This is my dark leafed begonia, ( called Muddy Waters) it is a plant for the livingroom in our climate and it blooms in Winter for several months, the flowers are tiny but very pretty. Look at the flowerbuds, they have dark pink freckles, so cute. The leafs are almost black and have a beautiful shape. It is such an easy plant. In Summer it can stay outside in a shady place.
Hello again. I haven’t been posting a lot lately because I didn’t take a lot of pictures. At first it was too hot and the flowers just burned to a crisp, then came the rain, lots of rain, and ruined what was left.
But I managed to take a few in the end, so here are the pictures I took in October.
NOT FLOWERS BUT BERRIES OF MY HOLLY TREESUNFLOWER BUD
In October ?? Yes, in October. My grandson planted 3 seeds in a little pot in July, when he went on holiday I was asked to look after them for a few weeks, they looked so tiny and so sad, so I planted them in a big pot each and in the sun, my grandson was very happy when he came back and saw how big they had grown and asked me to look after them permanently.They only got buds at the beginning of October.
SUNFLOWERS
This is what they look like now, he didn’t know what sort of sunflower it was so they are not huge ones but I love the way they look.
ASTERS
They did suffer a lot from the heath and I was sure they had died but the rain gave them new life, the plant is not as huge as it is normally but it looks nice in the garden.
AMELANCHIER OR JUNEBERRY
These leafs give a lot of color to the garden at the moment, normally this tree is bold in October but again, the rain did a good job.
BEGONIA
Not the best picture but my yellow begonias are still blooming well and light up the garden.
What is not to love about begonia’s ? They are one of the easiest plants I know. They come in all kinds of colours and shapes of flowers and leafs. It’s a bulb you plant frostfree in early Spring, once the frosts are gone you can put them outside in a shady place, they can manage a bit of sun but then you have to water them more. In Autumn after the first frost you remove them out of the ground or pot they are in, remove the soil around the bulb and put them in a newspaper in a cool frostfree place and the next year you get them out in early Spring ( you’ll notice they already have some new shoots !) and you start all over again. You can repeat this for many decades, they will always perform, always.
It has been hot lately and dry, so the garden doesn’t look good at the moment, there are a lot of dry leaves of plants and of tree’s, it looks like autumn at the moment. But I found a few nice flowers who still looked good.
MALVA
This annual malva is so heath resistant, on a hot day the leafs are hanging vertically on the plant and you think it is going to die, but the next morning it surprises you and it looks fresh again with normal leafs. I was amazed !
ALBIZIA JULIBRISSIN or Persian silk tree
This tree is also heath resistant, it is a bee magnet, the whole tree is buzzing during the day. In the evening the leafs close up. It is filled with beautiful pink and white flowers , but with the heath they fade faster than usual. It is not a huge tree, ideal for smaller gardens.
BEGONIA
This begonia is a bulb plant, I bought a few of these several years ago, I put them in a pot in Spring and they bloom all Summer long, in Autumn I take the bulbs out of their pot and put them in an old newspaper and in a frost free but cold room. In Spring I put them again in new soil in pots. They thrive in the shade but they need moist soil. An old lady told me she had the same begonia’s for over 50 years !!! And each year they were covered in flowers.
HIBISCUS syriacus
This is a flower on one of my hibiscus bushes, they too fade sooner now that it is so hot but it is an easy bush, they come in many different colours and they are a real asset in your garden. They are winterdardy in Western-Europe but not in colder area’s.
FUCHSIA
This is one of my fuchsia plants, most of them like living in the shade in a pot, in moist soil. This one is in the sun, as you can see but I put it there to make this picture.
We have a very odd Summer this year, cool and wet so I haven’t as many flowers as usually. Last year it was so hot I spent hours in front of the fan. This year we got airco and voila, we haven’t used it even once 😀 But hey, I am not complaining, I like this cooler weather.
MALVADAHLIAICE FLOWERS(mesembryantemum)BEGONIAANOTHER DAHLIASOON TO BE FLOWERING : CROCOSMIA LUCIFER (bright red)CUCUMBER HERB.(borage)
I just love the blue flowers of this herb. The plant is not really prettty but the flowers are. And it attracts a lot of bee’s.
I hope you are all well and happy. Take care and thanks for visiting.
It definitely is Autumn now, cos of the drought it is early this year. But there still is a lot in bloom right now although you can see the flowers are a bit tired and the leafs are getting brown and yellow here and there. On top of it they had to go without my tlc while I was on holiday in France.
IT’S SEDUM SPECABILE TIME NOW AND I HAVE LOTS OF THEM
FUCHSIA MAGELLANICA BLOOMS FOR ABOUT 6 MONTHS
PASSIFLORA CAERULEA THE ASTERS ARE JUST BEGINNING TO BLOOM DAHLIA WILL BLOOM TILL THE FROSTS COME BEGONIA’S STILL DOING REALLY WELL TAGETES (marigolds) ROSA GUIRLANDE D’AMOUR IS STILL GETTING NEW BUDS AND ALL
MY FUCHSIA’S IN POTS ARE ALL STILL IN BLOOM ROSA SEAGULL
On the other hand some plants look tatty, like the ferns, the Amelanchier tree(shadbush or june berry), the lavenders…. But hey, I am not complaining !
I hope you are all well and happy, wherever you are.
Begonia’s, sooo pretty !! They love a shady place in your garden, in a pot or in full soil. However you can keep them in a sunny spot too but then they need a lot of water.
They are bulb plants and not frost hardy so in Autumn before the frost begins you take the plant inside and keep it cool but frost free or you harvest the bulbs. To harvest the bulbs you get the plant out of the pot (or soil), remove as much of the soil as you can, put it in a garage on a newspaper and let the leafs go yellow and dry, then cut the leafs off, then put the bulbs in a newspaper, one by one and put them in a cardboard box. In Spring you give the bulbs a new pot and fresh soil and keep them light but frost free before putting them in your garden after the frost is gone. The bulbs can reach a very old age.
AND SO IT BEGINS THEN IT OPENS UP AND HERE THEY ARE IN THEIR FULL GLORY
Are they not pretty as a picture ???They bloom for a very long time.
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