Gardener's Diary - lily pads and blackberry jam
Day 51 of meteorological summer
What is the weather up to?
Sunny to torrential rain, only returning full sun again. My mood is very much a reflection of the weather and when it’s overcast, I can be a gloomy person. It’s tough to regulate my mood when alone at work.
I rely heavily on James Acaster and Ed Gamble’s podcast, Off Menu to bring me joy!
Allotment
The tomatoes are revealing plump red fruit, hanging lazily at the bottom of the plants.
The cucumbers and courgettes’ hairy leaves are clambering up my DIY supports and tilt their leaves toward the sun. I’ve cut a few off to allow air flow, keen to slow down the eventual powdery mildew and encourage more light to the flowers.
The cabbages are finished and happily grow. We harvest a few here and there, cooking with butter and chilli or adding to stews.
We had our first plums ripen; I popped one in my mouth and, oh boy…was this a plum. Nature’s treat. I love the allotment, I feel like a child again - clambering in trees to reach the high ripe orange red plums, muddy knees in tack from weeding.
As we work, we pass the blackberries and gorge ourselves like greedy wood pigeons. These canes make infinite fruit, so we made jam! Thick plump black berries mashed in with lemon and a horrendous amount of sugar.
The following morning we spread it on toast and it was sumptuous. It makes you realise how easy these processes are (just time-heavy, mostly). My partner had never made jam before so think he quite enjoyed the whole process.
One of my lovely allotment neighbours gifted me an abundance of tomatoes and the most incredible Palestinian courgette!
It’s so heavy that it seemed appropriate to cradle it as though a baby. Home-grown vegetables are a wonder, sometimes I can’t believe what can come from a lowly seed. We plan to make a soup, recipe to be decided.
The same neighbour gave me this parsnip in winter and we made a wonderful spiced Nigel Slater soup.
Kew Gardens
As a birthday gift, my friend took me to yoga at Kew Gardens. I had to be up at 5:15am; very early as I usually wake at 6:15am. The city was so blissful, the streets empty and no carson the road - nature was at it’s peak and it felt very undisturbed.
The main highlight was this striking pond lily, Victoria boliviana flower. Native to Bolivia, one it’s leaves has been documented to grow up to 3.2m wide - wowwee. An incredible video from David Attenborough’s series, ‘The Private Life of Plants’ shoes how it grows. What a special beast!
Also, I stumbled upon a Lycoris littoralis (beach white spider lily). Each flower had long strands extending from the petals like playful spiders.
I saw a lot of my house plants growing naturally in the glass houses. It’s always very exciting to see the species I have growing in situation. It’s helpful to witness them growing freely, usually spreading out across the soil’s surface and I’m able to see why my house plants can sulk in containers at home.
I’m incredibly proud of my house plant collection. I run a tight ship, only keeping plants which like the climate in my home. I gift the others that suffer. I’ll do a newsletter soon on my house plant collection for those who are interested.
Hornets
I spotted two hornets this week.
1- A European hornet, large and yellow, it looked like a ferocious wasp that would have a nasty stinger. Gladly not an Asian hornet.
2- I was so sure this was Asian hornet, however after reporting it via NNSS (Non-native Species Secretariat) - I was reassured it was a mimic hover fly.
The Asian hornet is a predator of the honey bee. DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is constantly destroying nests to try and stop them becoming established.
Flower display
Gladioli are in flower, appearing like gorgeous tall wands. I arrived to find one snapped in the garden, so rushed it home to a glass of water to try and keep it alive as long as possible.
I adore these pink Anemone hupehensis var. japonica 'Pamina', lasting well as cut flowers. The double flowers are striking (doubles explained later) and a welcome change from the standard anemone littered everywhere.
The large potted plant is my scented pelargonium, Pelargonium graveolens (scented like citronella) which was gifted from one of my bestest friends.
I constantly take cuttings as it’s so easy to propagate - cut below a node, strip the leaves around the leaf joint and pop it in fresh compost. I have sunny window sills which makes propagation more likely, as heat and light helps.
It’s never flowered and it’s sulking, but I don’t mind. It will flower in time, a lesson in patience although I do think I might sneak in some potassium to its weekly water to see if I can encourage some buds.
I also have a Pelargonium Fragrans Variegatum, gifted from an ex-student. Such a lovely gift. In fact, it’s flowered through the whole summer. It recently had an upgrade into a larger pot. I chose a considerably larger size as I want it to really establish.
Singles, semi doubles and doubles
In nature, you will notice a variety in the amount of petals on a flowers, varying from singles, semi singles to doubles. Very visible in roses.
Double flowers have additional petals, double the petals approximately. The additional petals growing are a genetic mutation and are modified reproductive organs.
Mostly, double-flowered plants cannot reproduce and are sterile. However, in some cases, there are fewer reproductive parts on each species so some can have a substantial amount of pollen. Bees will avoid double flowers as nectaries are blocked and they can’t find the pollen.
There are also semi doubles. As in the name, these will have petal quantiles somewhere between singles and doubles.
Horticulturally, the delight in double flowers are that they will remain open for longer due to their lack of reproductive organs (no stigmas or stamens), waiting patiently in the garden for bees that will never come.
Garden highlights
Parthenocissus henryana (virginia creeper). It’s gorgeous, slowly creeping using tendrils (as in the name) across walls, over plants as if using as props. This species has silver markings on the leaves and tolerates sun and shade. It becomes a red colour, once temperatures have dropped. Next appear brilliant blue berries in autumn before it drops its leaves.
Thank you for sharing this Sarah! Your flower display at home is lovely and makes me happy to see! 🍃