• A Little Bit About Me

wellywoman

~ A Life in Wellies

wellywoman

Tag Archives: Oriental poppies

Unsung Garden Heroes

21 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by wellywoman in In the Garden, Roses

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

cut flower, Oriental poppies, vase life

Rose

Roses can be hard work

There are some plants that are just a pain to grow, rather like a new born baby they need a high level of input to look after them. In my own garden I’m thinking roses in particular, not only is there the appropriate pruning regime for that particular rose but also the feeding, the deadheading, the watering and that’s before I even mention the list of pests and diseases just waiting to attack them. Then there are plants such as delphiniums and hostas which are mauled by slugs. Stunning magnolias which you wait all year for to flower and then just when they are looking at their best there is a frost, which turns all those petals to brown mush and oriental poppies whose flowers can be destroyed by a heavy shower. I still grow these plants, well apart from the delphiniums there really was no point giving the slugs a slap up meal every spring, because for all the hard work they are glamorous and beautiful. Fortunately though there are some plants out there that just get on and do their thing without any fuss or attention. These are often not the showiest, most dramatic of plants but they are in my opinion the unsung heroes.

Alchemilla mollis

Alchemilla mollis

I’m thinking of plants such as Alchemilla mollis. I know a lot of people who think of it as a weed. Yes it does self seed but I’ve found the young plants easy enough to remove. I love its crinkly fresh green foliage as it starts to grow in early spring and once fully unfurled the leaves capture raindrops, where they sit like globules of mercury. The lime green, fading to yellow, flowers are not dramatic but give the garden a zing and contrast well with so many other plants. I love using the flowers in my cut flower arrangements where they have a good vase life and the foliage is a useful filler too. By July the leaves and flowers of alchemilla are starting to look tired but if you cut them back fairly hard, in several weeks you will have plenty of new, fresh green growth and with a mild autumn, a second flush of flowers.

Erigeron or Mexican fleabane

Erigeron or Mexican fleabane

Another favourite of mine is erigeron or Mexican fleabane. It’s a plant I remember from my childhood holidays in Cornwall growing in rocky crevices. These plants always looked a bit scrawny in such poor conditions but grown in richer garden soil it will make larger, greener clumps that are covered in daisy like flowers all summer long. The only care erigeron needs is a cut back in mid spring.

Sedums are a must in any garden. From as early as February their thick, fleshy rosettes of leaves push through, forming clumps as the spring and summer progresses. From July they start to flower in a range of pinks, reds and white and are adored by butterflies, bees and hoverflies. Their flowers fade in mid autumn but as they die and dry out they leave seedheads which if left over winter look beautiful rimed with frost. A quick trim back of these stems in late spring is enough to keep these plants looking good.

Geranium

Geranium

Geraniums are a large group of plants and they are an excellent easy going addition to any garden, from tiny alpine plants to big and blousy clumps they will tolerate a variety of conditions. Geranium phaeum is an early flowerer but most will bloom from May until July. To get a second flush of  flowers be brave and cut the plant back down to the ground. This may seem extreme but you will be rewarded with fresh leaves and more flowers.

And finally, valerian or centranthus is another unsung hero in my own garden. It too, reminds me of holidays in Cornwall where it can be found growing in fairly inhospitable places, virtually growing in sand and being hit by salt-laden winds. It will grow more lush in garden soil producing good sized clumps with either reddish pink or white flowers, I personally prefer the pink. Leaves start to appear in late February with flowers appearing from late May and given a sunny spot it will flower all summer long. It does benefit form a little deadheading and this helps to restrict it self sowing but is otherwise unfussy.

All these plants are untroubled by pests and diseases, left untouched by slugs and are easily propagated, so are great for filling gardens on a budget. So lets hear it for the unsung heroes of our gardens and be grateful that not all plants are as needy as roses!

I loved to hear about the plants you think deserve a bit more attention.

The Poppy

13 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by wellywoman in Flowers

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

First World War, Icelandic poppies, Oriental poppies, Poppies, Remembrance Sunday

Red Field Poppy (courtesy of flowerinfo.org)

As it is Remembrance Sunday today I thought I would do a post about the poppy. It also happens to be one of my favourite flowers.

The Latin for poppy is Papaver and all poppies belong to the Papaveraceae family of plants. There are annual, biennial and perennial forms of poppy.

The red field poppy or Papaver rhoeas is the symbol of remembrance in the UK and some other Commonwealth countries. It self seeds freely and its seeds can lie dormant for long periods until the soil is disturbed and then the seeds are triggered into germination. This is what happened in the fields of France and Belgium during the First World War. The impact of trench warfare disturbed the soil and as a result fields of beautiful red poppies bloomed. Even amongst all this death and destruction nature produced something truly beautiful. After the war the red poppy became the symbol of the lives lost. It was actually an American woman Moina Michael who came up with the idea of a memorial poppy after reading the poem In Flanders Fields. Her campaign was then taken up by a French woman, Anna E Guerin who was inspired to get French people making cloth poppies. It was 1921 when the first of these French poppies were introduced to Britain.

I love the delicate beauty of all poppies combined with the fact that they are quite tough little plants. I remember seeing my first ever red field poppy growing in a patch of baked earth by the side of a road in Yugoslavia. I was about 7 years old and thought it was incredible anything could grow there, let alone something so beautiful. Ever since then I have loved poppies.

All poppies share the same delicate papery petals. The flowers can be fleeting, damaged easily by adverse weather but then the seed heads left behind are beautiful in their own right. There are such a variety of colours from the red of the field poppy, the yellows and oranges of Icelandic poppies, the whites, pinks and purples of Opium poppies and everything from salmon pink to dark burgundy of Oriental poppies.

I can’t think of a better symbol for remembrance than the beautiful, delicate but tough little poppy.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Poem by Major John McCrae, 1915

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

My latest book – The Crafted Garden

My latest book - The Crafted Garden

My latest book - The Crafted Garden

My Book – The Cut Flower Patch

My Book - The Cut Flower Patch. Available to buy from the RHS online bookshop.

The Cut Flower Patch – Garden Media Guild Practical Book 2014

The Cut Flower Patch - Garden Media Guild Practical Book 2014
Follow @wellywomanblog
Instagram

Archives

  • August 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011

Categories

  • autumn
  • Big Biochar Experiment
  • Book Reviews
  • British flowers
  • Bulbs
  • Christmas
  • Cold Frames
  • Countryside
  • crochet
  • Cut Flowers
  • Environment
  • Flowers
  • Food
  • Fruit
  • Garden Course
  • Garden Reviews
  • Herbs
  • House plants
  • In the Garden
  • Interview
  • Miscellaneous
  • On the plot
  • Out and About
  • Pests
  • Plant Nurseries
  • Plant of the Moment
  • Plastic Free Gardening
  • Ponds
  • Product Review
  • propagation
  • Recipes
  • RHS Flower Show
  • Roses
  • Salad
  • Scent
  • Seeds
  • Soil
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Sustainable gardening
  • Trees
  • Uncategorized
  • Vegetables
  • Weeds
  • Wildflowers
  • wildlife
  • Winter
  • Woodland
  • Writing

Blogs I read

  • An Artists Garden
  • Annie's Little Plot
  • Backlanenotebook
  • Bean Genie
  • Flighty's Plot
  • Green Tapestry
  • Greenforks
  • Gwirrel's blog
  • Hillwards
  • Jo's Good Life
  • Leadupthegardenpath
  • My Hesperides Garden
  • Out of My Shed
  • Oxonian Gardener
  • Plantaliscious
  • The Anxious Gardener
  • Urban Veg Patch

websites I like

  • Chiltern Seeds
  • Hen and Hammock
  • Higgledy Garden
  • Plantlife
  • Sarah Raven
  • The Organic Gardening Catalogue

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • wellywoman
    • Join 4,575 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • wellywoman
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...