I started the morning like Bob The Builder, with a perky 'can do' attitude, but quickly declined into an Eeyore -like depressive state.
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Rudbeckia, Dahlia 'Fascination' and hosta |
I'm not at work today, but yet I wanted a challenge. I had contemplated an easy day of drifting to a garden centre to buy a clematis for a friend, but the rain had stopped, so I decided it was a gardening day.
So ... the challenge I set myself ? To find interesting, planned colour combinations still in flower.
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Coleus, juniper, sedum and dahlia |
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Heuchera and Eucomis Bi-colour |
After about five minutes, I had to widen that brief to 'interesting, planned flower
and foliage combinations'. After another five it became 'planned and unplanned', then I just found whatever I could !
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Helenium and Heuchera |
It isn't that the flowers are finished - still lots of them out there ! The trouble is , most of them are propping up something in the last terminal stages of die-back. The main colour combination was - any colour + brown!
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Calendula and Heuchera |
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Perovskia 'Blue Spire' and Rudbeckia
It got easier once I included foliage, but it was only when I reviewed the photos later that I realised how heavily the purple Heucheras feature. Nothing wrong in that... just an unimaginative dependency !
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Euphorbia 'Thuggia' ( my terminology!) and yet another Heuchera |
Is bedding cheating ? If so, I will be drummed out of the 'Gardener's world subscriber's club' because I have included it. I had to, to make up the numbers !
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Petunias and ... erm ... a little lilac one ! |
The photos I have included are misleading in some cases because they look a little better than they actually are. Everything looks better, more intentional and planned, if you get in close to take the shot. It's why I love Macro.
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Lobelia Cardinalis and a phormium in the background |
Like most gardeners, I am already shrugging off this season and looking forward to the next. Maybe I should spend the winter planning suitable companions for my late summer/ autumn flowers ...
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Euphorbia, sweet pea 'Midnight' and Acer Palmatum Purpurea |
Is this a ruse to justify an afternoon of retail therapy? If not, you are being far too harsh on yourself - your garden still has plenty of colour! Bedding isn't cheating - it involves plants and colour, therefore it is plant colour.
ReplyDeleteThere are some beautiful foliage combinations going on here.
Thanks Gardening shoe ! All the photos are much better than the real life combinations ! I had to search to find single flowers which I could then drape artistically across their neighbour to make it look like a planned colour combination! Not a bad plan re the ruse though ! I could milk it ...
ReplyDeleteOh what a beautiful garden you have. Lots of radiant colour! You should give yourself a medal though I suppose we all have a little bit of Eeyore inside of us that takes over now and again. Congrats on this site too - scrummy!
ReplyDeleteGrace
Grace, you are too kind! What you don't see are the bits I walked past and didn't photograph!
ReplyDeleteThanks for comments on site, much appreciated !
Still lots of colour. I always find that in my minds eye things look great, once the picture is uploaded I realise I was only kidding myself :) A purple Heuchera always makes things look better!
ReplyDeleteYour last picture is ever so pretty.
Hi Angie, thanks for your comments. I think the green of the hosepipe really adds to the colour combinations in that last photo !
DeleteYou have some beautiful combinations, whether they were planned or unplanned, full of blooms or just foliage. To me, they all count. I laughed at the any color + brown - that's what's being featured in my garden! :) Your last photo is fabulous.
ReplyDeleteToo kind, HolleyGarden ! Mostly unplanned I'm sad to say !
ReplyDeleteThat's why most professional garden photographers like macro. And why we shouldn't trust their presentation of gardens! Xxx
ReplyDeleteAh, found out ... I used to be a professional photographer long ago, in another life !!
ReplyDeletePretty blooms and lovely colours! Great feast for the eyes for this weekend. Yup that macro of Lobelia Cardinalis is really nice.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie, thanks for your comments !
ReplyDeleteI too love macro shots. You see less weeds that way :)) At least that's the case in my garden.
ReplyDeleteMacro all the way, Marguerite !
ReplyDelete