Summers still here in France.

 

 

Although our summer has not been glorious sunshine everyday
and I was not able to give our garden the care it needed
we still have some plants giving us lots of colour.

These  Echinacea  have flowered all summer
 and it looks like they will for a lot longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 They will definitely have to be moved to the new flower bed,

as they have taken over this small area smothering the smaller plants

which are now hidden underneath, fighting for a bit of light.

 

 

I bet you're wondering why I'm showing these Lobelia growing in the gravel ?
Every year I used to sow Trailing Lobelia seeds in trays,
they would germinate,  start to grow, then shrivel up !
Now I go to the nearest garden centre and buy them fully grown in small pots.
Then every year half way through the summer they pop up in the gravel,
from seeds which must have fallen from the previous year.
I pull them out and put them into my hanging baskets.
They must like the cold moist gravel during the winter.
So much for my tender loving care I give to the seeds I sow.




Iceland Poppy

Last year I acquired two Iceland poppy plants.
They were on the shelf in a little shop and looked like they were almost dead.
 As I had bought a few other plants, I thought I'd ask if I could have the two for the price of one.
It must have been my lucky day, he put them in a bag
and said it was a petite cadeaux / a little gift.

They flowered for quite sometime, then completely disappeared.
Then this summer after thinking they had died
they must have been slowly growing without me knowing what they were,
and now summer is almost over they've decided to flower.
I need to mark there place so that I'll remember for next year.

 

This is another annual plant that I found growing in the gravel from a fallen seed,

 I pulled it up and popped it into this blue glazed pot so that I can move it about  

and now it adds some bright colour to an other wise dull spot.

 

 

 

Blue Campanula - carpatica

I did plant some white ones, but they don't seem to have survived the wet winter.

 

 

 

 

 I rescued this on one of my walks from a compost heap.

Perhaps someone had been thinning out their flower bed. I took them home,

not sure what they were until they flowered, then I knew... Osteospernum

I've put them in pots until I'm able to get the proposed flower bed dug out.

 They have flowered on & on all summer.

Being white I need to be put them somewhere that needs lightening up.

 

 

Such a pretty flower.

 

 

Hibiscus - Adonicus pink.

I've kept this in it's original pot and it's been flowering profusely   

since my stay in hospital. It was a gift from a friend.

It still has lots of buds.

 

 

This Fuchsia has such a beautiful flower. Unfortunately I don't know the name.

 I managed to over winter it from a hanging basket I'd bought last year.

It's struggled a bit, but it's now showing some lovely blooms.

 now that summer is nearly over. 

 

 

 

I see from several of my blogger friends gardens that Autumn is certainly here.

I hope some of you can manage to hold on to summer a bit longer, If not,

maybe you have some plants in pots that are still flowering that you can bring indoors.

 

What ever your weather enjoy your garden.

 

I know my posts have been few and far between these past few months,

but I'm almost back to my old self.

I have greatly appreciated all the kind get well wishes from so many of you.

 

I'll be back soon, as  I have something I want to share with you.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian