I’ve done a bit more tidying in the garden this afternoon and pruned my Eucalyptus gunnii. It has glaucous round young leaves which are lovely for adding to a vase of flowers. As the plant grows taller the leaves become much bigger and quite elongated. You can encourage the plant to keep producing the immature foliage by pruning so it sends out new shoots and that was my aim today. Some of the stems that I cut off the plant were quite lovely with their long delicate leaves and I didn’t want to just throw them on the compost heap. So I selected a few sprigs then sprinted round the garden in search of something delicate to go with them.
I found Sweet Peas, Cosmos, Clary, Sweet William, Scabious and some scented Iceberg Roses. Yes… I know that sounds more like a bunch of flowers from the garden in June!
When you grow your own annual flowers from seed you can choose long flowering plants. This year because it has been so mild they have just carried on and on. I don’t know how long they will go on for – the weather will be the deciding factor. But I do know that the Cosmos and Scabious in particular still have loads of buds so if it stays mild I may be very lucky and see them bloom.
I quickly tied up the bunch and popped it in some water and took a few shots. Then I popped them into a wicker basket and tried to include some of the background so you can see the autumn leaves on the ground.
After a busy morning being able to spend a bit of time in the garden this afternoon was lovely. I’ve crossed another little job off my list and there’s a bonus bunch of flowers for my studio too. Woo Hoo!
Thanks to Cathy for hosting In a Vase on Monday. Why not pop along to see what other gardeners have in their vases today?
I hope you are enjoying a lovely mild autumn this year. Happy Gardening. Gillian 🙂
I love this collection of blooms Gillian, and the eucalyptus foliage is a great accompaniment. I see you have the ‘white’ clary – I have added pink to my seed list for next year, but I had forgotten about the white version. All very pretty 🙂
I grew blue, pink and white Clary this year. They are all lovely. The pink and white plants have lovely green veining on their bracts too.
What a marvelous array of flowers you found…looks very late spring to me!
I know! That’s why I included the fallen autumn leaves in the background to prove that I took the pics today.
It’s amazing you still have such an ample supply of annuals left. You must be enjoying their longevity!
Yes indeed, we have been so lucky this year. Especially as other garden bloggers elsewhere are having a hard time with their weather. Salvia and Scabious usually go on for ages and our Iceberg rose very often flowers up until Christmas but this is the longest our Sweet Peas and Cosmos have lasted. Somerthing strange is happening. I was hanging out of our bedroom windows this morning because we have another climber Rosa ‘Mermaid’ which usually only flowers once each year and it is flowering again now.
Gardeners and people of the land know that change is happening. Subtle shifts at times, others more dramatic. But we never mind having mild weather!
I love the mild weather but I know it’s not ideal for the cycle of life of most plants and animals.
Hi Gillian, what a lovely posy of flowers. I have to agree that the mild weather has extended the flowering times … I’m still gathering blooms from plants that should be done by now. I have a very young eucalyptus which I intend to keep well pruned. Clary is on my wish list for next year 🙂
Thanks Elizabeth. It is very mild this autumn. Clary is so easy to grow and goes on and on every year as long as you keep cutting it. It sulks a little in a cold spring so if you can keep your young plants under cover until it warms up a bit outside or grow it under a cloche then you should have super plants.
Ah, a lovely vase that does indeed bring one’s thoughts back to the distant summer days! You must be much further south than me to still have sweetpeas and cosmos etc growing. Mine are but a sorry tangled bunch on the compost heap…
Some of my plants have gone over. My Cupani Sweet Peas are long gone. I do sow my favourite plants several times though to make sure I have vigorous plants all season and our garden is about 200 miles south of Edinburgh and on the west coast which probably makes a big difference.
Yes, I am sure it does! We do get a jolly big and generous dose of winter here.
Very lovely. I have much more success with blue clary than white (I think it is more weather sensitive), so it is cheering to see yours with its generous veined bracts.
Thanks Allison. The blue one is lovely anyway isn’t it?
Hi, Gillian. What lovely flowers and what a beautiful site you have! Your site is so bright a happy, like a garden!
Thanks very much Tracey. I am so happy you visited and if this website makes readers feel happy too then I am delighted.
I could kick myself for failing to plant cosmos this year. Yours are lovely!
That’s the brilliant thing about gardening… there’s always next year. They are half hardy so it’s best to sow them when spring is well under way (unless you have cover) and sow in succession to be sure of early and late flowers. You probably know all that anyway!
It really does look like summer Gillian! I do like the Eucalyptus foliage, and a nice idea to start off with that rather than adding it at the end.
It does indeed Cathy. I wasn’t planning to join in today but as soon as I pruned the Eucalyptus I knew that I just had to… hence the running around and hasty shots.
I was surprised to read about your Eucalyptus in the UK as I think about them in the heat and dry over here in Australia, did a quick search and found out your specimen is native to Tasmania which is the coldest state of Australia and has exceptional tolerance to the cold and is now commonly used in the UK. Thanks for your post it was nice to go on this little journey 🙂
Yes, that’s right they are widely available in all our garden centres and florists love them. I planted a single Eucalyptus in our last garden and let it grow tall. It was healthy and vigorous and I’m sure would have made a huge tree. After a few years we cut the trunk straight across about 1 metre from the ground and the tree sent out masses of new shoots. They really are amazing trees being able to regenerate like that. I read somewhere that it’s their survival tactic to recover from fires in the wild.