More colour from my garden

[Gardengirl]

I have so enjoyed looking at all the summer garden photos, I thought I would add a few more.
Begonias on my pond rockery.

The hoverflys are really enjoying the dahlias!
Crocosmia
Collarette dahlia
Cleome
Black-eyed Susan (will probably have loads of seed from this if anyone is interested)
My begonia basket (the red has rather dominated - will have to give it a basket of its own next year!!)

[Gardengirl]

[lorna]

Gardengirl. Oh boy!! The photos are beautiful,. As you know I am a complete novice but trying very hard. I love the Cleome, going to see if it is my book so that I can read about it, if not will be pestering you for info. I would love some seed from black-eyed Susan. Thank you so much for sharing, a real delight. Lorna.

[rosebud]

Lovely pictures Pat the colours are lovely and bright, i like the begonias. ;D ;D

[dibberxxx]

lovely pictures so bright you garden must truly be looking wonderful

[Diana]

What's the big orange one (second down)? It's gorgeous!

[Gardengirl]

Thanks all :)  Lorna - I will post a message on the 'Swaps' board when the seeds are ready.  Will also have loads of cleome seeds if you are interested.

Diana, the orange flower is one of the large tuberous begonias.  I also have Red, pink and white.  I keep them from year to year but as I grow them in pots I have to use plant protection compost otherwise the dreaded vine weevil bugs will eat them :o

[Georgie]

Beautiful.  I'll be in the market for some Cleome seed since I saw Simon's pics the other day.  Have plenty of other seed to swap.  :D

G xx

[GREENWIZARD]

fab pics G :)
also adore the cleome ;D

[Diana]

So do you propergate the tuberous by division or cut the tubers? Or do they grow little tuberlets? Sorry, don't know too much about things that don't grow from seed ::)

[Gardengirl]

I have had them for quite a number of years now Diana (except the orange one which is a fairly new one this year).  I have not noticed any little 'baby' tubers (actually I think they should be called corms as they are similar to cyclamen corms).  The corms just seem to get bigger each year and hence more flowers :)  All I do is cut them down when they are beginning to go over in the autumn, leave them for a while and then before winter sets in I remove them from the pots, clean most of the soil from them and then pot them up again in the spring.  As I said before, I usually use the plant protection compost - Levingtons do one, called 'insect control'.  A bit more expensive than the ordinary multi-purpose, but worth it to keep the beautiful plants going.  Also use this for my fuchsias in pots or baskets. I really don't know if you can cut them.  I have always left them as they are for fear of losing them :-\ :) 
Hope this helps.

Pat

[Diana]

Thank you Pat.

[GREENWIZARD]

the plant protection compost - Levingtons do one, called 'insect control'. 

i've never seen this compost before~is it mail order only? 

[Gardengirl]

GW our local nursery sells it so I presume that other nurseries or garden centres would probably sell it as well.  I use it every year - it lasts a year so I just either re-pot or top dress with it every spring and so far it has kept the vine weevils at bay.  I Googled 'Levington insect control compost' and it gave me the name of a nursery who supply it, so maybe you could find a local place you could get some.  The compost, as I say, only lasts a year so you would have to make sure it was not nearly out of date when you buy it.  Hope this helps.

Pat

[GREENWIZARD]

thanks P :)
phoned my local garden centre but unfortunately they don't stock it :(
but i'll watch out for it on my travels :)

[Plocket]

Wow! Beautiful! Such vibrant colours. Thank you so much for sharing.