Wednesday 12 October 2011

late and flowering

I have picked the last of the sweet peas.
again.
each time I think, oh what a shame, these will be the last, and still they flower. ok so the plants are lying horizontal on the lawn as the canes snapped in the gales a few weeks ago, but still they flower. admittedly the stems get shorter and shorter each time, and the scent gets less and less, but I am happy to accept their shortcomings and short stems.... I just need to invest in some new tiny vases/jugs, or hunt out some pretty jam jars.


the cosmos and the dahlias are still flowering away too. long leggy, and falling all over the place, next year I need to master the art of staking. it is Very windy here, and my "stick the odd cane in and hope for the best" method hasn't been very successful.......



also in the not very successful category are the scabious - or it's pretty name the pincushion flower. Sarah Raven tells me in this article they are a miraculous performer and should be flowering by mid June. I have just checked the date, it is approaching mid October, and one or two are just thinking about flowering.



image from the BBC as obviously I can't photograph mine...........

but they are not the only ones who are late. whilst looking in my archives for a photo I realised I'd missed my 4th birthday, by several weeks. oops, I think I might need to go and do some baking. A blog birthday cake might be just the thing to cheer up the small boy who was too ill to go to school but not at all impressed about being sent back to bed.......

20 comments:

  1. Happy Belated Blog Birthday! Lovely post! Our sweetpeas are also lying flat on the ground and still managing to produce some short stemmed flowers which makes me delay pulling out the plants for a bit longer.(Last week they were joined by the runner beans). I love that another name for scabious is pincushion flower, that is sooo much nicer!
    Helen x

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  2. Wow 4 years of blogging - I was chuffed when I hit 2 years!!

    Sweetpeas are amazingly tough - a last burst of summer colour :)

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  3. Scabious shmabious. I can't grow them. My black dahlias are bright pink, red and rusty orange. Sweet peas were good except had brown leaves from about July onwards and that slightly detracted form the blooms. You are doing marvellously well up there Missus. Hope your cake tastes good. Many happies, Ax

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  4. Happy Blog birthday....belated!
    I hope your little boy feels better soon and enjoys some birthdau cake!
    The flowers are all over the place at the moment!
    xxx

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  5. I expect the poor flowers are just as confused about the summer as we were, oh well my bindweed is still looking particularly splendid too!

    Hope your boy is feeling better, if he's anything like mine he was probably expecting a day on some electronic device or other. Send him up the chimney I say .. that'll learn him!

    Happy blog birthday x

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  6. Happy Blogday! Lovely pictures. I just sold all my tiny vases in a car boot sale. Shame, I'd have given you a good price!

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  7. Love that you are still finding all that wonderful colour in your garden.

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  8. THAT'S what I need to do - chop the errant sweet peas down and stick them in a vase. I can't even see them from in here.

    I am so tempted to buy cosmos seeds for next summer. Will I kill them?

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  9. Sweet Peas really are some of the prettiest flowers in looks and perfume. They make me think of romance and warm summer days.
    Anne xx

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  10. You are lucky - our garden looks like a barren wasteland at the moment. Everything has either died back or is shedding as I type.

    Enjoy your blooms,

    Nina x

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  11. Four years - wowza! Congrats! xoxo

    And thank you for the sweet peas, which I can never get to grow well here (too darn hot)...

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  12. I love sweetpeas. I haven't grown them in years, not really sure why. May have to include them in plans for spring.

    And may I say Congrats on your Blog Birthday!

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  13. Happy Blogiversary, Tess... I'm late visiting, but still sending happy wishes. I love being here, you inspire me. :o) This floral parade is lovely...like a last taste of summer...*sigh*... ((HUGS))

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  14. Yes, yes, more vessels! Making mental notes to plant a lot of cosmos for next year.

    Happy belated blog birthday too.

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  15. I love love sweetpeas and that jug full of them makes my heart sing. Next year I am going to try once more to grow the.

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  16. Lovely lovely flowers. I can't grow flowers & have t make do with flowerng shrubs.

    Four years of blogging is very impressive !

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  17. your sweet peas look glorious. HAppy 4th blog birthday and nice to see you on twitter xx

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  18. Four years! That's a big milestone. Happy blogday. Any tips on highly scented sweetpeas?

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  19. I cut down my sweet peas a couple of weeks ago. They have flowered their hearts out for months. I am always sad when I accept they are done.

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  20. You have two of my favourite flowers in one post - sweet peas and scabious. For some reason I just can't grow sweet peas - dunno what I'm doing wrong! Yours are beautiful.

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