hollyhocks and rudbeckia

Good strong combination of colours.

Tucked in there...almost in the centre...is a clump of the Lobelia syphilitica that's the best blue. the garden has been a riddle this year...some things that should be over and done are still blooming making combos I never expected. Happy that this year the monarda is established and looking wonderful. It's pink..need to find some roots for the red (like I had in my last garden) I loved it because it looked like fireworks. what's new in Yorkshire?

My sister is sending me some black hollyhock seed, i love those very deep colours. Cannt see the lobelia but know it well, lvly colour.
My garden is steadily getting emptier, big piles of lovely york stone i keep finding to be used later, dug out loads of old bushes and various trees n lots of old matted roots all over but beginning to feel the space. Roses will go last but they are all the gaudy varieties which i dont like and no fragrance there either. 2m deep hawthorn hedges being tamed, yet more space hurray. Yes all coming along nicely.

I should have said...the lobelia has yet to bloom! sorry X-)
I love the idea of the black hollyhocks...I was hoping for some in the mixture that my sister sent me...I still have almost a pound of seed...and she just asked me if I wanted more! I have lots planted that are in the first year...so next year we'll see. Hawthorn hedges! man-oh-man! you need plate armour to remove that stuff. I once took out a small barberry hedge...and I was a mass of red dots with the broken off thorns just under the flesh of my forearms. What a lesson that was. Hawthorn spurs can rip you open! Hope the space doesn't come at that price! It's good to hear the enthusiasm returning to your comments...it won't be long til you'll have your lovely roses blooming contentedly.

Yes the hawthorne hedge was a real b..... to cut down but its done, upkeep will be easier. And yep loads of plasters and iodium, still finding and teasing out splinters even now. The thorns went straight thr my gloves and even the soles of my gdng boots!