Day: June 9, 2018

A mixed bag this week, some from the students and some from me.

1  The first is from one of the students.  She moved to this house only recently, and has done a lot of work in the garden.  Here it is:

2  The second image is from another student, a picture of some gorgeous ferns unfurling themselves in the gardens of Mount Grace Priory:

That’s my store of images from the gardening groups exhausted, so the rest of this Saturday’s pick are from my garden.

3  This is Siberian Iris ‘Pink Parfait’.  This is its first time of flowering, and I love it.

4  Another one flowering for the first time – Oriental Poppy ‘Harlem’.  Must remember to stake it next year – it’s giving the neighbouring penstemon a hard time.

5  A beautiful, fragrant peony next to Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’.  The peony was a gift, and the giver thought it might be ‘Sarah Bernhardt’.

6  And finally, a problem.  Last week I posted a picture of one of the big fat buds of Oriental Poppy ‘Snow Goose’.  This is what happened when that bud opened.  Also, there are long, dark brown streaks on the stem, underneath the base of each leaf.  As the other buds start to open, there is some brown staining on the petal edges, but not as bad as this.  One of my students, with a similar problem, consulted the RHS, who diagnosed it as Pedicel Necrosis.  Any information, anyone?  I’m tempted to dig it up and throw it away, but the stems are strong and the flowers are enormous.  They would be very beautiful without this problem.