August Flowers - Blogger's Bloom Day

On the 15th of every month many bloggers from around the world share photos of what's blooming in their gardens, hosted by May Dream Gardens.

Its been awhile since I participated in Blogger's Bloom Day... glad to be back... here's what's looking good in the garden...

L-R (top): Echinacea; Leucanthemum Snow Lady.
Majoran in flower, Dianthus.

Above: Astrantia, Verbena Lollipop, Penstemon.

Above: Hydrangea 'Magical Moonlight'. 

Above: Agapanthus

Above: Lobelia, yellow flowers - Echinacea I believe.

Above: Dianthus doing great in a pot.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Mid October Blooms

It's mid October (already) and there are less flowers blooming but still some colour in the garden with asters, sunflower and other late flowering plants. It's getting colder and the leaves are falling. It's looking much more like Autumn.

No frost yet but soon the annuals will need cleared and there will be some tidying to do before putting some areas of the garden to rest until Spring. I've still some veggies to look after including winter salads, kale, chard, leek and others so I won't be hibernating completely come the colder weather. 

Here's a little snapshot of some of the colour in the garden, my favourite being the Sedum Autumn Joy and the dogwood shrub.

Left: Aster begin to flower.

Above: Giant Sunflower.
Below: Dogwood / Cornus has great colour this time of year and the stems turn bright red and look great throughout Winter.

Above: Sedum Autumn Joy with summer petunia (still blooming).
Below: Squash flowers.

Above: Schizostylis coccinea
Below: the view through the ivy.

Above: Crocosmia.

Blogger's Bloom Day (15th of each month) is hosted by May Dreams Gardens. If you'd like to see blooms from around the world click here.

Happy Blogger's Bloom Day!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Mid September Blooms

It's Blogger's Bloom Day and I've mostly pinks in the garden this month. I do like pinks and purples. Up at the community garden at Antrim Castle Salvia Purple Majesty is making a gorgeous display planted alongside Verbena - this is a combination I will have to introduce to my own garden (3rd photo shown below).

Here's a little tour of some of the blooms this month. The colours of summer are still showing in the garden, however, it won't be long until frost and things will change quite a bit. The bottom photo shows more Autumn looking colours with oranges and yellows.

Left: Two Echinacea plants were added to the garden this year.

L to R: Echinacea, Rose, Sedum Autumn Joy, Fushia Tom Thumb.

Above: Verbena planted with Salvia Purple Majesty at the Community Garden.

Above: Phlox, rose and leek flowers.
Below: Phlox.

Above and Below: The star plant for Autumn - Sedum Autumn Joy. I'm hoping to add  new varieties of sedum to the garden as they're such great plants and easy to divide and make new plants. 

L to R: Sunflower*, Nasturtium Tutti Frutti*, Crocosmia, Calendula* with Petunias. (* = grown from seed).

The 15th of each month is Blogger's Bloom Day hosted by May Dreams Gardens. If you'd like to see blooms from around the world click here.

Happy Blogger's Bloom Day!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Mid August Blooms

Valuable plants this time of year include astilbe, crocosmia and lots others! It's mid-August and lots of flowering and strong plants. I'm hoping for colour well into October. Below are photos of what's looking good. 

Left: Echinacea (perennial). I managed to get two of these half price, marked down to £3 / $4.66 at a garden centre.

Crocosmia (above) and astilbe (below) are both valuable plants this time of year.

Above L to R: Rose, astilbe, phlox, leek flower. 

Above: Everlasting sweet pea - comes up every year, however, has no smell.

Above L to R: Carrot flower, everlasting sweet pea, fennel, astilbe.

Above L to R: sunflower, daylily, calendula, courgette flowers.

The petunias were potted up at the end of May and have kept going all summer.

The 15th of the month is Blogger's Bloom Day hosted by May Dreams Gardens. If you'd like to see blooms from around the world click here.

Happy Blogger's Bloom Day!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Bloggers' Blooms

The garden is a bit sparse of colour this month compared to last year this time. However, there are still bits and pieces in flower, mainly poached egg plant, aquilegia and a few others.

Last year by mid June the lupin and foxglove were already well into flower (and I had courgette flowers as well). This year many plants are late. To see my 2012 blooms click here.

Left: Oriental Poppy.

Above: Poached Egg Plant / Limnanthes Douglasii, (Hardy Annual) self seed freely and are welcome blooms this time of year. 

Acquilegia - a plant I never remember how to spell its name (and always have to look it up).

I believe this plant is called Saxifraga Urbium, mixed in with some purple bugle and carex grass.

Centaurea are lovely vintage type plants.

I'm thinking this is a type of sedum, however, I'm not sure - anyone any ideas?

To view fantastic blooms from gardens around the world, check out:

 May Dreams Gardens Blogger's Bloom Day.

Happy Bloom Day!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Bloggers Bloom Day

It's Blogger's Bloom day and there are a few things blooming in the garden. I think many plants are a little behind schedule this year, however, soon there'll be blasts of colour throughout  the garden (hopefully).

Left: Narcissus tête-à-tête planted with Muscari. These bulbs were planted quite late (in January); they provide a welcome little splash of colour.

Forest Flame (Pieris) looks great this time of year with the red foliage. This is a very common plant in Northern Ireland - with many homes having this in their borders.

It's great to see bees out and about.

Muscari bulbs planted along the driveway and under hedging.

Aubretia 'Springtime Mixed', (Hardy Perennial) grow from seed.

Heather is always a favourite this time of year.

Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted by May Dreams Gardens. To see what's in bloom in other gardens click here.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Finally Some Daffodils

Is it just my daffodils, or are they really late this year??

Last year I was photographing daffodils at the end of February (fully open flowers). This year it's April and many of the flowers aren't open yet (as the ones show below).

The windy conditions over the past week have been fierce and of course the daffodils get blown over. Some of my rose bush branches snapped as well.

Come rain, snow or gales - all I can do is keep calm and carry on!

It's the 15th of the month and this means it's Bloggers' Bloom Day!

Blogger's Bloom Day is hosted by May Dream Gardens and bloggers share their blooms from across the globe.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Mid December Blooms

I'm a little behind with Blogger's Bloom day this month, which is on the 15th of every month and hosted by May Dream Gardens blog. There's very little in flower this month, however, there's quite a bit of interest in the garden this time of year with berries, birds and interesting foliage. Below is  a little summary of what's looking good around the garden at the minute. It was a lovely sunny day on Sunday when I took the photos. I'd guess no snow for us this Christmas!?!

Above & Below: Kaffir Lily is planted in several areas of the garden. One of the main clumps bloomed in November and is finished. Plants in other locations are blooming now which add some welcome interest to the garden. 

Above : Kaffir Lily - I dug loads of bulbs from a congested area in the garden a few months back. I threw some clumps in an old plastic container thinking I would plant them later when I found a spot to put them. The container has no drainage, but the bulbs have withstood being soaked in water for months on end and are flowering.

Above: Forest Flame shrub.
Below: primrose with ivy.

Above and Below: Heather is only just beginning to flower.

Above: One or two roses are still making a show in the garden.

Above and Below: Just as interesting as flowers this time of year - pine cones and holly.

Happy Blogger's Bloom Day!

Bloom Day is hosted by May Dream Gardens and bloggers share their blooms from across the globe.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.