Flowers and Plants

 A selection of pictures from the last three months...

I find this romano cauliflower hard to believe. It is so like one of those horrible fractal pictures (where I could never see the hidden image) and looks like someone must have designed it on a computer. 

Nextdoor but one's apple tree. Oliver moved just as I took the photo! He looked so good against the red and green.

Free plants from the roof. Left behind along with rubbish, a disintegrating foam chair and general mess. I had to go up and clear it once the foam pieces from the chair started to blow off the roof into our garden. It took me about an hour and a half, and I got stuck up there for a while as Andy went indoors and didn't hear me calling him to hold the ladder! I took the picture because of the lovely shadows, cast by the self seeded buddleia on our decking level-minus the decking, and plus cracked concrete. It provides good shade on the sunnier days. The table is a street find.

Another roof, on flats in Greenwich where I was cat sitting in the summer. Buddleia there too!

And yet more. A messy area I was cleaning, an old pan with a lid on, and when I lifted the lid, a Buddleia sprout and lots of roots. 

Another geometrical plant. An Aeonium from Cornwall a long time ago. I should repot them as I am sure they would do much better. 

Stone dog with plant adornment and snail necklace. 

Pretty orange rose from a sweet girl in the nursery. She picked it from her garden.

Some of the plants in the communal garden near the nursery.

                   

The leaves of the hollhock have lots of tiny holes in. I only noticed this when looking at the photo. I was looking more at the light shining through the flowers. 

Some meadow planting near there too. Camberwell does very well with communal gardens. There are little gardens all over the place and they are full of interesting plants. 

We have catnip outside the back door. These are the flowers. They are so pretty and delicate. They remind me of pasta.

This year I used the wire rack from the street to plant petunias. They looked good for about a week.

Then the rain came, and the snails came too. Snails think that Petunias are a very tasty snack, and in the end I gave up fighting them, and let them eat. The ones in the bigger pots I put on the steps lasted much longer but the others were soon gone. 

I also had one plant which I kept indoors. It was the kind with the white spots like stars on the purple petals. It flowered for ages and I loved it. I trimmed it about a week ago and carried on watering it and it is now flowering again. Below is my attempt to draw/paint it.