It has been two years since I have been able to travel to the Mediterranean Sea but finally here after a long break.
It is always nice to see completely different flora that you have at home. Something new and something that you unfortunately cannot grow at home.
The Sea Daffodil (Pancratium maritimum) is a flower I have never seen before. After a rainy day they started to bloom on the beach in front of the hotel.
Navona (Lilium ‘Navona’) was a buyer gift when I made an order years ago. I was not considering white lilies to the garden at that point of time.
But I must admit that it has been a gift that I have liked a lot.
The Navona blooms are big and pure white. It has grown well in a challenging location where the birch trees take the nutrients and consume the water.
I had completely forgotten that I planted Origami Red and White (Aquilegia caerulea ‘Origami Red and White’) seeds last year.
The blooms were a nice surprise and lasted long.
Now the flowering season for columbines is over but it is time to collect the seeds. This surely was a variety that I want to see more in my garden.
I am usually quite self sufficient when it comes to the Sensation (Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Sensation’) seeds but this spring bought some to ensure that all the color varieties are there.
Cosmos likes the warmth and this summer has been good to them.
Sensation grows and blooms quickly which is good for the short summers we have.
Covent Garden (Gypsophila elegans ‘Covent Garden’) bloomed well this year. Dry weather suits it fine and there were no rain to ruin the blooms.
The only challenge with Covent Garden is that the blooming season is quite short.
The flower is popular with the florists and is used in the bouquets. Gypsophila has been cultivated for hundreds of years and is a very old garden flower.
The heatwave that lasted for more than a month is finally over. Now waiting for some rain to save the garden.
The long warm period caused some plants to get confused. The White Admiral (Phlox paniculata ‘White Admiral’) decided to start blooming a month earlier than normally.
The White Admiral is the one which starts the fall phlox blooming season. It will be interesting to see if the other phloxes got confused as well.
It has not been that good year for the Danish Flags (Papaver somniferum ‘Danish Flag’). Because of the long warm period we are having many of the plants remain small.
Last year one of the flowers had a different color scheme. The white in the flower was replaced with purple.
I liked the color combination and collected the seeds. Now half of my Danish Flag flowers are waving red purple flags.
If I had known that petunias (Petunia) will do this well this summer, I would have bought more of them.
It seems that this hot weather suits them and leads to constant blooming.
Maybe next year I will have more but that depends on the colors that will be available. This spring the offering was quite modest.
One bloom, no more, no less. I guess I can say it bloomed this year.
Bought my mom a new peony (Paeonia lactiflora ‘Shirley Temple’ this spring. Let’s see how it overwinters.
The bloom was beautiful though did not last long.
