Plants flowering in the open rock garden.April May '09

[Sinchets]

David, it has already happened! As far as we know there are nor real statistics for how many retired Brits there are here- but there are many! Land on the whole is still cheap, depending on where you buy and who you buy from.

[David Nicholson]

I can't get Maureen to leave one of our babies (now aged 33!) and move back to Yorkshire so I expect Bulgaria will be out of the question!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great looking garden Simon ! 
It will be most interesting to see how it matures !
May I join David in his envy for your space ... 

[Sinchets]

David- my mother had it the other way- one child in Canada and one in Bulgaria- I am sure she would agree with your wife.
Luc- it was the plot of land that led us to buy the house. I hope the garden will develop well. The teething problems at the moment are bugs I had never dreaned existed as well as a plethora of grasshoppers,  ground crickets, mole crickets and the occasional locust. All of which prefer my babies to the wild 'weeds'. I forgot to mention the snails- does anyone out there eat snails? These are very well fed and the size of golfballs

[Sinchets]

Flowering today in the xeric garden:
Glaucium aff. acutidentatum (RMRP seeds)
Linum narbonense
and on the rock garden:
Bornmuellera tymphaea
Globularia trichosantha (?) seed collected in the Big River Gorge 2007

[Ragged Robin]

Now that the builders have started dumping earth everywhere once again I am thrilled to see your successes in your garden, Simon, at least I can dream and hope that one day I can show some beautiful plants thriving in conditions where they like to live like yours, thanks for making me smile    ..... the colour & form combinations are great

[Sinchets]

You'll get there Robin, and as a half of the garden I have shown here so far is on building rubble I am sure the plants will be quite happy too!

[Sinchets]

A selection of plants flowering today:
Alyssum aizoides
Anthemis cretica leucanthemoides
Anthyllis vulneraria Red

[Sinchets]

Aquilegia scopulorum x caerulea ochroleuca
Astragalus chloodes
Erigeron vetensis
Horminum pyrenaicum (pale blue form)

[Sinchets]

Iberis saxatilis (Kaz Dag)
Lamium gargaricum
Penstemon absarokensis
Petrocoptis (pyrenaica?)
Potentilla porphyrantha
Primula species (Chola Shan) with 5 of the seedlings in flower

[Sinchets]

Finishing off for today:
Ranunculus species (Crug Farm Plants) I've had this for a long time, but have lost its id
Silene kantzeensis
Veronica polifolia

[Ragged Robin]

A really lovely photo record of your plants today, Simon, they are all interesting and so varied but i think my favourite is Horminum pyrenaicum (pale blue form)....  I have never seen it before and it is so elegant.

Thanks too for putting things in perspective viz building works - the plus is that I'm getting more rocks for the garden!!!!!!

[Sinchets]

Thanks Robin. The first rock garden bed we had here was built on several tonnes of old plaster and broken bricks it has been a success so far with a wide range of plants.
Oh and by the way the Horminum pyrenaicum pale blue form does comes true from seed. This is the 3rd generation from a plant originally bought from a plant sale at Cruickshank Botanic Gardens in Aberdeen 

[maggiepie]

Simon, absolutely wonderful collection of plants.
I really like what you are doing with your gardens, can also sympathise with you regarding the bugs.
We have bugs here I have never even dreamed of, and more turn up each year.

[Sinchets]

Having been to Canada to visit my sister, I agree you have your fair share of bugs over there! Most of them were on me for the 2 weeks I was there. 
Flowering today in the rock garden
Dianthus minutiflorus, a native of the Pirin Mountains in SW Bulgaria.