Wordless Wednesday: Iceland poppy playing sun

Papaver nudicaule, cheering up a cloudy summer sky.

Merken

Merken

Merken

A Berlin balcony in May

The balcony has finally come alive. Quite literally, too: We have baby great tits (love writing that word combo – the German word is Kohlmeise, “cabbage tit”). Mother and father tit are non-stop busy feeding the little chirpers. I caught the father this afternoon for a sec, before he dove into the nest.

A grea tit(mouse) father, just before diving into the nest on the right.

The Iceland Poppies (papaver nudicaule) add citron-y colours to the balcony. Not that I asked them to. I actually expected a pastel mix with soft apricot hues. But I must admit, the bright colours look great against the sky.

Iceland poppies in a container with matching colours.

 

Iceland Poppy playing sun

A warm colour scheme more to my liking is provided by a self-sown pansy (which might have come from a seed mix I have previously bought). I love the rusty-red hues on this one.

When is an orchid not an orchid? When it is in fact melittis melissophyllum. Wild bees love it as much as the name claims. The nice fragrance and the dusky pink pseudo-orchid-blossoms on lush leaves make it a must-grow perennial. It`s pretty easy to grow, too! For me it thrives in a bigger container in half-shade.

Melittis melissophyllum

The rest is not quite so photogenic – at least not in today`s continously changing light. Will try to show some more tomorrow.

 

First Iceland poppy, last of the tulip glory

This morning, the first of my Iceland poppies popped open. I have never grown them before, but will definitely do from now on. The colour is not my favourite, an off-white. I hope the next ones are pastell-y, preferably pink and apricot shades.

Papaver nudicaule

Poppy container (against the evening light)

The tulips are still going strong and are making up for the fact that I did not make it out to the Tulipan show in Britzer Garten this year. My favourites are still Blue Diamond and Apricot Beauty. One of those beauties likes to strike a yoga pose.

My own private Tulipan, 6th of May

 

Apricot Beauty, greeting the morning sun

 

Blue Diamond and others

 

Unnahmed pink tulips (were supposed to be Brown Sugar) in front of my new insect hotel

Yesterday, I finally finished another sweet pea container, too. Glow, Baby`s Blush, Marjorie Carrier, Hotham Red, Blue Vein, Hannah Magovern, Solar Flare and the species chloranthus moved outside. And I started one of my big blue cylinders, with Flora Norton, Minuet Blue, Turquoise, Susan Thomas, Blue Shift and Frances Kate. As soon as they are a little bigger than 3 cm I will add Our Harry, Lord Nelson, Heathcliff and Blue Velvet.

Purple Tulips

My balcony is finally really in bloom! The colour purple dominates it all, with tulips Blue Diamond, Queen of Night and a mystery one (the one in the back, which is wide open) which was supposed to be Brown Sugar.

Tulips on April 26th

The peachy one is Apricot Beauty.

 

Blue Diamond and Queen of the Night – both are actually very shiny. I will try to capture them with a decent camera, before they wither

 

Tulip “Queen of the Night”

Queen of the Night is supposed to be the blackest tulip out there – but it is actually a dark and shiny maroon. All in all I am satisfied with the tulip bloom this year. The ones in the sweet pea-containers are doing especially well. What does annoy me though is that I received a lot of false colours via mail order! The following was supposed to be Cairo, which it clearly isn`t (it is actually much paler than Apricot Beauty).  I ordered loads of bulbs from www.tulipsgroup.nl – which is actually located in Rumania, as I discovered after receiving the bill. So far, NOT A SINGLE ONE of them turned out to be the cultivar I ordered!!! This week-end I will write a complaint to the company – the last of their bulbs should be open by then.

Most definitely not tulipa Cairo.

Besides the tulips, there is not much going on yet. Some self-sown pansies and horned violets are blooming, and the iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) are slowly getting ready.

self-sown pansies and tufted violets in a basket

 

Iceland Poppies (with beehouse)

Melittis melissophyllum – so far the only perennial that apparently feels really comfy on my balcony, will bloom in May.

Melittis melissophyllum on the balcony

The sweet peas are all sown by now. This week-end I will plant out the second cylinder. Most of the sowing is done now. Today I added some Heliophila longifolia seeds to a box of young anagallis monellii, for a new blue box. Plus I sowed a whole container full of night-scented stock, Matthiola longipetala, my favourited scented flower.

And I almost threw my back out while trying to separate some terragon offsprings from an old sage in my main herb garden container, which I finally replanted after two years. I cut back the old sage (a salvia officinalis aurea), devided the terragon and reduced the oregano (a white “variegata). In the gaps I sowed borage. Any remaining gaps will be filled with summer savory, my favourite herb. Will add a picture when the light outside is better…