More sempervivums

See yesterday's comments. To propagate simply break off a baby and pot it up. It will root easily and quickly.

Sempervivans

This family of plants, meaning 'ever living' as it is very tough has a succulent leaf rosette when not flowering but at the moment is in colourful flower. Also called 'houseleaks'. As babies grow alongside the hermaphrodite parent, it also has the nickname 'hen and chicks'. The flowers have a general star shape, after which the flowering parent will die, allowing the babies to take over.

Two different penstemons

Pen = five so all penstemons have five stamens. The top is Mother of Pearl, an old variety.
The iridescent blue is typical of some species such as Penstemon smallii (Small's penstemon)..

Very different is penstemon digitalis 'Husker's Red', named for the leaf and not the flower. The ordinary P. digitalis has green leaves.

"Roses are red, my love. Hostas are blue."

 "Roses are red, my love. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet, my love. But not as sweet as you." Bobby Vinton.

 And an old David Austin rose

Pink Floyd and Black Lace...

Sambucus, the black elder, 'Black Lace'.

And a tumble of phlox

Black Broom

A member of the broom family, 'Black Broom',  now 20 years old, with a dense yellow flowers. Cytisus nigricans cyni.  Geraniums in the foreground. 

Roses

Some David Austin roses, names now forgotton

This one another seedling from Kiftsgate.

Roses are anything but red

White Rambling Rector (rambler) with Salmon Leap in front.

Rambling Rector from the other side.

Back from Scotland

Sorry for gap in posts - we were in north Scotland. On coming home here are some garden pictures we have missed. First, a climbing rose, a seedling of the huge Kiftsgate Rose. I have to decide where and how to locate it.

Two Gardens in Scotland

Cawdor Castle is near Inverness - gorgeous garden by a very talented head gardener.

And The Castle of Mey, former home of the Queen Mother

A lilac

Geranium palmatum

Growing wild here, now in its 15th year

Lupin time

Orange Creams

Lathyrus vernus (top) and geums below.

Common Newts

A pleasant accident

A last look at the yellow Banksian rose, in flower for a very long spell this year. The top picture is the accident: the first Banksian rose we bought was grafted onto a root stock. This dominated procing this pale pink flower, and the yellow graft withered. The second Banksian we bought was on its own roots.

A rosy posy

A flurry of roses, mostly of unremembered varieties