callmemadam: (countrygirl)
I love wallflowers, with their velvety petals and heavenly scent. In my old garden they lived up to their name, seeding themselves into crumbling brick walls where they became quite large, shrubby plants and semi-perennial.

I should be enjoying a fine display of wallflowers at the moment, because last September I planted out two dozen nice tall ones. One February morning (my birthday, as it happened) I pulled up the kitchen blind to see that during the night the deer, the horrors, had eaten every single one. It’s a good job I don’t have a gun. Luckily, they didn’t find the self-seeders, like this one.

230415wallflowerred

When I first moved here, I sowed, grew on and planted out two of my favourites: ‘Blood Red’ and ‘Fire King’. Ever since, they have kept themselves going by seeding around; the one above is growing in a paving crack by the kitchen door.
more wallflowers )
callmemadam: (garden journal)
I love wallflowers. Not the horrid, dumpy Siberian kind but the tall, almost shrubby types with flowers in tawny shades and a glorious scent. Beware those field-grown wallflowers with muddy roots which you sometimes see for sale in the autumn. They’re almost always dwarf bedding varieties. Wallflowers are biennials and it’s very convenient for the gardener that just as they are in flower it’s time to start thinking about sowing for next year. It’s well worth the effort. You start with this



and get this.



I was determined to have wallflowers this year. My new garden has no vegetable patch or handily spare patches of soil so last spring I simply sowed the seeds in a very deep seed tray, let them grow and planted them out, right against the house wall, in September. This has worked very well. My favourite of all wallflowers is the variety ‘Blood Red’.





Annoyingly, although I’ve already bought my seeds of ‘Fire King’, ‘Blood Red’ can’t be had anywhere. Looking in my seed box I found that I hadn’t used all the seeds in last year’s packet.



I’ll give them a go and hope they’re still viable. The classic plant combination is of course wallflowers with tulips and forget-me-nots but I’m quite happy with my stand-alone wallflowers.
callmemadam: (corydalis)
Yesterday was sunny and breezy all day. Wrapped up like a peasant, one could feel warm in the sun. One of the greenhouse vents opened itself and I saw a Brimstone butterfly in the garden. Carried on clearing and tidying but oops! there will be an unplanned change in the spring display. I am now convinced that the 'wallflowers', which I bought from the market last autumn and planted to edge the vegetable patch are actually Sweet Williams. I love Sweet Williams and look forward to picking great bunches for the house later on, but I love wallflowers, too, and now I won't have any. Serves me right for not being organised. This year I will be sure to sow my own in plenty of time. They will be my favourite varieties 'Blood Red' and 'Fire King'. While I'm on the subject, why is it that wholesale growers now only supply dwarf wallflowers? They're never as nice as the tall ones and don't smell so strongly.

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callmemadam

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