As I have said before, I read an article by Alan Titchmarsh, that said if your leeks go to seed you can leave them as they are quite spectacular. He said to put them at the back of your borders. We decided to leave ours on the veg plot.
They are incredibly slow to flower and at the moment only two have opened. We were expecting a more spectacular flower head whereas they are like a larger version of wild garlic.
However as time has gone on we have decided that maybe he meant spectacular in a different way to what we were imagining. Maybe it’s not about the flower head but about the height and the upright stance. The leeks now look like a dramatic, sentinel, row. The amazing thing about them is that although are very tall they are also very stiff and able to stay upright without any support. We are now seeing them in a different light and can see that they would indeed add drama to the back of a border.
A dramatic row of leeks that have gone to seed
Saturday was a really windy day with sunny spells, cloudy spells and sudden, huge, gusts. The leeks were able to withstand this whereas our prize allium snapped in the wind fairly close to the flower head.
I snipped it off and put in a single rose vase as it seemed such a shame to lose it when it was at it’s best.
Allium in a vase
I am now thinking that the leeks and the alliums are both dramatic, just in different ways.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
So far my alliums have survived the rain and wind, but it is goodbye poppies.
Our big poppies are a mess now too but at least we had them for longer than most years.
Woke up this morning to find the garden in a right mess, the wind had really made a mess of every thing. I went out in the rain and staked up the hollyhocks, I cut down loadsof lovely coloured flowers that were ruined, I know a lot of people have much worse things with the bad weather, but it is heart breaking, we put in so much work, and when every thing is looking so lovely, then the weather destroy it all.
I know what you mean. We have had relentless rain and it’s really cold too. The rain is so persistent that it is seeping through the wood of the chicken shed on one side despite us having painted it with a protector. I am now perching Jasmine with the amigos and Cinnamon with Speckles as I don’t want them near any damp (it’s behind their perch on the left of the shed). We bought expensive sheds in the hope that they would stay dry and this is upsetting. I think we will have to buy another shed at some stage and I am considering plastic. This is so frustrating and the rain is forecast to continue for another week.