D O L O R E S
D E L A R G O
T O W E R S
(AKA Jon & Madam A)
After a bit of a slow start, it was a magnificent Spring and summer this year in London, and the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers have really benefitted for all the extra sunshine - not least when I added a new tiered display stand to the border, and then two of the hideous bastard weed trees in neighbouring gardens were felled!
Without further ado, highlights from the seasonal display, starting with the earliest blooms...
Once the weather had warmed up...
top, l-r: Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove), Rosa 'Gertrude Jeckyll', Scilla peruviana (Portuguese Squill)
bottom, l-r: Salvia 'Amistad', Cymbidium orchid, Rosa 'Veilchenblau'
High summer...
top, l-r: Hemerocallis 'Crimson Pirate', Lilium 'Eastern Moon', Lilium speciosum var. rubrum
bottom, l-r: Begonia 'Giant Pendula Scarlet', Hydrangea macrophylla 'Black Stem Blue', Phlox paniculata 'Blue Paradise'
And finally, into autumn...
top, l-r: Fuchsia 'Deep Purple', Begonia boliviensis 'Bellavista', Fuchsia 'Rose of Castile'
bottom, l-r: Salvia involucrata, Salvia 'Love and Wishes', Impatiens hawkeri (New Guinea hybrid) and Scaevula aemula (Fairy fan-flower) window box
With the display still going strong (as it will be till the first frosts), as ever we've just started on the planning and prep for next year, with the bulbs and wallflowers going in as we speak.
Cheers to 2025 - and roll on Spring!
☙❧
I just hope the post formatting works as intended* - I won't see this post until I get home after work tonight wake up.
* Organised, practical, and helpful as always, along with his photos and captions, Jon also included a suggestion for how to display them:
There are a lot of photos, sorry - I figured a succession of "grid" montages might work (rows of three). Each one except the "leader" is in 3:4 scale, to make things easier for scaling-down, but if you want to muck around with them, feel free!
I had no idea how to manage such technical jiggery-pokery, and Witchface is worse than useless at this type of thing. After flailing wildly in Blogger's 'Insert image' thingy hoping for some setting that I'd somehow missed until now, I remembered that Jon sometimes posts separate images right next to each other (in defiance of Blogger's "I will only let you stack images vertically" stance).
I scrolled through his blog until I found this post (with Yuri Moreno and Juanita Euka smushed together so tightly a credit card couldn't pass between them), copied the pictures and pasted them into a draft blog post, then looked at the HTML code to see if I could replicate it. After some wailing and hand-wringing, I eventually worked it out (at least I hope I did) resulting in this very post!
I notice your method has left a sizeable gap, unlike Jon's, surprisingly...
Shut up.
Daaahling! Thank you - this is indeed the encapsulation of a year in "the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers"! Jx
ReplyDeletePS Best not discuss whether your "sizeable gap" is bigger than mine, dear...😜
I fell in a sizable gap once. I wasn't pretty.
DeleteOh, the picture formatting and debigulation worked! (Sizeable gap nothwithstanding) And they're all able to be rebigulated with a click or two. Hooray!
DeleteWhat didn't work was my date/day reading skills - I thought today was going to be a Monday but there's still a day of weekend to go! Double horray!!
With a bit of a mind flip
DeleteYou're into the time slip
And nothing can ever be the same
Jx
STUNNING!!!!!!!!!! As many in the know, Jon's back passage is a must see and never disappoints!!!! Must be why the Madam keeps him around!
ReplyDeleteYou boys did a wonderful job! I love the color. The one thing I really liked was the Jack Frost, so pretty and dainty. I must say, I think my favorite season there this year for me was the autumn collection of flowers. Strong, colorful, and bold. Those felled trees are making a huge difference I gather?
I was in our garden just today, now acorn and leaf littered. About the only thing left blooming now is pansies and salvia...the first frost finished many stars off already......
Thank you, Maddie! My back passage is oft admired...
DeleteYes, the removal of the biggest bastard weed tree has already made a difference to the light levels, so who knows how it might develop in future!
Thankfully, we don't normally get much in the way of frost until the turn of the New Year, so we're still likely to be enjoying loads of colour for a while yet. Jx
A glorious back passage!!! I love the Lillies and the Fuchsias - they are my favourites, but I daren't try growing them myself.
ReplyDeleteSx
P.S Re the photo grid - I use an app for that!
Ms Scarlet - you are in Devon, where there are hardly any frosts. Fuchsias and lilies would thrive in that climate! Jx
DeletePS I use an app to make a grid when I do my "Book of the Dead" post at the end of the year (as I'm dealing with a load of tiny thumbnail-sized photos), but other than that, I finf it easier to use HTML.
Goodness, it IS a jungle out there - a well laid out and taken care for jungle !
ReplyDeleteI have no idea about the names of all these wonderful plants and blossoms. I just recognise the Digitalis, called "Fingerhut" in German. And one small blue Phlox - does it scent ? I hope so.
Thank You Jon for allowing me to peek at Your gloriosities !
Vielen Dank, Herr Mago!
DeleteI like that name for foxgloves - "finger hat". It works...
All our phloxes smell gorgeous, some stronger than others. They're fabulous plants - we wouldn't be without them!
Jx
I can't be doing with apps and HTML and gobbledegook...I just come here for the flowers and the laughs. And I see your "Amstad" is bigger than mine. That could change...
ReplyDeleteFabulous garden, Jon. Makes me (sort-of) wish I was still in London...
Amistad is the very best of all salvias (of that guaranatica type) - and I'm sure, if we had proper beds to plant into, would grow to 6 feet or more!
DeleteNow you're in NZ, Dinah, surely the climate is as equitable as London's to be able to grow all the plants we have? Jx
oh, yes! Climate is easier, in some ways, than tropics. But I meant if I still lived in Swiss Cottage/Hampstead I could come round yours and "help" you! Seriously, you have some gorgeous fuschias. They were always tricky for me, but this time? (I'd bring my own sterilised secateurs!)
DeleteYou would adore H&M Baker nursery in Essex, where we get all our fuchsias from - a whole huge greenhouse, wall-to-wall with rooted cuttings in cardboard trays. You just grab an empty tray, and go round grubbing them out - £1 a pop! Jx
DeleteSo much beauty amidst the gaps and back passages.
ReplyDeleteI do like to stuff my gap and back passage to the brim... Jx
DeleteJon, you guys, this is glorious. Is that hemerocallis in-ground? It's so killer! OMG! I love that you guys are so committed to gardening in the face of daunting conditions. I mean just the labor involved. Anyway I'm sort of foaming at the mouth here. XOO to you both.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ms Nations! The hemerocallis - like everything else (except Rosa "Veilchenblau" and a Rosa rugosa) - is grown in a pot in our garden. It's a rather fab specimen, nonetheless!
DeleteYes, there's quite a bit of effort needed to make sure it all thrives, but the rewards are amazing... Jx
I just knew this would be a treat! I don't even know I can pick a favorite! But I love all the color! You two sure pack a lot of punch into that space. I'm a huge fan of fuchsia.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Agnes! It is a joy to make what is, in effect, a 10ft-wide paved back yard into something resembling a jungle... Jx
DeleteJon's back passage in bloom is always a joy and I do appreciate a good spread.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mitzi! My back passage is always welcoming. Jx
Delete