My Garden World - My World

Come in, come in, 

welcome to my garden.

I hope you don't mind using the back door,

most people come in this way.

You can just make out the name of the house.

Now that the paying visitors have gone,

I can take you round and show you some of  my current favourites.

Dahlia 'Bishop Of Llandaff'

I started out with one tuber of this old favourite,

which I won in a raffle at a garden club.

Now I have at least a dozen plants in the garden, 

and I have given away at least another dozen over the years.

At this time of year I like plenty of hot colour.

Apart from terracotta pots I use half barrels,

cut top to bottom or across their bellies.

Terracotta pots often crack in winter, 

 wooden beer or whiskey barrels last a lot longer.

This barrel contains mostly pelargoniums and lobelias.

I have cut  a few small beds into the mossy lawn in the back garden.

Here are two examples,

one is a mixed border of small shrubs and herbaceous plants

running along the kitchen door terrace.

The colours here are mainly blue, fiery pink and purple.

A few silver edges tone the whole thing down.

Many gardeners have colour preferences, 

my least favourite colour is pale pink. Too washed out for my taste.

This is a small shrub border,

with a few tall grasses and some specimen herbaceous plants

to give the whole thing structure.

Can you see the 'American Pokeweed' in the back?

The dining room window looks out on to this border.

Two current seasonal favourites of mine are very common 

and few fancy gardeners would give them pride of place.

 They are sun-loving Red Campion and Yellow Loosestrife, which doesn't mind a bit of shade.

Of course, they also have botanical names: Lychnis and Lysimachia punctata. 

Silenus, the drunken, merry god of the woodlands of Greek mythology, gave his name to 'Silene dioica' , the wild form of red campion, which enlivens woods and hedgerows all over Britain with its bright red flowers, and even climbs mountains to establish itself on screes and cliff ledges.

The second part of its scientific name 'dioica', means 'two houses' and refers to the fact that each red campion plant has flowers of one sex only, so that two plants are needed to make seed.

Yellow Loosestrife or Lysimachia vulgaris,  has not one but two stories dating back to ancient Greece to explain the plant's botanical name.

According to one account, bunches of yellow loosestrife tied around the necks of draft animals would make them more docile by repelling insects that might otherwise irritate and unsettle the beasts. Hence people called the plant Lysimachia after two Greek words which together meant 'to loosen strife'.

Other sources, such as the Roman writer Pliny the Elder, said that the plant was named after Lysimachus, an ancient king of Thrace, who was reputed to have discovered medicinal uses for the plant.

The 17th century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper also thought the plant had healing properties. He recommended it for nose and mouth bleeding and for upset stomachs. Many people followed his advice to burn the plant in their homes, since the smoke drove away troublesome flies and gnats.



Late as ever for inclusion in That's My World where lots of clever people have long ago filed their new photos. As none of them ever comes here,  my tardiness won't matter.