Pansies to eat?

 

These edible pansy flowers came from a packet of Italian seeds, the only plant which survived from last year's sowing.  They didn't flower last year but are making up for it now - I didn't realise they are biennials. I sowed some more seeds yesterday, some in open ground and some in a pot.  Pity I have to wait another year for more of these delightful flowers.  I've no desire to eat them though!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daphnes

Image
 It's a pity that scent can't be captured online because it's a stunning feature of most Daphnes.  The first one I encountered was at what is now the Sir Harold Hillier Garden near Romsey on an EHS trip!  Our guide told  that the scent of Daphne bholua  'Jacqueline Postill' would blow our socks off and so it did.  Here's my mine,  in full flower after first coming into flower in December. A lower growing, bushy variety in my front garden, is Daphne odora aureomarginata.    It has spread a lot, and though the books say they shouldn't be pruned, it'll have to be as it's overgrowing other plants.  When it was new and small it was tramped on by builders who stuck together with blue plastic tape, so hopefully it'll survive another chop. Not all Daphnes have a strong scent.  Daphne laureola forms a low growing rounded bush with green lightly scented flowers.  It is a woodland plant, growing wild in Southern England and flowering thr...
Read more

Pruning winter flowering honeysuckle

Image
 Winter flowering honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, is a largeish semi-evergreen shrub which  produces fragrant creamy white flowers in winter. Due to a misunderstanding, mine was trimmed into the standard ball shape this autumn, so I was surprised to find it flowering recently, not exactly profusely, but doing its best.  The right time to prune is after flowering so that the flower bearing branches have a chance to grow and buds develop.  I've always found the timing of pruning awkward.  As the flowers disappear the leaves grow vigorously and in abundance so it's hard to see the stems you should cut off near the ground at this time.  I resolve to prune it properly this spring and hope it will get its natural shape back.
Read more

Splitting Calathea 'triostar' - an Easter Monday project.

Image
 I bought the original plant from an EHS plant sale - I can't remember how long ago - and it cost me £4.  What great value it's been.  I think it only had 4 leaves, and now, at least four years later, there are four 'shoots' in the pot each with five or six leaves.   Calathea triostar before it was split. It was in its original 1.5 litre pot, so I decided to use the same size pot for the separated plants.  I chose Melcourt Sylvagrow peat-free multi-purpose compost to plant them in, my current favourite.  The plant came cleanly out of its pot.  Each shoot comes from a rhizome, so to separate the shoots the rhizome has to be broken.  I did this by gently breaking them apart (you could cut them). The four transplanted shoots were watered and are now recovering in the (empty) bath, where it is well lit but not directly.  It's an ideal place for them but not very practical in the long run.  Calathea does best in warm humid conditions....
Read more