Hollyhocks on GW

Re-added the Gardeners World appearance as YouTube decided there was a copyright issue. I’m sure the BBC don’t mind me promoting the images filmed here on the plot.

May arrive sometime in 2023/4/5

The moment when you have spent an age corresponding, put a whopping seed order in for some new cultivars, organised the correct phytosanitary certificates, and then your seeds get lost in “customs clearance”. Wonderful 😂 Literally no timescale for if and when I may ever have sight of this parcel.

Cosmos still around as November arrives

Still no sign of frosts so the cosmos are still flowering, in between huge downpours and gales today.

IOS 16 really looks useful for taking pics of plants and flowers

I have never been into photography, but love how technology can help with gardening in terms f logging images and identifying things. The new ios 16 if you use apple products for me is amazing… it now lets you you essentially remove any background image (I suspect not aimed at gardeners but more for those who want to show some perfect life on instagram) which really focuses on the plant.

For me this is an amazing feature to helps show what cultivars look like when growing. Not that long ago this would have taken ages and need professional software. (Cosmos Apricot lemonade and Hollyhock Creme de Cassis for anyone interested).

Planning next years mass planting

With the new polytunnel up a new place was needed for a mass planting of cosmos. An area that will get unwatered un weeded and un-deadheaded. So after a bit of work we will move from 80 square metres to around 120 square metres of all sorts of cosmos 🤞🏻

Dahlias too

Its not just cosmos and hollyhocks we grow. As the frosts still haven’t arrived there are plenty of dahlias still around to pick and bring int the house. They didn’t do so well during the hot dry period, but seem to be flowering more than ever now.

Mid October cosmos in flower (frosts not arrived yet).

A few musings on the national collections

Polytunnel number two finished

Now the work starts filling them with all the planting plans I have in store.

What’s currently growing under cover?

In no particular order….hollyhocks; erigeron; dahlias; chamomile; echinops; kniphofia; scabious; echinacea and a few geums.