A Red, White & Blue Theme to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles lll

To celebrate the coronation yesterday of our new monarch, King Charles lll, we are having a right, royal red, white and blue theme this Sunday.

I do hope you’ve enjoyed watching all the pomp and ceremony, that we here in Britain pride ourselves on doing rather well! And didn’t we do well again!

Watching our armed forces on parade always sends a shiver down my spine, but those three cheers were so emotional. I’ll bet the relations of those taking part were extremely proud of them!

Todays the day for picnicking al fresco, so to get you in the mood, get out your union jack napkin; cut yourself a slice of cake; pour yourself a cup of tea; as we go through our national colours – via the garden.

Red Flowers

The Red Cross of St. George is represented by my very few red flowers. This has made me realise that I really don’t have many.

It starts well in early spring with three different types of tulips. A Lilly tulip, tulip ‘Apeldoorn’ and the common species tulip.

By late spring the very traditional red English rose has opened. Unfortunatley I don’t know the name as it was here in the garden when we arrived

Into early summer I did have some velvety red Lillies that looked magnificent in their first year, only to be devastated in their second year by the little dreaded Lilly Beetle. A few stragglers managed to flower last year.

Late on in the summer the red Heleniums open their daisy like flowers, followed by red Kaffir Lilies ‘Hesperantha’ as we descend into autumn. They really stand out from the yellow Choisya hedge.

As autumn turns into winter the iris berries that have put on a good red display start to drop, and its time to plant up pots of christmassy red cyclamen.

White Flowers

White for St. Georges flag and white for St. Andrews flag. It’s a good job white features on both flags that make up our Union Jack, as I have a lot of white flowers to choose from!

Since I set out to create the white garden – which I have to say, I never thought I’d have the willpower to stick to. I’ve discovered so many white flowering varieties of plants, and of course, I want them all!

Below I have my Hydrangea ‘Zebra’, brand new last year. Its only tiny but it will grow!

Lupin, Magnolia ‘Stella’, Astrantia, Clematis ‘Prince George’ (very appropriate, wasn’t he adorable), Allium ‘Mount Everest’, Tulips, and White-bells.

White Grape Hyacinths, Penstemon, Snowdrops, Candytuft ‘Iberis’, Campanula, Rhododendron, Hellebores and Crocus. To pick just a few…

Blue Flowers

So, on to the blue from the Scottish flag of St. Andrew.

I do love blue flowers, in horticultural terms though, blue is a term that’s used very loosely, covering all mauves and purples. Today though I’ve put together my true blues!

It all starts with the Pulmonaria, they open so early and are covered in bees for around three months, super good for the wildlife.

Next come the large fragrant hyacinth, you can smell them all around the early spring garden, followed by their little cousins the Grape Hyacinths.

As the Iris open, the Brunnera become covered in dozens of tiny powder blue flowers, looking just like forget-me-nots.

Finally there are two different types of Centaurea in the garden. Centaurea ‘Montana’, a perennial variety that opens in late spring and Centaurea ‘Cyanus’, the common cornflower which is an annual and flowers in summer.

I hope the weather stays dry for us all today, and you all enjoy however you may be celebrating the coronation of our new monarch. After all King Charles lll is one of us, a very keen organic gardener.

Stay safe & happy gardening.