I’m always impressed by gardeners who plan their gardens out on graph paper before planting and stick to their scheme. I always have a grand plan for my garden projects, but I never stick to it; the garden takes on a life if its own and evolves despite me. When I started this garden I thought I would keep to a pastel colour scheme so that nothing would jar when the garden is seen as a whole, as the space is quite restricted. I have a friend who is an artist with a small courtyard garden and she only allows white flowers; her garden looks fabulous. But I am a gardener, not an artist, and I can’t bear the idea of banishing so many of the colourful plants that I love. I have an area of white flowers, as who didn’t fall for a white garden after visiting Sissinghurst? But then I bought a few plants with red flowers and the only place to put them was with the whites because I can’t mix pink and red. And then the reds seemed to want to take over and then carry on up the garden and mingle with peach and apricot. I didn’t really plan this, it just happened.
The first red plant I had to have was Lobelia x speciosa ‘Fan Scarlet’ which I couldn’t grow before as it needs a moist soil. I still don’t have moist soil, but I now have a wall -mounted retractable hosepipe which has revolutionised my life. I now grow astilbes and candelabra primulas for the first time. This plant is a cross between the blue Lobelia syphilitica and the gorgeous red Lobelia cardinalis. It looks just like Lobelia cardinalis with its beautiful red, tubular flowers but it is a bit of a cheat for the poor humming birds who pollinate it because it only has 20% of the nectar found in its parent. That doesn’t matter here in the UK as there are no humming birds to disappoint.
Red flowers are often pollinated by humming birds rather than bees in their native lands and so they are more nectar rich. Although bees do take pollen from red flowers, apparently they find it hard to differentiate between green and red so they are more likely to leave them for humming birds. I always thought that Monarda didyma was called Bee Balm because bees love it, but I found out recently it is because the leaves were used to soothe bee stings and red Monarda digyma is another plant pollinated by humming birds, but bees love it too. This plant is so pretty with its scarlet whorls.
Its name used to be Monarda digyma ‘Squaw’ but Piet Oudolf who bred it has decided that this name might be offensive to Native Americans, so he has changed it to Monarda digyma x fistulosa ‘Oneida’. The Oneida tribe believed that this was the sixth plant given to them by their supreme creator, Orenda for medicinal purposes My previous attempts to grow this beauty have meant mildew and lingering death, but now I can give it the moisture it needs, I have a beautiful, tall and healthy plant.
My number three plant, Gaillardia is also from America. Its common name Blanket Flower could come from the patterns of the flowers resembling the brightly coloured blankets of Native Americans. My plant, Gaillardia x grandiflora ‘Mesa Red’ is not bi-colour but I bought it on impulse because it has masses of flowers which are a beautifully intense red. I have never grown Gaillardia x grandiflora before and I don’t really know why, as it is a such a jolly daisy. I believe it is a short- lived perennial.
Number four is another daisy, Echinacea purpurea and like the monarda was used by Native Americans for medicinal purposes,; this one was used for wounds and infections. These plants are loved by bees and butterflies, although they prefer the straight species; some of the fancy new hybrids are sterile. They also rarely survive the winter. This year I have bought two ‘Sombrero ‘ hybrids as they are supposed to be more winter hardy. I hope they will prove more long lasting. This lovely red one is called Echinacea ‘Sombrero Tres Amigos’. They are supposed to show three colours at once, starting off peach and ending up pink. Mine are just red, but still beautiful.
We move to a different continent for number five, Crocosmia ‘ Lucifer’ which comes from the grasslands of Africa. This lovely red one was bred by Alan Bloom of Bressingham in the 1960s. I have had it for years and it has moved around with me. The owner of my earlier garden was a friend of Alan Bloom and he gave him this plant so I take a piece with me whenever I move. It’s still a good red, although it is very tall, if I was buying one now I would perhaps try the shorter Crocosmia ‘Hellfire’.
Number six is a Martagon lily from Europe, I have seen martagons growing wild in dappled shade in the mountains of Switzerland. This lovely mahogany red one was bred by an American breeder, Claude Shride. I love all martagon lilies and unfortunately they seem to be favourites of the lily beetles too. But I have worked hard to keep Lilium martagon ‘Claude Shride’ pristine. Next year I shall add to the clump and have even more, I think it’s gorgeous. My other martagons have finished blooming now and I don’t know whether I was late planting Claude or if he is always late flowering.
So there we have my six ‘ In the Red’ this week, which depicts my red flowers and the way my bank balance is heading as I have spent the last six months making a garden from scratch. I bought a lot of plants with me and grew masses of stuff from seeds and cuttings. But still, it has been a punishing time for my credit card. And I know that the only way I’m going to stop is when I can’t fit any more plants in. And that will be a very sad day for me. July is a floriferous month, so do check out Garden Ruminations to find flowers of every colour under the sun, courtesy of Jim and his followers.
Chloris
The Blooming Garden 
All is red this week! Very nice choice and it’s varied. It’s true that the Lobelia x speciosa looks a lot like the Lobelia cardinalis that I grow here, but the flowers seem a little bigger than mine.
I was actually looking for Lobelia cardinalis ‘Queen Victoria’ but I couldn’t find it, so I bought this instead. I hope it will be hardy.
Queen Victoria was the one I had. It survived a couple of years and then disappeared.
Mine is ravaged every year by snails and slugs but it survives and comes back.
What a lovely lot of red, which I quite like, but there are not many colours that I don’t! I have watched bees carefully lift the upper lip of the monarda flower and stick their heads inside, fascinating. As this was in a client’s garden I possibly shouldn’t have watched for quite so long. 🙂
I’ve never seen bees do that, how clever of them, I shall be watching out for it now.
Lots of lovely reds. You’d think, given my moist soil and climate that Monarda and Lobelia would love it here, but I managed to kill both. Saying that the purple Lobelia hadspen has been growing for years.
I’ve killed monarda and lobelia in the past, but all that will change now with my magic hoses which can reach all parts of the garden. No more heavy watering cans for me.
No hose pipes allowed here, unless of course you have a holiday home when you are allowed to use one as you are a business!
No hosepipe ban here as yet, although it will probably come before the end of summer. Mind you, it’s pouring with rain right now and set to carry on all day.
Yes, everything is getting a good soaking today. I was looking at the list of exceptions and apparently you are allowed to use the hose for edibles, I wonder if that includes herbs? Although actually most of mine don’t require watering other than the mint which is in pots that dry out quickly.
As you say, a designed garden is a garden which sets rules about what is allowed in, anathema to me. I’d feel I was losing far more than I could ever gain. Like all those shades of red, pick any two and they’re so similar but so different in effect.
My problem is that I’m insatiably greedy when it comes to plants. There’s very little that I don’t like. Such a problem with a small garden.
I love your red theme! And all the history of the plants is fascinating, thank you.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I have no plan for my garden and it shows which is why all my photos are close-ups. Blanket Flowers grow wild here in Texas.
You have some fabulous wild flowers in Texas. How lovely to see Blanket Flowers growing wild.
The lobelia is lovely! My cardinal flower is blooming nicely, which is a happy thing!
They are gorgeous, such an amazing shade of red.
What! No hummers!
Unfortunately, we don’t have them here. I’ve seen them in Martinique. They are magical.
I had to stop feeding them because of ants. They just have to be hungry for flowers.
Beautiful array of color and form! The Liium martagon ‘Claude Shride’ is stunning!
Thank you. I love Martagon lilies and Claude Shrine is my favourite.
A lovely vibrant selection.
Thank you, I never used to like red flowers and now I love them.
Every one’s a beauty, Chloris. Gaillardia is a mainstay of my summer garden, although almost all of mine are bi-color varieties. They self-seed a bit here, which is helpful. I banned red flowers from my former tiny garden (much smaller than your current one) and I was initially hesitant to add anything in that color to my current garden but it’s now all over the place. Flowers in that color hold their own in my all-too-sunny garden.
I’m curious about the retractable hose. I hate hose-wrangling but have yet to find one that’s easy to tidy away.
I always used to avoid red, I learnt to embrace it in my tropical garden and now I wouldn’t be without it. There are plenty of wall mounted retractable hosepipes on the market, they are a boon, I’ve been struggling for years with recalcitrant hosepipes.
Lovely reds, Liz. You bring up a bone of contention among native plant purists, that cultivars often sacrifice biodiversity benefits for flashy flowers. Many echinacea doubles, those puffed up ones, have no pollen at all.
I agree, echinaceas are a good example of a flower that has been overbred so that it is useless for pollinators. Lobelia ‘Fan Scarlet’ is another one, it looks very like its parent, Lobelia cardinalis but doesn’t provide the nectar. I wouldn’t grow it if we had hummimg birds here.
I have found reds and oranges more appealing lately. Not sure why. I like the way your garden is turning out – my favorite bit in my garden is the result of a local nursery giving me some plants to trial. I never would have thought of it. So much for planning. I have mixed feelings about the hybrid Echinaceas, I like the natives better. I know the guys who started doing that with Echinaceas a few decades ago in Atlanta. I have Gallardia pulchella in my garden and was interested to read what the G. grandiflora is. Now I want some G. aristata. These are reseeding annuals in my garden. The range these plants grow in is astounding. I think everyone on SOS can grow them.
Reds and oranges suit your climate. I prefer pastel colours in early summer, but by now they start to look washed out in the harsher light. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to come round to beautiful gaillardias; how lovely to have them self-seeding.
Gee, most of my six happened to be red also, with one white Easter lily. We do happen to have a white garden at the Chapel at work. I tend to it myself. White is my favorite color. I am not so discriminate at home though, since most of the flowers that I have grown for most of my life are not white.
I love white too and I love Lilium longiflorum. But If you love flowers, it is difficult to exclude any colour.
Well, actually, only a few of my favorite flowers are white. I have been growing them for so long that I can not stop now. I have been growing my blue lily of the Nile since I was in junior high. I started growing white also in the early 1990s, and I do like it of course, but the blue is still my favorite.
Gorgeous! Significant martagon envy here! 😊
Thank you. Yes, Claude Shrine is fabulous isn’t he? He is readily available, most bulb companies stock him.
I tend to avoid red but somehow Crocosmia Lucifer managed to sneak in and he certainly draws the eye, wherever you are in the garden and he increases so quickly, I think he likes my heavy soil! Red daylilies have also crept in, too many for my liking but there you are, I’ll have to give some away.
Red does draw the eye and brighten up a border. I tend not to grow day lilies because the ones that were in my previous garden were such thugs and impossible to get rid of. There are some beauties around though, I have admired yours.
A lovely selection. Although I would say that apart from Lucifer and the Lobelia all the others have a significant amount of pink in their makeup and I think would mix very well in your “pink” area….perhaps you might consider them?
Yes, red does vary in its intensity doesn’t it? And some reds do have a lot of pink, but there is standing room only now in my little bed that has pinks, blues and purple with a touch of white here and there.
Wow. Very colourful indeed.
And I agree wholeheartedly with this: I’m always impressed by gardeners who plan their gardens out on graph paper before planting and stick to their scheme. I always have a grand plan for my garden projects, but I never stick to it; the garden takes on a life if its own and evolves despite me.
Thank you Cynthia. I agree, and I think the best gardens are made when you let the garden take over and make its own choices. Of course, you have to start with a plan and an outline in your mind, but gardens with rigid planting don’t inspire me.
I really enjoyed reading your post – very informative and your plant choices are very bright and uplifting.
Thank you. I love the colours in your long border.
Thanks for going ahead with your ‘red’ post, even if the red blooms are mostly things I have always had trouble growing – perhaps I should try harder and read up on the conditions that plants prefer…😉 I have, however, managed to keep a monarda going for a couple of years, albeit a purple one – it flowered two years ago but not last year and although it is flowering now it is a purple variety and not very inspiring to look at..hey ho! What a glorious lily ‘Claude Shride’ is
Well, these are plants that I struggled with before, but with a small garden every plant can be pampered snd spoilt. Yes, Claude Shrine is my favourite Martagon, he is very handsome.
Yes, I suppose that is one of the upsides of a small garden… 😉
Lovely reds and oranges. I love crocosmia Lucifer, even if it does get rather tall. And the lobelia is beautiful. And the Monarda – I didn’t know it was soothing for bee stings either. I think the colour red is really useful to show off green foliage even better. It is hard sticking to a colour plan but I have managed to stick to just blue and white/cream in my Moon Bed (apart from the odd mistake turning up unexpectedly!).
I think we have all got much bolder with colour in the last few years. But I still like to restrict the colours in certain areas. I love a blue, cream, white combination.
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Just loving the red and apricot invasion! I can’t stick to a plan either, ever! I love this, everything looks simply beautiful.xxx