, well more than a little, so always worth buying budded Plants unless you have a lovely sunny bank on free draining soil you would like covered!

They also pretty disease free, some forms suffer more than others but on the whole they can be pretty black spot and mildew free.

In all that are a cracking plant to grow so why not give them ago

20180226 202933 Gallica roses, forgotten gems

Posted on June 9, 2018

Six on Saturday, 9th of June 2018

I love this time of year more than any other time, I think it maybe just because I have a deep deep love of roses, wild flowers and Hardy Geraniums, for those plants, it’s the time of the year that the both of them are at their peaks during this month. But that said, I think this time of the year is when the gardens have really come to life, the range of greens from the new foliage looks green and fresh, so many flowers are just hitting their first peak and it’s not only the garden this is happening. A drive around the hedgerows in the country, they will be filled with the soft white of cow parsley, the odd bit of blue of geranium pratense and if you are really lucky, a area of orchids. These native plants are also just coming to their best now.

Not doing too much in my garden at the moment apart from enjoying the flowering plants and the scent my roses are filling the air with, nothing nicer than relaxing in the garden with a cuppa or beer and enjoying the garden, well that’s until I spot a weed or a spent bloom I missed a few minutes before. That said my six below may disagree with me! Now I will say that there maybe one or two roses below, that’s my little warning for this week but tough it’s my six and I love them!

d371e551 b65a 4e0b aa34 ebacc8ee642b 24716 00000615a177d9a7 file Six on Saturday, 9th of June 2018

Well that’s torn it! My forsythia needed pruning and after months of mental turmoil about whether it should stay or go now, if it’s goes there will be trouble but if it’s it could be trouble, so darling let me know, should it stay or should it go, well sorry The Clash, it’s gone, now what the hell do I do with this space!!

img 2957 Six on Saturday, 9th of June 2018

The first rose this week, Rosa Magna Carta is a Heritage rose and it repeat flowers thoughout the summer, smells stunning and looks gorgeous, great rose

img 2962 Six on Saturday, 9th of June 2018

Even with my next plant I have got roses sneaking in, Geranium Patricia is a stunning hybrid that is one of my favourites and works so well with my roses. Flowers all summer long and I planted this as memory plant for my partners Nan who sadly pasted away a few years ago, a lovely lady called Patricia

img 2964 Six on Saturday, 9th of June 2018

Souvenir de Jeanne Balandeau is again a highly scented repeat flowering heritage rose, just look at the beauty of this plant

img 2967 Six on Saturday, 9th of June 2018

Linaria Lucy’s Pink is another new plant for me, brought from a small nursery last year, I love the pink flowers that seem a little larger and wider spaced than other linarias,

img 2970 Six on Saturday, 9th of June 2018

I always feel that the flowers of sempervivums look very much like the alien bursting out of the person in the film alien, but that said they also look very beautiful. Also once the individual rosette flowers, it then sadly dies but with so many new rosettes coming up, the plant is never lost.

Well that’s my six done, I hope you enjoyed them and look forward to seeing you next week, I may of started planting up the font space caused by hurricane Tom or started another project…..

until then, happy gardening and don’t forget to pop over to the host of the Meme mr propagator https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com Just be careful he doesn’t try and propagate parts of you

Posted on June 8, 2018 June 8, 2018

RHS Chelsea flower show, delights of the trades

Of course Chelsea isn’t just about the show gardens, they do make up a huge and important part of the show but there’s so many other parts to it, like the trade stands. These displays all focused around their products, can hold not only great products but also great plants and ideas.

Niwaki not only had great Japanese pruning tools but an even better way to find a lost loved one in the crowds. Think They missed a trick and should of charged for each person found!

Griffin glasshouses stand made you think that could well be your greenhouse in your garden, although wouldn’t be mine as there was no dead plants in corners, compost everywhere and far too tidy, at least I could dream

I am a sucker for clay pots and these are stunning, love the box in there as well

Now I just loved these sculptured flower buds or seed heads, really gave great contrast next to the box balls and alliums, great looking product.

Got to say give the Hartley Botonical’s stand a mechion brilliantly designed by the Garden Ninja aka Lee who have only been a designer for 3yrs, first time at a show and wins the best trade stand for the design, top bloke as well. welldone fella!

A no frame glasshouse looked amazing but how practical would it be?

Sorry had to add this sign and how true is it!

Lastly there was the Great Pavillon and this was filled with plant delights and stands that took your breathe away, it is wonderful to met and talk to the growers and the people you spent ages building the stands. I really enjoy wondering around taking in the sites and smells that came from them all. I was there on the last day of the show and yet the stands were still looking great. Only one small negative point for me was the tickets added to the plants as people brought them, seeing cloakroom tickets scattered all over a stand really makes them look ugly and takes away from the otherwise beauty of the stand, these starting appearing from mid day and it did spoil my enjoyment of some of them. That was a small negative and I know Nurseries want to sell of the plants but there must be a slightly better way of doing it. Other wise some of the stands where stunning

Have to say the Hillier Nurseries gold winning stand was in my top 3 for all the gardens I saw, expertly designed and built, I loved the plants and planting, so well thought out

Burncoose is one of my favourite Nurseries and with so many stunning plants unavailable from anywhere else, it’s no wonder why

As are Hardys cottage plants, always great range and quality of plants from them, with stands that are just so beautiful as well thought out

And let’s not forget DownDerrys excellent stand full of lavender, again a real eye catcher

The Eucalyptus stand I though was also excellent, showing their wide range of uses and well as the range of plants that can be grown, a much under rated plant

David Austin roses never fail to excite, not only with a mix of new roses but also some great classics shining though

And the same with Peter Beales roses, love the old ruin effect filled with one of my favourite plants

As for this clematis stand by Raymond Evison Just blew me away, so well thought out and just full of colour

And this stand highlighting the British cutflower industry summed the whole show up for me, full of colour, excellent use of plants, many being used in a skillful way, to highlight different causes while entertaining you and delighting the eyes.

I throughly enjoyed the day, seeing the hard work and pride so many parts or our industry take on putting on what is a showing off the best of our industry. A big thank you goes to Griffin Glasshouses for the tickets

Posted on June 3, 2018 June 5, 2018

The Gardens of Rhs Chelsea 2018

I was lucky enough to spend the last day at the RHS Chelsea flower show after winning a couple of tickets from Griffin Greenhouses. It was my first visit to Chelsea since 2005 so I was very excited to see the delights the show has to offer. This is always seen as the foremost flowershow in the uk, if not the world, so it a great place not just to see the new trends and thoughts coming though but also the new plants. It is also a great place to meet the growers on the stands in the grand marquee. But things have also changed with the type of sponsors on the garden, with more and more charity’s using the show to highlight their work and the plight of people from around the world. These gardens really do help to bring the work or highlight the issues that they are raising so well and it is amazing to see their message being highlighted by the skill of the designer and the beauty of plants and materials. This was my favourite from all the charity gardens

The Supershoes, laced with hope garden. This garden was designed reflecting a child’s cancer journey and of course their family. I thought the winding seat and most wonderful mural painted on the back, all leading to the statues at the back of a child and parent was a excellent idea with the underplanting being a mix of lupins, irises, alliums, geums reflecting the dark and also bright moments of the cancer journey, yes colours could of been done from the darker side of first being told that you have cancer to the lighter moments saying you are cured but every journey is different and child have the ability to find joy in the most darkest of times. Well worth checking out Supershoes charity at www.supershoes.org.uk

The main avenue show gardens were indeed stunning gardens, so well designed and built, they did all however suffer from the same problem at the time of my visit, everyone wanted to see them and it was like a polite rugby scrum to get up close to look at them, with every space made by departing viewers, fought by pushing and elbowing until you got to the front. Even when you got there, you had to contend with the airplane photographers, you all know the ones who stick their elbows out at 45 degree angles to take the pics and you end up with a nice pic of their elbows. Tbh I gave up after 3 goes, found it too much for me and it’s such a shame the RHS couldn’t find a better controlled way to let people admire the gardens, a slow moving line maybe? That way you could see the gardens the full length as they are designed and built to be seen instead of a little segment whilst having an elbow inserted into your side. That said, the ones I did see were rather very good and here’s a selection below of some of the great designs and building I got close too

This was the first one I saw and it was sponsored by the show sponsors M&G investments, designed by the very talented Sarah Price and but by Crocus. Its Mediterranean style garden, focused on plants that need less water, really well thought out garden that won a gold metal.

I loved the planting on this garden designed by Jo Thompson, built by Bespoke Outdoor spaces and sponsored by Wedgewood. I felt the garden was a lovely cool space that I certainly could relax and enjoy in. Another gold medal here

This garden sponsored by Greenlip, designed by Dr Catherine McDonald and built by landform consultants was filled by members of the pea family with the lupins really stealing the main show. I loved the fact that the whole garden was filled by the same family, showing off the whole diverse forms of the pea. Another gold medal garden

This garden designed by Laurie Chapworth and Patrick Collins, sponsored by Creativiersal and built by Tendercare, the Wuhan water garden was designed to be seen from all sides and was inspired by the natural and city environments in the Hubei province in China, I liked the idea but did find it a little bit of a mix for me. It won a bronze medal

Now this was a stand I wanted to play on and I will be honest and say it was the only one I saw, I would love to add to my own little garden, it was designed and built by Architectural Plants, the treehouse garden was just divine, great planting and a stunning well built tree house, just perfect place! Can just imagine my work office up there, sliding down when I ran out of cake and tea!

This garden just bowled me over by its design! Yes it is designed with cricket in mind, sponsored by British Council, designed by Sarah Eberle and build by Belderbos landscapes, it was designed with both India and England’s love of cricket and the dreams of young Indians growing up in India, won a silver gilt medal

I loved this garden by Kazuyuki Ishihara, sponsored by G-Loin. The Japanese hospitality garden is just so full of detail, from the moss right though to the waterfalls and just the natural look of the garden, made it look like it had been there for years, it was the only garden I saw that made me feel it had not just been build, stunning stunning garden, won a gold medal and best Artisian garden

And my last of the gardens I am highlighting, this is my style of garden! Called the A very English Garden, designed by Janine Cribbins, sponsored by The Claim Guys and built by Andrew Louden. Everything about this garden is brilliant, the planting, the very high standard stone work, it is indeed another garden I could see me doing at home. Really really impressive garden won a silver gilt medal and people’s choice of best artsian garden

This is the end of the second part of my 3 part look at Chelsea 2018 show, I hope you enjoyed it

20180226 202933 The Gardens of Rhs Chelsea 2018

Posted on June 2, 2018 June 2, 2018

Six on Saturday 2nd of June 2018

June! June! It can’t be be June already but the garden is proving me wrong, with so many of the June plants showing me it’s June, with the roses really starting to get going and their fragrance is starting to fill my garden. But what a week it has been, very hot and sunny and then it rained and boy did it rain! My glass left on the patio table, had 65mm in it after just being outside for 12hrs. This time last week I was heading up to Chelsea for the flower show and I had a great time there, so many stunning plants and gardens too see and inspire from. Not had to do much in the garden this week, it’s all just ticking by nicely, I do have some plants to add to the garden and now the soil is a little moist and I hopefully will get them in, I also need to plan and plant up my front door pots, just can’t decide what to put in there this summer, seen one plant I like to use and slowly adding a list together. One thing that has been decided is the removal of the forsythia in the front garden, that’s going by by this weekend!

Right enough waffling, I need my cuppa and weekend toast and the little one is of the same opinion! Again this weeks 6 is going to be a rose feast with a few others added but my roses are going away nicely now and need to be shown off!

First one is a rose I planted last year and is just so beautiful to look at and the scent is stunning. Champion of the world is a Hybrid perpetual rose and that will repeat flower all summer long, it’s been around since 1894

Let’s have a poppy now, never sowed them, they just appeared in extension of the flower bed when I did it last year. Poppy seeds last for years and years in the soil, just waiting to be exposed and when it does, boom there they are!

Rosa iceberg is one of the most popular hybrid teas grown, this is one of the only plants now left in the front garden I haven’t added too

Now this little sod has been in my first alpine container for the past 3 years, just sat there doing nothing and now it’s decided to flower and how lovely they are indeed, if you want to grow it and wait for 3years, it’s called Bergeranthus glenensis

Rosa little Gem is a beautiful moss rose, bred in 1840, flowers Just once but the scent and flowers are amazing and it works well in shade as well as full sun

Now this is one of my favourite roses, flowers on and off all summer with these scented flowers, pretty disease free and tough as old boots. It is a rose that should be and deserves to be grown wider, such a great garden plant, it’s name is Amanade paternotte!

Well that’s my six for this week, I hope you enjoyed them and have a great weekend gardening, I know I will 😀 and enjoy the other six on Saturday over at the hosts site https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com

Posted on May 28, 2018 May 28, 2018

Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

As ever I though it would be lovely to share some of the plants that really caught my eye at this years show. It isn’t them all as that would take weeks/months/years of writing and tbh I think you my lovely readers may get a little bored by then. So here’s just a few that made me look at them at least twice or even three times!

img 5233 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show Proteas are a plant that took my breathe away the first time I saw them on Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Scilly Isles. See them here at Chelsea, again took my breathe away. Just how beautiful are they, just sadly not Hardy in most of the uk. Oh nearly forgot, this is Protea cynaroides.

img 5235 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

Bonsai is becoming more popular and these stunning example of Pinus parvifolia, first started in 1854 is just amazing! To think that the work has been done by many people over the years, tendered with love and it’s still going strong! It would worry me like anything to have something that old, needing to be fed, watered and cared for, just in case in died on my watch, image that, the shame

img 5338 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

Lupins were hugely massive at Chelsea this year and this particular one called Towering Inferno was on a few show gardens and in the main marque, I love the brightness of the copper tones on this plant. Let’s hope it was the start of the lupin revival!

img 5501 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

Sorry/notsorry, had to add a rose into the mix, I loved this new David Austin rose not just for it’s simple clear open yellow flowers, that have a delightful scent but also the name is so nice as well, Tottering by Gently it is called and how rightly so!

img 5529 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

Ok this lavender didn’t leap out at me but never less did make me look a few times at it and it was so unusual I just had to include it, Virdis is the name and that means green, found it very calming for some reason

img 5242 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

Agaves have been a little favourite of mine for many years sadly don’t grow any at home, Although I think that maybe about to change, thought this one is adorable and was called Kichijokan

img 5557 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

Need a bit of bright colour in your garden? Can’t get much brighter and stunning than this Arctotis ‘Holly’ certainly one for my pots and containers this year

img 5283 1 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

Thought the clematis stands in the flower marque were outstanding! Everyone could of made the cut but in the end I chose this one called Sarah Elizabeth, there was just something about the colour I just loved

img 5293 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

Image the horror of seeing this fly catching plant, flying around in the one area you thought you were safe!

img 5351 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

As a family Lysimachii gets a lot of stick I think, some like creeping Jenny do want to take over the world and their bad name tarnishes the whole genus. This one however is just a stunner! Lysimachii atropurpurea Beaujolais is it’s name.

img 5382 Eye catching plants from RHS Chelsea flower show

No look at the plants of Chelsea for me would of been compete without a Peonia and this tree peonia again stopped me in my tracks, look at the range of colours and the delicate way it bows her head, almost like her stunning good looks embarrass her. Peonia x lemonia sounvier de maxime Cornu is her name.

Right that’s a brief look at some of the stunning plants I saw at RHS Chelsea, I hope you liked them and I will be sharing some of my favourite gardens and stands next time on the blog

Posted on May 26, 2018 May 26, 2018

Six on Saturday 26th of May

Another busy week in the sun, well mostly sun and warm, ideal for hoeing off the weeds and dying in a few minutes, one of my favourite jobs is hoeing, that feeling of going though the bed, in a smooth calm action, with the sun on your back, only thing that beats it, is of course, hoeing a bed full of scented roses, total bliss!

Anyway I am writing this on Friday evening, excited like a excited thing that is indeed very excited, why you may ask, well I am off to The RHS flower show at chelsea, all thanks to those great people at Griffin Glasshouses, who ran a competition for a couple of tickets on Saturday and my name came out! It’s made my week! I have only been once and that was many many years ago. I am sooo excited I could crush a grape!

Right on to the first of the six and I was going to apologise for the amount of Geraniums in this weeks 6 but I won’t, why? Cause they are all brilliant that’s why,

Geranium Orkney Pink, how stunning is that!

Time for a quick rose, this was the first one to flower for me last year, second this year Louis XIV, stunning colour, stunning scent, doesn’t stop flowering all summer

This six puts me in dreamland well Geranium dreamland, cracking newish form, featured in last years 6 but what a little stunner

Allium aflatunense is just starting to flower, moving on from the purple sensations that are just going over, cracking looking plants, supplied by Geetee bulbs

Geranium renardii is one of my favourites, the leaves are so tactile and soft and as pictured here, the flowers are so loved by bees as well as us. It makes great groundcover as well

Penstemon artic Fox is one of my favourite white penstemons and it works so well as white foil to many plants, great form indeed.

Well that’s my six for this week, I hope you enjoyed them, right I am off to the train station to catch a train! Will catch up with you all later, have a great weekend and enjoy the other six on Saturday over at the hosts site https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com