August flowers

I hope you had a good bank holiday weekend. It's been too cold for summer and has felt rather miserable in South London - the sky was filled with rain and dark clouds for the last few days. But it meant a lovely afternoon spent making a compilation MiniDisc (don't ask) for an upcoming trip to Wales - here's my sketch for #DrawingAugust yesterday.

Here are some flowery photos from this month. Pink cleome and white Cosmos 'Sensation' by a fence.

The first Delphinium 'Galahad' to flower. I was very happy about this!

Beautiful lavender-coloured flowers on scented lavender mint.

The cool silvery leaves of Senacio cineraria were warmed up by the bright, dandelion-like flowers.

The dedicated cut flower patch has grown into a bit of a monster. Cornflowers and panicum are hidden behind ammi at the back, whereas cosmos is over 150cm tall at the front with stems as thick as rhubarb. Yes, yes, I got things back to front. I live and learn! I let my sweet peas go to seed and have collected a few bags of seeds for the first time. I've no idea if I've done it properly - I'll have to see what happens when I try to grow them. I gave some to the lovely Sara Willman who I met in London when she and her husband visited the city last week. I also collected some panicum seeds, but as you can see from her photos, she has no need for grass seeds! Here's the only red zinnia from my 'Early Wonder' mix with sweet pea pods.

I can't wait for more sweet peas next year. And I'll try to grow more autumn-sown cornflowers successfully this time.

The pollen from cosmos is a pain when arranging flowers, but it's all for a good cause - the pollinators love it.