Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature

A Prelude to Summer

May 19, 2024May 16, 2024 Ann Mackay19 Comments

NB: A note for WordPress Reader users – you need to click on the title of the post again to come out of the reader and go to the post itself. This allows you to see the whole of the top photograph. (Otherwise you may see just a tiny section!)

Although it’s still only May, there are summery-looking flowers already open in my garden. Roses, irises, geraniums and verbascum are in flower right now, but it’s the oriental poppy ‘Patty’s Plum’ that makes me feel that the days are about to be much warmer and brighter.

There’s something about the look of these big, gaudy flowers that suggests they should be basking under blue skies and sunshine. Instead they are having to cope with this week’s wet weather. Fortunately I photographed the flowers here before they got a bit flattened by the heavy rain and there are plenty more unopened buds, so more flowers to come.

I wondered if this poppy had come into flower slightly earlier this year and took a look at the dates that I’ve photographed it over the last few years. This year it was May 13th, for the two years before it was around May 23rd and in 2021 it was 28th May. So perhaps the flowering time has crept forward a little.

It certainly feels as if there’s a headlong rush towards summer by all of the plants in the garden. Keeping up with everything that needs to be done is pretty much impossible at this time of year. Even so, it’s important to stop gardening for a little while and take some time to just enjoy the flowers while they’re at their best.

Weird & Wonderful

May 12, 2024May 10, 2024 Ann Mackay19 Comments

The sight of unfamiliar flowers and plants is one of the perks of visiting other people’s gardens. You never know what you may see. The plant shown here was one of the more surprising encounters I had when I saw it for the first time in a Norfolk garden four years ago. I had absolutely no idea what it was, but it looked strange and exotic to me.

This plant, with its weird flowers, felt like something that belonged in a botanic garden glasshouse, rather than outside in a British garden. It seemed too exotic to be hardy. Much later I found out that it was a Clianthus and will grow in a sunny position in mild areas. (The RHS says it can tolerate down to -5°C and suggest a cool greenhouse or conservatory for colder areas.)

Clianthus has several common names: glory pea, lobster claw and, from its native New Zealand, ‘kaka beak’. (Named after an NZ parrot, this colourful name is my favourite!) Growing against a wall, the plant looked like a climber, but is in fact a scrambling shrub. It’s a member of the pea family and has two species and a number of cultivars. (I don’t know what this one may be, possibly a cultivar, because it seems to develop more pink/purple in the fading flowers than I’ve seen in photographs of the species.)

I’m always pleased to get the opportunity to photograph a plant that I’m unlikely to be able to grow at home. I wonder what this year’s garden visits may allow me to photograph…🌿

Still in the Pink

May 5, 2024May 4, 2024 Ann Mackay10 Comments

One of the spring sights that always impresses me is a magnolia tree in full flower. There are several of these not far from where I live and they were magnificent just a couple of weeks or so ago. Their pink flowers are gone now, so last year I was surprised to see magnolia flowers in a garden we visited in mid-May.

I am so used to seeing spring magnolias in flower around here that I was unaware (or had possibly forgotten) that there are summer-flowering magnolias too. A quick read up on them was required!

Depending on the variety, magnolias can flower from spring up until September but I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen any of these late-bloomers. There’s a particularly lovely white-flowered magnolia (Magnolia sieboldii) which I would love to see – and photograph, of course!

It was a matter of luck that I was able to photograph the magnolias here. The flowers are often too high up on large trees for me to be able to get near enough to them. These were just at a nice height for me! Hopefully I will find more of these lovelies on future garden visits…I will certainly keep my eyes open for them.

Ragged but Lovely: Silene flos-cuculi

April 28, 2024April 27, 2024 Ann Mackay19 Comments

Ragged Robin (Silene flos-cuculi) flowers

Ragged robin (Silene flos-cuculi, also known as Lychnis flos-cuculi) is a very pretty wildflower that is native to Europe and Asia. It grows in damp or marshy ground and was, in the past, a common sight around the UK. (I remember it growing in soggy ditches alongside country roads when I was much younger.) It has become significantly less common now, even rare, due to land development, especially the drainage of ground for agriculture and the loss of wetlands and wild ponds.

Fortunately, ragged robin is now grown as a garden plant. It’s a perennial which seeds itself around very readily in moist and sunny sites. Gardeners can choose cultivars in deep pink, pale pink or white. The pale flowers in the photograph below were growing in the wet ground alongside a large pond in a garden we visited. They were such a lovely sight that I wished I could grow them in my own much drier garden.

The desire to grow plants that like damp conditions led me to create a little ‘bog garden’ last year. That meant that I was able to plant the dark-flowered ragged robin that you can see in the top photo. (I was afraid that the huge increase in our winter rainfall might have drowned the plants in my bog garden, but everything in it is growing again and the ragged robin seems perfectly happy.)

The availability and growing popularity of wildflowers as garden plants helps not only their survival, but that of many insects too. Ragged robin is an excellent source of nectar for bees and butterflies and apparently attracts dragonflies too. I shall be on the lookout for those!

Hanging On

April 21, 2024April 17, 2024 Ann Mackay16 Comments

Very windy weather was forecast for this week, so I expected much of the blossom to be blown off our ‘Kanzan’ flowering cherry. It’s in front of the house, which is the most exposed part of our garden, and it was no surprise to see its branches waving around as the wind strengthened. Soon there was a scatter of petals that looked like giant pink snowflakes all across the grass.

To my surprise, most of the blossom survived the rough winds and the tree is still displaying its characteristic round balls of flowers. It must have been still early in the life-cycle of these flowers for them to be robust enough to resist being torn off the tree – a few days later would have been a different story. (I’m relieved to see that the blossom is still on our fruit trees in the back garden too, so we can hope for apples and cherries later.)

The cherry tree itself is in a state of ‘hanging on’ too. It already looked very mature and had seen some damage by the time we came here in 2005, so it must be old for a cherry tree by now. ( I’ve read that their maximum lifespan is around 30 to 40 years, with Kanzan only having about 25 years.) Despite being at least 30 years old, the tree is keeping going. It doesn’t flower as profusely as it used to, but still has a good number of flowers for us to admire. We’ll simply enjoy it while it lasts. 🌸

Before and After

April 14, 2024April 12, 2024 Ann Mackay17 Comments

Once spring is underway, it gathers speed. For the past week I’ve been happily distracted from the garden by the company of a visitor, so have had less time to notice changes in the garden. Now that I have time to look around I’m impressed to see how much has grown and flowered in just a few days.

Blossom is everywhere, from the fruit trees in the garden to the ornamental cherries and crab apples on the green in front of our house. The daffodils have mostly gone over now, but the tulips are open and the first lilac flowers are out. Amidst the rush of flowery activity, I’ve had less time than I’d have liked to admire the pasqueflowers (above) before they too were going over.

This year I may have been too distracted to take much notice of the lovely purple pasqueflowers, with their charmingly fluffy buds and leaves, but I do still have the pleasure of their seed heads to come. These sway on their long stems in any breeze, with their silvery hairs glinting in the sun. Almost as pretty as the flowers! (And one of my cats used to think they made a grand toy for her to swat!)

Now I really need to get back out into the garden – everything happens so quickly out there in spring! 🌿

Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasqueflower) Seed Heads — The seed heads of Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasqueflower) are gloriously fluffy.

Covering the Ground

April 7, 2024March 31, 2024 Ann Mackay16 Comments

Dark purple-flowered periwinkle (Vinca minor 'Atropurpurea')

These purple flowers look attractive but may soon be trying to overrun a large patch of my garden. For once, I don’t mind. This is Vinca minor ‘Atropurpurea’, the dark purple-flowered periwinkle. It’s a ground-cover plant that can spread quickly and has small but pretty flowers.

Normally I’m wary of plants that have the ability to become thugs that try to take the garden over. This time, though, I needed something that would survive in the dry shade beneath a ceanothus (California lilac). It also needed to be able to creep along the ground and help to stabilise a slight slope near the edge of our pond.

Once this plant has done its job of providing ground cover under the ceanothus, I’ll try to persuade it to continue its spread below some of the neighbouring shrubs. I reckon it should help to keep down the weeds under them too, which would be very helpful. (It gets tricky to weed under shrubs as they get bigger and I get older!)

I wonder how far it can spread? (The RHS says 1.5 metres, but I’m betting that it will self-propagate by layering and reach further.) I know I’ll have to keep a stern eye on it and give it a thorough trim if it goes too far.🌿

A Spring Essential

March 31, 2024March 28, 2024 Ann Mackay12 Comments

Spring wouldn’t feel like spring without daffodils. From childhood, we associate these flowers – usually the yellow ones – with new life returning as winter fades away. (One of my best flower memories from childhood is of a river flowing through farmland that had its banks planted with hundreds of daffodils. It was a spectacular sight in spring.)

The photographs here are of Narcissus ‘Geranium’. The flowers open a bit later than our other daffodils, many of which are already over. ‘Geranium’ still has buds waiting to open, so should be with us for a little while yet. It’s a favourite plant for me because I love the contrast between the elegant white petals and the bold orange cup. The flowers are small, but each stem holds several of them. Best of all, they have a sweet scent.

I have no idea why this variety has the name ‘Geranium’. It seems an unusual choice of name to me, because a geranium is a very different flower to this. But I can at least say that all daffodils are part of the Narcissus genus, with ‘daffodil’ being the common name.

Whatever you choose to call them, these daffodils are a bringer of joy. I planted them near our back door so that we would get the pleasure of their scent every time we go into the garden. I’m happy to see that they are multiplying nicely there. With luck, these pretty flowers will continue to perfume the air in future springs. 🌼

Pretty Wild

March 24, 2024March 23, 2024 Ann Mackay21 Comments

Despite the title, I’d describe these flowers as ‘pretty and wild’, since Primula vulgaris is the primrose, a wildflower which grows in woodlands and meadows. The wild primrose is also a welcome early spring flower in many gardens. It likes the semi-shade at the foot of hedges, so is a great plant to grow below deciduous shrubs and in other partly-shaded places. In my eyes, it’s prettier than the more brightly-coloured primula hybrids and I find it easier to blend into the existing planting in my garden.

A friend gave me several clumps of this primrose from her own garden last year. Some have been planted out to join the primulas already in the garden. Others were potted up to plant later on, after I have finished splitting and moving other plants around. All are flowering happily! They harmonise well with, and flower at the same time as, the mix of cream and darker yellow daffodils growing here. (I will need to add some blue flowers for the best effect. What a good excuse for buying more plants!)

Wild primroses were common along roadside verges when I was a child and I can still remember my delight at the sight of these pale yellow flowers. There were not a lot of flowers to be seen in the gardens of the ‘far north’ of Scotland in those days, so finding pretty flowers growing in the wild was an experience to value. I don’t know if they grow there still, but here (in Suffolk) I see them in the wild only occasionally. It’s good to know that they are growing and thriving in many gardens, where they provide an early source of nectar for the first of the year’s bees and butterflies. 🐝

More Hellebores…

March 17, 2024March 15, 2024 Ann Mackay17 Comments

Spring arrived here this week. Every year I feel that there is a day when winter clothing suddenly feels much too much and the sun has real warmth to it. The cats have deserted their bed by a warm radiator and taken over the conservatory chairs again. The birds are busy, busy and so are a few early bees. Best of all, things are growing again.

Nevertheless, it’s a slow process for colour to start reappearing in the garden. Our daffodils have opened at last, and there’s a scattering of blue and white Anemone blanda and some yellow primroses. Amongst these spring flowers, the hellebores are still holding their own. They flower for weeks, bridging the period spanning late winter and early spring with their glorious blooms.

This year the hellebores have done well. They’ve become much more sturdy plants, with many more flowers than I’ve seen on them before. Both photographs here are of ‘Rosali’ from the HGC ‘Ice N’ Roses’ series, which I planted last year. I hope that this newer hellebore will turn out to be as robust and resilient as other older varieties are said to be…time will tell!