Yet another exciting week but this time for different reasons to last week's chaos. Actually all mayhem has continued, with the buggies still down and the water pump still out of action. We are hoping for some resolutions early next week with all sorts of replacement parts and engineers pitching up. We will have electricians in the tool-shed too, relocating a consumer unit, sockets and lights about to get them away from an irreparable leaking gutter (not a happy combination). Hopefully that will help with more reliable charging of the buggies, once they are up and running again. I also added a few new toys to the project just to make it feel like we were progressing rather than just emptying the bank account and ending up with what we started with. The lights are naturally LED with the added bonus of turning on automatically when its dark and personnel are detected, rather than groping around in the dark trying to find the light switch. I've also added a new light and socket in the spray shed which will tidy that up nicely and a motion detector to my label printing bench so it only lights up when I'm under it. This week was one of natural performances brightening our day and night. After several years without seeing a hedgehog in the garden, we have had at least one hoovering up under the bird feeders over the last 3 or 4 weeks which has been great to see. Then this week a large amount of rustling under the old foliage of a pampas grass drew Caroline's attention to a litter of, at least 4, weenie offspring. The rest of the week we have been having to avoid stepping on them as they forage about at dusk, hedgehog food has been supplied and accepted, so we can build them up to a good size before summer ends. Managed to stay awake long enough on Tuesday night to get out and see the partial eclipse of the moon. For a change it was clear skies and a comfortable temperature to watch it for a good half an hour or so. A great show, made all the more entertaining by a feeding frenzy around our heads by four or five good sized bats. We very regularly see a couple of small pipistrelles feeding along the hedge lines but I'm sure these were bigger and definitely more numerous. They were so close you could hear and feel the flapping as they shot by.
Availability highlights
Erigeron kerv. Stallone are looking good with lots of bud and the odd open flower too. I have just a few of the more compact and bushier Cosmos Chocamocha left. Buds are visible on most, so not long to wait for those dark velvety flowers and the famous chocolate scent. The first batches of our mini Chrysanthemum (Garden Mums) are growing away well. Lovely bushy plants with lots of bud already showing and more to come. The odd splash of colour so far, but they will soon be showing off nicely.
We have another batch of Nepeta Junior Walker coming into bud and ready to roll. A great compact and neater habit when compared with its larger more spreading relatives. Both Walkers Low and Six Hills Giant are also tidy plants and in bud. Rudbeckia Little Goldstar is now coming into bud We still sell lots of the taller classic Goldsturm which is a fabulous garden plant but Goldstar is dramatically shorter and neater. The flowers are bold but not quite as big but it carries a lot of them.
Just for a couple more weeks we will have Verbena bonariensis in bud. I know it will romp away in height in a minute and we will have to cut them back but at the moment they are manageable.
The classic summer flowering Montbretia (Crocosmia) are fast approaching flowering with the bold Emberglow the first in showing its young flower buds. The neat little Erodiums are flowering well. Neat and tidy, they will flower for ages.
Summer seaside flowers abound, with Armeria maritima back on the list, bud showing on both the white and pink forms. Masses of bud on upright stems of Catananche caerulea . The occasional flower showing a flash of its papery sky blue petals, but only a few left now.
Our summer crop of Oxalis are up and running. Both are in bud and looking perky. Iron Cross has dramatic green and black foliage under deep pink flowers while triangularis is equally showy with its purple leaves under pretty pale pink flowers.
Salvia Hot Lips is now in bud with the some flower open. The full red and white petal display is now showing. Another popular summer special are the Platycodon which are on available this week for the first time. A new variety to us is Twinkle Blue, it is slightly more compact than the Astra Blue, both are now showing buds.
Rhodanthemum Casablanca are showing well with bushy grey foliage and lots of bud and flower on show. Lots of fab Salvia nemerosa varieties now back on line with most in bud and showing flashes of colour. We have short Campanula currently in bud, the prolific scrambler posharskyana with its smaller lilac blue bell flowers, and a new one for us Clockwise is another scrambler but neater growth habit and strongly coloured violet-blue flowers.
We have gone to town on Scabiosa this season, Lots potted ready for summer flowering, Butterfly Blue and Mariposa Blue are budding up nicely now in good numbers, these beauties will keep flowering all summer.
Have a great week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
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