This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Sunday, 8 January 2012

2011 Flower Overview

In 2011, I had lots of flowering annuals and perennials in the garden. Pictured is my box of flower seeds and snapdragon seedlings grown back in April.

All the plants below have been grown from seed (apart from the rose). Lupin and delphiniums pictured grown from seed several years ago.

Here's an overview of the flowering year...
Best Colour - lupin.

Most Interesting Flower - Amaranthus.

Most Adored - rose.

Most Short Lived (flowering) - hollyhock.

Most Tangled - Sweetpea (I can never get it to grow neatly).

Most Unattended Yet Productive - Nicotiana. (No deadheading).

Best Bedding Plant - Snapdragon.

Most Liked (early flowering) - delphinium.

Most Potential - Silverdust / Cineraria. (I hope to use this silvery little plant much more next year).

Most Deadheaded & Longest Flowering Season - poppy. (All the poppies put on a great display of colour from early Spring to late Summer).

Most Useful - calendula (in 2012 I'll plant with veggies to deter pests).

Most Prolific Self Seeder - Poached Egg Plant.

Worse Pest Problem - Slugs.
If you want to have a nosey at the seeds I grew over the year, they are listed at http://kelliboylesgarden.blogspot.com/p/2011-grow-list.html
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13 comments:

  1. Mark Willis8 January 2012 at 01:34

    Nice, but not as nice as the veggies! :)

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  2. Hazel8 January 2012 at 02:19

    Lovely, Kellie you obviously have a green thumb!

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  3. Sue Garrett8 January 2012 at 02:54

    Gardeners who grow sweetpeas for show remove the tendrils, Kelli which is why theirs are so neat. Personally I couldn't be bothered. As for the limnanthes we start with six plants and now have a literal lawn of them under our roses - the yellwo from the masses of flowers even show up on an aerial photo.

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  4. cathy@home8 January 2012 at 03:17

    I agree with Hazel what a lovely display of flowers you have grown.
    Kelli "green thumb" Boyles

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  5. Jo8 January 2012 at 05:47

    I'm hoping to get some calendula growing amongst my veggies this year too. I'm also going to have another go at creating a cutting patch at the allotment. I can't bear to cut flowers from the garden for indoors so this would be a great solution.

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  6. HolleyGarden8 January 2012 at 13:45

    I loved your veggie review, and I'm so glad you did one on your flowers. Not having ever grown poppies (but am going to try this year), I learned that they needed to be deadheaded! I didn't know that. The slug was a surprise to see - I was expecting another beauty!

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  7. ann8 January 2012 at 18:30

    I am waiting to see what you do this season. The slug photo is quite interesting. Brave little fellow isn't he?

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  8. Alison8 January 2012 at 23:43

    How lovely, apart from the slug!

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  9. Malay-Kadazan girl9 January 2012 at 12:33

    I have always admired and enjoyed looking at your cottage garden flowers. I never have much success with hollyhock.

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  10. Rainy Day Gardener9 January 2012 at 13:47

    Kelli, I was really impressed with your lupines this year! You have inspired me, I bought seeds the other week and plan to winter sow them (covered but outdoors) soon :) Cheers, Jenni

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  11. elaine 10 January 2012 at 07:10

    Love all your flower choices - unfortunately my garden is so full of slugs and snails that I can never get Lupins to grow before they get eaten.

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  12. Crystal10 January 2012 at 11:33

    Hi Kelli, thank you for following my blog. Thought I'd come and take a look at yours. Lovely photos of some of my favourite plants, many of which I can no longer grow. Lupins get devoured by huge greenfly, and delphiniums need more moisture than my garden gets these days. Looking forward to your next post. By the way, "any road up" is an old phrase which simply translates to "anyway" In Yorkshire we pronounce it as "any rooad"

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  13. Egretta Wells blog10 January 2012 at 15:03

    Your flowers were all just lovely! The lupins and delphinium are my favorites.

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