Mark's Veg Plot does flowers too

Latest post from MARKSVEGPLOT – a blog about food and gardening in England”

It’s not all veggies in my garden, you know! Here are some photos of plants currently in bloom…

Have you noticed that I have a particular fondness for plants with dark-coloured foliage (and/or flowers)? Here we see that Dryopteris Erythrosora fern at its russet-coloured stage, with Heuchera “Palace Purple” in front of it. At the left is the dark foliage of Dahlia “Bishop of Llandaff”. When the plant is more mature, the foliage will be almost black.

This Oxalis is desirable mainly for its beautiful purple leaves, though it does produce some small white flowers, of which a few are visible here.

This is the Cotinus tree, again a dark one, called “Royal Purple”. I like the sharp contrast with the plain white roses.

Here is the scented-leaf Geranium I bought at Dipley Mill the other day:

Next to my water-butt I have a good old-fashioned scarlet Geranium, doing its best to conceal some of the unsightly watering-cans!

The Philadelphus (Mock Orange) tree is only just coming into flower, several weeks later than was normal a few years ago. If you asked me when it flowered, I would say “Mid May”, but that’s certainly not true this year.

This is my latest acquisition, purchased just a couple of days ago. It’s a Salvia Nemerosa, called “Caradonna”. I first noticed this plant when we visited Dipley Mill the other day, and then we were at a Garden Party event last Sunday and in the garden there was a very striking flower-bed with this plant (and only this plant) in it: a dense mass of purple flowers, every one of which seemed to have a bee on it! At that point I realised that was a definite “Must Have” plant. I’m pleased to find out that it is a hardy perennial and is easily propagated by root-division.

I think it looks really nice against a backdrop of Golden Sage.

Yes, I like flowers in my garden, but I prefer edible plants. Something that combines the best features of both is best of all. I hope that in a few weeks this Greek Oregano will become one of those.

It’s small at present (one of several such plants grown from seed sown in the Spring), but it will soon go on to produce a mass of tiny white flowers which are highly attractive to bees and butterflies, whilst its leaves (some of them at least) will undoubtedly make their way into our food. I’ve been wanting some real Greek Oregano for years now. The stuff sold as Greek Oregano is normally not what it s claimed to be. It is bland and tasteless, whereas true Greek Oregano is powerful, pungent and tasty!

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