Some people are born gardeners, others are not. I tend to class myself in the latter category much to my despair but being a fair-weather gardener is probably part of my problem. My Mum however is an excellent gardener and I frequently envy the satisfaction she gets from her garden and the hobby it has become for her over the years. I’m much better watching the gardening shows on the TV than actually pretending to have green fingers, so here goes…
There’s nothing better to take the Apero in a lovely garden, surrounded by flowers and plants, or to eat home grown produce.
We don’t have a real garden per se, more like a courtyard style back yard and as we don’t have any flower beds we are limited to growing stuff in pots. We did have a great garden in the UK but it was big and needed way too much maintenance so we’re quite happy with the downgrade.
In fact, we’re more than happy, living in a city we’re very lucky to have any outside space at all yet alone a space we can actually call a garden.
Therefore, as soon as the weather turned good, we got our gardening gloves on just like we did last year and the year before. This was also spurred on by the Flower market (with the frog band) we attended the weekend before where we purchased lots of lovely (but unidentified flowers).
So folks, I’m going to need your help please – can anyone assist in identifying any of these flowers and telling me what they like/don’t like please?
Unidentified Flowers 1
Unidentified Flowers 2
Unidentified Flowers 3
Other than the flowers, we’re re-growing tomatoes this year. Some of the tomato plants we bought, others we found growing in the pots from rotten tomatoes we forgot to remove last year. This proves that this should be a fairly easy task to have home grown tomatoes as it would appear they grow on their own!
Teeny tiny tomato plants
We were luck in that we had a few survivors from the frost and snow; thym, oregano, chives and strawberry plants which have now infested the garden (I didn’t know what rampant meant in French/gardening terms until now). How the cold did not kill these I do not know especially as it managed to kill a lot of my other hardy plants.
The strawberry infestation started from here
A surprise was the kiwi tree that Hubby purchased last year. It has always been this small weedy thing and was rather overwhelmed by the Rosemary. We actually thought it was dead just a month or so ago and now it seems to be growing at an incredible speed. At this rate it’s going to be vying for competition with the strawberries in taking over the garden.
Kiwi, Strawberries and Rosemary
For good measure and because Hubby tells me it will keep the mossies away, we’ve also thrown in some Geraniums. I’m not overawed with these yet as they look a bit scrawny and I’m not keen on the leaves but hopefully with some TLC they’ll turn out all right. Here’s hoping.
Geraniums
Anyhow, after much rummaging in the garden shed trying not to befriend any spiders or creepy crawlers, I ran out of pots so I haven’t been able to pot the Lavender and Mint as yet, which is probably just as well as I’m not sure whether they prefer sun or shade? Also, I don’t as yet know where I’m going to put them in the small space I have left!
& we bought this because it looked pretty!
The first is sea thrift, which likes the sun and dryish – it grows on cliff tops.
The second look like forget-me-nots, so no special treatment.
The third is verbena – frost tender and also like it dryish, and deadheading to keep it flowering.
Lavender will like the sun, mint will grow anywhere but likes a fair bit of water.
The japanese maple will like it shadyish, or lots of water if it’s in the sun
/end smartarse mode
Thanks Gillpj! I like the sound of the forget-me-nots, no special treatment! They have taken well to their new pot so I am pleased with them.
I will stop watering the verbena everyday and I will “deadhead” them – does that mean taking the flowers head off when it wilts?
The maple is going in a garden bed which we are going to make soon, it will be in the shade and will be keeping another similar looking tree company!
Thanks so much for your help, I will keep you updated on progress
1- wild dianthus- sun and water and perfume flowers all through the summer
2-forget-me-not is blue and white- bianual flower that floers in late spring/early summer and than has only leaves.
3-( u have there 2 different flowers planted together). The pink one is a verbena- I jave never grown it but it can be a great looking plant on a veranda. The white in the middle is a special type of pelargonium ( geranium) called in Romania ” weeping geranium” or ” Tirol Geranium”. It is very commun in Germany ( Tirol). it is just like a regular geranium but with long, weeping/arching branches that flower profusely all year long. Put in a garage or a old basement it survives winter ( it is a perenial). Pls, put it in a different pot, alone;otherwise, cared as a geranium to develop the long branches. Wonderful in a suspended pot.
Not only have I given you reading Rosabell but also a mystery to solve
Thanks for your help also! Do you think it is too late to take the special geranium (I’ve decided to call it this as its name is quite complicated isn’t it?) out of the pot now and replant it on its own? I don’t have any more pots but I’ve just called my Hubby and asked him to buy me one more which I’m going to hang on your suggestion…
Do you know how it likes to be watered?
Lavender loves sun, sandy soils and it is not that keen about watering. As a matter of fact, the drier, the better. Mint does well in sun, partial sun, and is extremely vigurous and undemanding. My garden is now full of mint I have been trying to “evacuate” for years. In 2009 I gave it up- it is just to much for me . So, your mint wil do well, regardless of your concern. Water it one a week and that’s it!
I’ve never been able to grow mint – I tried twice last year and both attempt failed. Maybe I was over watering. One was in a pot, the other was in the ground (with the kiwi and rosemary).
Did you do anything special to your mint? Maybe I should try to kill mine and then it may grow? At least you have lots to put in salads and fruit salads, not to mention mojitos!
Sorry to be pedantic Rosabell, but the first is armeria maritima – sea thrift or sea pink. I’ve got one myself and it’s just growing in a crack in the sunny stone steps – definitely does not like too much water.
http://www.plantsafari.com/Catalog/Detail/00112.html
I don’t know how you managed not to keep a mint, they’re virtually unkillable! On the other hand, my rosemary has died. It’s my second one and the winters are just a bit too harsh here for it.
I’ve stopped watering the pink thrift now, we’ll see how it gets on, it was certainly looking a bit droppy! I would love to have stone steps where plants could grow inbetween the cracks!
With regards to the mint, I do not know what I do wrong but hopefully this year will be better.
For the Rosemary we have hacked it back on several occasions and it just keeps growing. Unless of course its not Rosemary but we’re pretty sure it is. Its in quite sandy soil and rarely gets watered, only when we remember to. It survived the frost and snow this winter but our courtyard is very sheltered so maybe that helps.
Have you ever grown parsnips by anychance?
Yes! i grew parsnips a few years ago, when we were still using our larger veggie patch which was too far to walk to, impossible to water – if you could get water there it just ran down the slope. So, yes they grew well in sandy soil with not much water. I’ve planted some seeds this year but they haven’t come up yet.
Sandy soil with not much water sounds good to me! Did you seed them quite thickly?
I’m going to try growing some but in pots, I’m going to seed them this week at some stage…
That’s definitely rosemary that you’ve got, and it will certainly prefer a sheltered courtyard. I love rosemary which is why I keep on trying it – the smell is just super.
Hardiness is a funny thing though, as I’ve got a yellow jessamine (gelsemium) growing by the house wall – it doesn’t tolerate any frost, yet even with 5 weeks of snow and minus lots, it’s still growing after 3 years (no flowers though).
Most plants that are not quite hardy will survive better if kept drier in the winter.
I’m surprised anything survived this winter but wonders will never cease especially in my garden!
Maybe there’s still hope for flowers for your Yellow jessamine yet
- gillpj- yes, u were right. I thought it was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dianthus_alpestris2.jpg but did not look to close to it . Thx for signalling.
“There’s nothing better to take the Apero in a lovely garden, surrounded by flowers and plants, or to eat home grown produce.”
*sigh*
That makes this city-dweller feel some envy.
“I’m going to need your help please – can anyone assist in identifying any of these flowers and telling me what they like/don’t like please?”
I am afraid I am totally useless for this, but it looks like gillpj and Rosabell have you covered.
Lovely photos, good luck with all the gardening pursuits, and it is just me, or does that last one look like something, ummmm, “herbal” with those pointed leaf fronds there? (*giggle*) Ahhhhh, so NOW we know why you really want the gardening, eh? As cover for other “gardening pursuits,” huh. (just teasing. It is clearly a perfectly legal and very cute plant/tree/thing.
)
Happy gardening, Piglet, and I’m looking forward to what you learn about the herbs so I know what to do with mine, too.
LOL
I am so bad at gardening that I could just as well plant something totally illegal and be none the wiser!
I think gillpj and rosabell and other readers will be more helpful to you with your herbs than me, but I will keep posting and we will see! We’ll have to compare notes every few weeks
[...] big thank you to Gillpj and Rosabell who helped me in identifying my flowers last week. They are looking a bit worse for wear after all the bad weather but I am confident that [...]