It’s been a bright and beautiful week here in west Cornwall with the light so clear it is understandable why artists are attracted to this region. I decided to do some artistic images of my own this week and went looking for suitable candidates where there was sufficient light and shadow to highlight their beauty.
Hydrangea ‘Vanille Fraise’ in the dappled shade border where it is protected from the harsh midday sun. A late flowering hydrangea, starting off with ivory buds which turn to pure white before the tinge of pink in the autumn.A Rudbeckia which suffered in the raised bed at the back of the garden over the winter a few years ago. I thought I had lost it, but when digging it out found a piece with a few roots so it has been nursed back to life. Still in a container where it will remain for now.Pretty carmine pink Cosmos Sonata makes a lovely contrast to the pure white ‘Apollo’ – the Cosmos are doing so much better this year.Jasmine officinalis ‘Clotted Cream’ is a plant I love and hate. It is a vigorous creeper and only has a fence to climb up which it soon overpowers. Most years I cut it back hard and keep it well trimmed, but then don’t get many flowers. This year I let it run wilder and the result is many more of these delicious flowers that are a wonderful creamy colour.The smell is divine, especially in the evening. But I am going to have the pain of cutting all this back come the autumn. Next year I am going to experiment in cutting back stems at a much lower level and keep on cutting the new ones back to see if I can get a bushier plant – with flowers!Nigella – sown from seed directly into an empty container that I normally grow annual climbers such as sweet peas. They were so poor last year I decided not to bother and simply scattered some annuals onto the top of the compost and lightly covered them.Hardy Fuchsia doing what fuchsias do best – ballet dancing. These were bought to go in the front courtyard which is north facing, but they have never done very well. This year I brought them onto the patio, cut them all back hard and allowed them some sun.
As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to our host, the lovely Jon, AKA ‘The Propagator’ where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world.
Strangely, I was thinking about the light this morning (Monday), the first day for a while when it has not been bright sunshine from the start, so of course we no longer have the stark shadows that we had before. All your six look so perky, Jude, but then again we have a tendency to show our better-performing plants on SoS except when we are demonstrating downright failures!
Cornwall in Colours 
Such beautiful plants!
Lovely cosmos. I hardly had any survive this year – first the slugs and then the heat! The light in your photos really is lovely.
I buy mine as plugs, though I did actually manage to grow some from seed this year, which is a miracle for me! 😂
I love the pink cosmos – such a simple flower, but yet so beautiful.
Strangely, I was thinking about the light this morning (Monday), the first day for a while when it has not been bright sunshine from the start, so of course we no longer have the stark shadows that we had before. All your six look so perky, Jude, but then again we have a tendency to show our better-performing plants on SoS except when we are demonstrating downright failures!
Haha… yes, quite. You wouldn’t want to see my sad ferns. We had some rain this morning but it has hardly penetrated the ground.
And there’s a lot here you wouldn’t want to see – especially pots!!
Lovely 🌼🌸 that Jasmine looks Divine!