I don’t care...
I really can’t abide geraniums.
Dahlias top the list of flowers I really really can’t abide, due in no small part to probably the richest boyfriend I ever had continuing to cough up 50p for a bunch of maroon jobbies. Dahlias themselves are appalling in my humble opinion, however maroon takes them to a whole new level of awfulness! The bloke, bit the dust along with the immortal words
‘I suggest you artfully arrange them where the sun don’t shine!’
That bit is a fib, however he was given his marching orders in short shrift.
Decking is another pet hate, why would anyone take the trouble to level perfectly good soil to lay dead trees on? And worse than that run the risk of slipping on the wet deck and breaking their
neck?
Net curtains... knitted man-made fibre, to grace suburban homes.
Only good I can see is for folk who enjoy an occasional twitch!
Faux orchids... why?
Alright I will be the first to acknowledge real ones are tricky until with patience you find their happy place. Then they flower for absolutely blooming yonks. Next comes the phase that is hard, especially for one such as me with veins pumping impatience as I wait for them to re-flower. Boy is it worth the perseverance, and the excitement as you have completely
forgotten what colour they are!
Do you think I need to get out more...?
Geraniums are really popular here (in Saskatchewan), but just as for you, they're not among my beloved flowers. Give me a sweet-scented sweetpea any day. -Kate
ReplyDeleteSweet peas... yes, I wonder how they would fare by the sea?
DeleteLX
I have a newfound respect for dahlias in the garden. I grew them from seed and they have flowered for ages and the bees seem to love them too - some are still in flower (and I live in Scotland!) What I hate is chrysanthemums. All those awful dark red ones in the supermarkets and garden centres at about this time of year. I don't like the net curtains you see here but when we were in France they had some beautiful net curtained windows with beautiful scenes on them and they weren't billowy like here, over there they were flat against the window, in fact when I think about it they may have been blinds! Very pretty. I agree about pretend orchids, in fact, pretend any flowers. I do not understand the current trend for pretend ivy growing up a trellis or pretend flowers in a hanging basket. I probably need to get out more too lol. x
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the faux ivy and those awful hanging balls of what I take are trying to be box. It isn’t very long from their journey from the cheapo shops to the side of the front door before the green turns to grey and there they hang looking truly grim!
DeleteLX
flowers must be real! Do you mean geraniums...or pelargoniums? ( hardy,or not....)
ReplyDeleteGeraniums. Hardy? I’ve no idea because they are hardly going to last a minute longer here. I have one sole remaining geranium, the others I hooked out and placed in a bag and put them on the steps up to the prom with a sign saying ‘Free to a good home!’ Husband said you are crazy just throw them away! I couldn’t bare to do that... such waste!?! Sure enough they went in minutes off to a new home. If I’d had net curtains I could have stood without being seen to see the lucky new owners carrying away their prize.
DeleteLX
Much depends on the actual geraniums and the actual dahlias, I think! I love scented-leaf geraniums and pure white geraniums, but not the bright tomato-red ones (similarly I detest those little bedding plant red salvias that a lot of elderly gentlemen used to plant in their front gardens but which, thankfully, seem to have gone out of fashion.) As for dahlias, I used to think they were the blowsy barmaids of the flower world, but I now like some of them, especially the Bishop of Landaff - if only I could get them to grow in our garden, the get eaten by bugs!
ReplyDeleteI also hate decking, so we're in agreement there. And net curtains, although we have a very ugly window frame in our hall (a large floor to ceiling, wall to wall window that it would be very costly to replace) and so I have cream voile in abundance at that window, but it's nothing like net curtains! I don't really like artificial flowers of any kind, even those that look really real, if you know what I mean, silk ones, and so forth. Yes, they are lovely and often well made, but it's the very nature of real flowers that is important to me - no, they don't 'last' but that is what is special about flowers, you have to enjoy them for their ephemeral nature, they aren't mean to 'last'. And if I'm honest, I don't really care for furniture that has been given a faux-aged look, painted and then knocked about to look ancient/distressed. I like polished wood, nicely maintained. I've seen an instagram page where someone has brought a piece of tatty wood into her hall, and while it's a nice piece, I'd want to remove all that old paint and re-paint it and certainly not then bash it about again to look 'distressed'.
I see Marksgran hates chrysanthemums. Yes, some in the supermarkets are pretty vile, especially in virulent colours, but what we lack these days are those huge chrysanthemums, not spray chrysanthemums, preferably in bronze or white. It's years since I've seen any of those, and they are magnificent.
Margaret P
It is strange how so many things go in and out of fashion. The distressed furniture look has had its day, stencilling ditto, rag rolled walls, chip paper etc. Brown furniture was out and now I think it is slowly on the way back. Luckily in all things I have never been ‘in’ fashion, so consequently have never been out of fashion, as it were! Be true to yourself is my motto, celebrate the YOU... warts and all in my case... am I bothered? Not a bit!
DeleteThanks for the lovely chunky comment galant.
LX
Do you feel better for that?
ReplyDeleteI have never grown dahlias , but recently have been looking after various gardens ( friends away on hols) where they grow. I have been picking them and they are beautiful in the house ! They seem to last quite well too. I have never had net curtains or decking....my husband hates it too... says it will get slippy. I presently have 5 moth orchids blooming. I love them and have had several of them for years. As you say, it is exciting to notice a new flower shoot after many months and looking forward to seeing what colour it is. I once contemplated putting notes on the pots as to the colour but decided it would spoil the surprise ! I like the green pots that your orchids are in. Glorious sunshine here this morning....hope you have it too. X
Yes thank you I do Frances, I could so easily have gone on! The pots are special orchid pots to allow the light through, they have a dimple bottom (I know the feeling!) to allow the water to drain and prevent them standing in water. I got them from a garden centre. Yes, we had a lovely day yesterday, too early say say yet about today.
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Hello dear heart .... need to catch up. From your Dahlia, Geranium, Orchid loving, none net curtained, be-decked friend from Staffordshire. X
ReplyDeleteGood to talk yesterday Viv! It was your gift, the purple one in the picture which got me finally on to the correct care and success with orchids. After years of not being very successful in giving them what they want, finally I discovered the secret.
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