A Floral "Berry Basket" ... Zinnias To Die For!

It's the 6th of July and I'm in a state of bliss, filling vases with the colorfully vibrant blooms of

Zinnia 'Berry Basket'

T., my personal veggie gardener, has been kind enough to make room in his allotment for these long-stemmed cutting flowers (another trial packet sent by Renee's Garden Seeds). Must say, I've been impressed by the incredible length of the stems, as with Cosmos 'Rose Bon Bon.'

As for the variety name for these Zinnias, it couldn't not be more spot-on: Luscious colors that conjure up a basket of succulent berries, though I'm not certain what the pink represents.

What petal pink berries do you grow?

Frilly, Rosy Blooms of Summer - Cosmos 'Rose Bon Bon'

Summer has officially arrived! And the season is heralded by some of the prettiest blooms for bouquets I could conjure up, were I in the business of developing long-stem cutting flowers.

In fact, Renee's Garden sent a few packets of seeds to trial.

And here is my first bouquet of Cosmos "Rose Bon Bon" - a new variety for 2010.

Plants began blooming last week in the full-sun of my 'cutting garden' ... aka T's allotment.

A plot at a community garden on the grounds of an old estate in our town.

Sadly, there's all too little full-sun in my garden these days.

Still, I planted a few seeds in a terra cotta pot, placing it in the sunniest spot on our tiny pebble patio, alongside a stone bench.

A large bloom opened yesterday, and I quickly clipped it and brought it inside to enjoy, along with flowers T brought home on Monday.

T. tells me there's quite a crop of my favorite Zinnias from Renee's Garden - 'Apricot Blush.'

He's promised to bring them home for a holiday gathering on Sunday, when friends are coming by for sparkling wine & antipasto.

I'm impressed by the fine quality seeds sent by Renee's Garden ...

... beguiling annuals that bloom lavishly.

Thank you, T., for setting aside a place to tend my flowers among your myriad tomato plants!!

Photo shows the flowers backlit on the kitchen counter, backed by glass-block windows.

The petals' translucent character is lovely.

On the Subject of Garden Seating! Westbury Court

A magnificent 400-year-old evergreen oak growing at Westbury Court Garden.

Continuing the topic of benches and garden seating... a throne-like structure

...that complements Westbury Court's formal Dutch water gardens,

rescued by The National Trust after many years of neglect.

The bench inscription reads: To remember Hugo Colchester Memyss - 1910-1974

Representing the last of his family at WESTBURY COURT.

Link to Westbury Court Garden:

A Dutch Landscape in England: Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Essential Focal Point! A Parade of Garden Benches

One of the benches at .. Veddw in Wales

I can think of no other garden element as essential as a bench:

(Above: A private garden, soon to be featured on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz)

Hestercombe - England

An element that can take an intriguing variety of forms...

...while expressing a distinctive style.

Rhododendron Pavilion Stonework - San Francisco Botanical Garden

An element that makes a bold, artful statement!

Stone Bench/Blue Arbor - Alice's Garden

Or adds a highly personal touch. 

An element that can act as an architectural device, yet be totally inviting.

Cornerstone Sonoma - Wine Country

An element of beauty...
...or a spot to simply take in the surroundings.

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

A form that pays homage to great garden figures such as Lutyens.

Historic Ninfa - Italy

Or reminds visitors of a garden-maker's most treasured place to enjoy the landscape.

Rarest of the Rare .. Plantaholic's Pendant Perennial

Campanula takesimana 'Beautiful Trust' ... a Heronswood Nursery introduction

during Dan Hinkley's tenure as owner-in-residence.

A plant that has complete power over me. It's true.

C. t. 'Beautiful Trust' was ordered from Heronswood Nursery during the garden's early years, when each and every plant was carefully chosen to fill in the new beds and borders being created from scratch.

Other unusual Heronswood varieties did not survive. But I kept an eye on this rarity, and when I noticed it failed to thrive in the summer-dry conditions of my hand-watered garden, I lifted the unusual specimen from the ground and moved it to a prime spot where it could be pampered and doted upon.

Now it grows in a large galvanized tub in the sunniest spot on our pebble patio. Anxiously, I await the bloom each summer, and when the first flowers appear, I gaze delightedly from a bench alongside the planter, admiring the purest white "strap-like ...reflexed petals."

In an email, Dan Hinkley shared an often-quoted story with me about the uncommon plant:

"The ... name is somewhat humorously incorrect. The gentleman who found this and gave it to me in South Korea, Song Kihun, showed up with the plant labeled 'Beautiful Trust' the morning I was about to leave the country - (after a) night of farewells and a great number of toasts. He realized he had written the label wrong at that time - it was meant to be 'Beautiful Truth', a literal translation of his daughter's name, and told me so. By the time I got home with it, the correction was long out of my memory and it was thusly introduced under the wrong name."