Serendib Garden

Clematis — but I really have to do a better job of labelling them. Boo. Wish I knew which one this was. Love the deep red & purple combo. Might be “Niobe”?

Nectaroscordum bulgaricum.

Nectaroscordum bulgaricum — I love this oddball flower. The blooms aren’t edible, but apparently the leaves are dried and used as a seasoning in Bulgaria, where it’s grown as an herb. “The thickest leaves are cut and pulverized with equal parts salt and the mixture is dried. It’s used as a seasoning salt on vegetables,

Weigela and irises in the foreground, lilacs and alliums in the background, with a peony just emerging.

Hm. Anyone know what that grass is with my May Night salvia? I’ve been a little hesitant to introduce grasses into my garden design, but I actually kind of like this volunteer. Would like to know what it is, though, and my plant apps didn’t get further than ‘grasses’. Yes, I knew that bit…

Huh. This is the intersectional peony that emerged from the graft on my Itoh this year. I do like it, actually, and don’t have another like it. That means that instead of just cutting it off (which is what gardening sites mostly seem to recommend, since intersectional peonies are much less expensive than Itohs), I’ll

Another attempt at a garden photo that I find unsatisfying. Maybe sunlight would help. Hm. Centaurea and columbines.

Isn’t this a beauty! Someone was giving away some gooseberry clippings, which sadly didn’t take in my garden, but while I was there, she also offered me this Itoh peony! (They were re-doing the whole backyard, making it more of a dog romping area.) Very happy to have it ensconced in my back garden; I

I love the effect of these irises together — all different, but complementary. A little symphony of blues and purples.  My only complaint is that I can’t figure out a way to cut some for the house with a reasonably long stem, since they’re sort of stacked on top of each other. I don’t want

Columbine time — if you yearn for an English cottage garden, this is a great way to have that floriferous look for a few weeks. Columbines are wonderful for generosity — they tend to spread over time here, so at the end of their flowering, when the flowers have dried, you can shake out seeds