Surprising star performers

Dirty Harry

What's flowering better/longer than you expected?

I planted some French lavender in the ground back in April (in flower) and it's still flowering relentlessly.

I knew they lasted longer than English varieties but even so that seems mightily impressive.

JoeX

All my other dahlias stayed about a foot tall, or simply rotted in the ground.  

This monster just appeared with no encouragement and shows no signs of stopping!



Im hoping it over winters because I killed everything I lifted last winter.

1634 Racine

Purple loosestrife for me.  First time growing and has been flowering all summer.

Fire

My sunflowers look they are just starting and they have been going for months.

Borderline

My Lewisias have done extremely well. Flowering from spring into summer, a mini break and the second flush since mid August. I also wasn't expecting my 5cm high Pomegranate sticks given to me just before Christmas would produce fruit this year, but they did and have done really well.

plant pauper

I asked for a Plant id in April and was told I had Red Campion. It came into flower about a week later and is still in flower now...and it's in a pot and ignored. 
I also planted a 99p packet of bedding Dahlias to fill some spaces. Nearly all germinated and have filled my garden with colour...and next door's! They're still going strong and some have reached 2.5 feet high!

Buttercupdays

You might not be ignoring it next year! I started with a pinch of seed from a hedge in a NT property we visited and now it's all over the garden! It doesn't mind boggy ground either.

I love it though. If you cut it back when it starts to look straggly, it will start again, and mine usually feature on the Xmas And New Year's Day flower lists. If you plant one in a border with a better diet it can make quite an impressive plant. And I find it fascinating to see genetics in action, looking at all the varying petal shapes and colours on the different plants.

plant pauper

Buttercupdays said:

You might not be ignoring it next year! I started with a pinch of seed from a hedge in a NT property we visited and now it's all over the garden! It doesn't mind boggy ground either.

That's what I'm hoping BCD. I have plans for a big 'hard to get to' bit and my campion looks just the ticket. I'll plant it at the top and watch it go! It came from boggy ground and that's where it's going. 

Buttercupdays

@plant pauper My boggy 'wilderness' looks lovely for most of the growing season, with ferns, Deschampsia, Great Willow Herb, Ajuga and Campions.  I didn't plant any of them, though I am encouraging some Meadowsweet to invade. The area is rarely dry enough to access, so just does its own thing.The GWH is always covered in butterflies all summer and looks really pretty, especially as we look down on it from higher up and it doesn't seem to stray as much as the RWH does.

ERICS MUM

Oleanders.  They flower every summer, but of course have thrived in the hot weather and their position in front of the house wall in a south-facing east Anglia garden.

Also Tomatoes. I put a Roma and a tumbler in pots and made the effort to keep them fed and watered.  I’ve had a bumper crop and because they were ripened by that hot sun the have a lovely taste.

Nollie

Geranium Rozanne and Gaura Whirling butterflies have been flowering nonstop since April and show no signs of stopping. Endless flowers and many more in bud on giant 8ft Tithonia - they have totally smothered everything else in the border but do make a stunning display.