#Asian Clothes UK

[unhonestlymirror]

Many of you, guys, perceive Lithuania the same way English colonizers perceived Indian women in sari. Shall I tell you this story?

[onitaalondon]

The demand for bespoke Indian wedding dresses is on the rise, as brides seek garments that reflect their individuality and story. Let’s explore the meticulous journey of creating a bespoke Indian bridal lehenga in London, from concept to creation.

[alittlebitbethany]

Hi everybody I had a fantastic time @blytheconuk in Edinburgh earlier this month. I have posted part 1 of my haul video on YouTube . Please check it out it would mean a lot to me. Image Description: a screenshot of a YouTube video featuring a collage of Blythe dolls , Blythe doll clothes and Blythe doll accessories. The text reads BC’s Doll Place: BlytheCon UK Edinburgh 2024 Haul (With Subtitles).

[sonascouture]

INDIAN BRIDAL WOMENSWEAR | Bridal Lengha UK

Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, so it’s vital that you look and feel at your very best. Here at SONAS Haute Couture, we’re setting new standards for Indian bridal womenswear, offering a bespoke in-house design service where we’ll tailor your bridal garments exactly to your needs. Featuring sarees, lenghas, churidars and more, including western gowns, our collection puts a new spin on these traditional garments which have been worn by women for hundreds of years, with a perfect hybrid of the traditional and the unconventional.

[ineffable-opinions]

Top 20 BL Live-action of 2024

20. Love Is a Poison - This series made my wish to see Hama Shogo in a BL come true. I loved his character in Koisenu Futari (2022) and wanted more of his character’s interaction with Takahashi Issei’s character. Also, the series leaned into the surreal with the squealing, sparkling succulents. While the legal drama part of the series was light, it was the first time I was invested in the character’s careers since Beloved Enemy (2017) [which is going to have a Thai remake/adaptation]. I absolutely enjoyed the dynamics of a neo-super-darling seme paired with a devoted, kuudere uke. But, I wish there were fewer flashback/compilation scenes.

19. Unknown - I never thought Priest’s Da Ge will become something like this. I am impressed by the meticulous cultivation that source material underwent. That little carp really crossed the gate to become a dragon. The Unknown managed to tone down the golden finger bits and keep things realistic to an extent, fit the whole business venture arc neatly into Taiwan’s SME-heavy capitalism. It fleshed out Le ge, and his relationship with both his underlings and his junior and made him interesting. It gave me one of my favorite mob characters in a BL – an ex-gangster with his blacked-out tattoos running a street food stall. In line with Taiwanese tradition, this series not only employed high BL literacy but also dedicated time to educate. (more on it here)

18. Cosmetic Playlover - I was hesitant to watch this show since I had enjoyed the first few volumes of manga and lost interest in later volumes. I knew they were going to censor the hell out of the first volume. While I am still bitter about that fact, I still enjoyed the series.

17. Love is Better the Second Time Around - this had some of my favorite moments from a BL - two-faced seme employing all sorts of methods to seduce and ensnare the uke, return of the alone-at-the-railway-station trope, seme using helpless, feverish face and acting coquettish (some seriously charming gap moe), teasing a seme's seme (this one did it better than At 25:00 in Akasaka which fumbled it by choice) and kishōtenketsu - 4 part traditional East Asian narrative structure (which appeared in many series this year and the last) with family negotiation aiming at adoption reversal. (I wanted seme to recommend uke in his place to his native household - that way they can also get married, if and when it gets legalized.)

16. Living with Him – The reason why this series is on this list is pretty unique. I never understood Japanese focus and fetish of nape (the way navel is in south India) before this series. The camera managed to capture the uke's neck, especially when he had his head bent slightly, in a stunning manner. Overall, the camera language was very intimate without being bawdy, perfectly suitable for the domestic setting of this BL. I loved the series more than I did the manga.

15. Century of Love - Gave me Hindi serial style BL complete with a red cloth enveloping the main couple during their fated encounter. It is a lakorn, so that's to be expected. I felt that the pair's romance progressed at an uncharacteristically fast pace given the initial resistance. (In other words, I wanted their romance to progress slowly, like over 400 episodes.) I thoroughly enjoyed the characters including the villains.

14. Healing Thingyan – this BL from Myanmar is no longer available at SKY Production’s YouTube channel. I had a good time watching this BL set in a village in the context of New Year where friends become lovers after much hesitation and an interrupted confession from the year before. My heart was pounding when the couple poured water over the left side because that's where their hearts are at. Also, the religious restriction (I am a little weak to this trope) to physical intimacy as a tactic to skip kiss scene - I would have been irked if it wasn't for the execution - the couple standing under arching bamboo, wearing sarong and acting all sweet. It is set in 2019. Later, I came to know that allegedly (I would appreciate if someone can help me gain more clarity on this matter), SKY production could be a proxy of 7th Sense Creation, an entertainment company cofounded by Kin Thiri Thet, daughter of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces and Acting President against whom the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has filed an application for an arrest warrant, alleging his involvement in crimes against humanity targeting the Rohingya population. (source))

13. The Time of Fever - I'm not very sure if this one can be considered a complete story in itself but even if not, it is immensely satisfying. Age-blind casting shouldn't have worked so well but it did. 

12. Gray Shelter - this one made me feel as though I read a nice short story or a novel. It was viscous like honey, the way such types of Korean BL novels (like Picked Up In Winter) tend to be. It had a very masculine vibe with underlying unease of depending and being depended on. 

11. Hitochigai kara Hajimaru Koi mo Aru aka Love Can Sometimes Start with the Wrong Person [fansubs available at Drama Otaku] - substitute lover trope but this time the substitute is two-faced. Everyone has their own agenda but this love is a zero-sum game. (I wanted 3p ending though – not possible since one actor is playing both the twins). I loved all the scheming and all those little lies. This one had explicit use of BL terms like seme and uke by a main character.

10. Perfect Propose - workplace that brings workers to tears, corporate slave uke who decides to quit (without starting a job hunt 😔) and an untethered seme who grows hydroponics tomatoes in their balcony. It is adapted from a single volume manga and not a novel, yet it uses every minute it's got to make you feel ALL THAT. 

9. High School Return of a Gangster - I was sad that they meant it as a bromance and worried for the future of BL creation in South Korea since it was Number Three Pictures, the company that created popular BL Unintentional Love Story and The Time of Fever, by its own admission struggling financially with limited recovery of production costs (more on this here). When I started watching, I couldn't care any less about their intentions. It was an absolute delight. I was still immersed in the exhilaration of Aavesham (2024) and had wished to see such things in the context of a BL. And this one delivered. I was shipping the underboss with his main lackey (they have history between them and reminded me of the relationship between Ranga and Ambaan) at one point and the next moment, shipping him with his foxy classmate. The series toned down the bully-loves-bullied aspect in the novel, and humanized and contextualized the main bully with his life in the underbelly of the economy, so much so that I felt bad when the bullies were prosecuted (what will happen to Hong Jae-min's sister😟) while gangsters and the rich who hire them went scot-free in the live action. The face-slapping part left a bitter taste in my mouth with the secretary facing the brunt (and the misogyny embedded in the socio-economic fabric that breeds such hatred) while the father isn't retaliated against enough. I read and enjoyed the novel, but face-slapping was even more makjang. It is tough to get accepted in live action form as it is, in South Korea, since the gangster is middle-aged and it is only towards the end of the novel that the characters are finally out of high school, unlike in Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding [fansubs by @isaksbestpillow] with a significant age gap but both are adults and are in a Japanese BL. Gong (공, Korean for seme) (a suspected psychopath, raised under constant surveillance by his father) consciously falls in love with the middle-aged su (수, Korean for uke) inhabiting the body of a high schooler, going as far as visiting his previous residence and pursuing him as one would an old person. 

8. My Damn Business - From the first episode, this one had me hooked. Week after week, I was eagerly waiting for those 8 minute long episodes. It acknowledged the manhwa side of BL and hinted at their iconic smut pages (in a way New Employee live action couldn't). It executed stalking horse trope, with Park Min-jae (R. I. P) playing the stalking horse, in a manner that had me giddy with excitement. I also appreciate GND STUDIO for casting darker-skinned actors – in this one and in Fake Buddies. GND studio also has decent BL literacy as is evident from the above-mentioned series. In the third episode, Fake Buddies used the East Asian tradition of representing gay and lesbian relationships through rose (from barazoku (薔薇族)) and lily (from yurizoku (百合族)) respectively to hint at the BL and GL couple.

7. Boku to Boku ga Sukina Kare to, Kimi to aka Me, Him, and You [fansubs available at Drama Otaku]- Honestly, I didn't expect to be this impressed by this one going in. I had such low expectations. I absolutely love the pairing between Higashi Keisuke and Hiroki Iijima, much more than Higashi Keisuke and Nakajima Sota in Ossan no Pants ga Nandatte Ii Janai ka! [fansubs by @isaksbestpillow] and Hiroki Iijima and Inukai Atsuhiro in Our Dining Table. The series played with my heartstrings a lot. I fondly remember several of the scenes and all the emotions they evoked in me. At the end, there was a longing for something, maybe some more time with those characters, especially the model and his uncle. 

6. Pit Babe (2023) - omegaverse with enigma - Japan has like 1 manga but through PitBabe I discovered that enigma has become a popular secondary gender in Thai BL space. I love buff uke and I got one paired with a two-faced, loyal loser seme in this one. Super pretty villain, Tony, had me wishing for him to be an omega (I love megalomaniac omegas). I also enjoyed reading the book – every time it rained, that silent phone call, Babe's jealousy towards omegas, the suspense and the pregnancy scare.

5. Love Sea - MAME lifted me out of a BL slump with this one. I also enjoyed the GL pair a lot - there is nothing I like more than performative cuteness/winsomeness (കൊഞ്ചൽ konjal, aegyo, sajiao, kawaii) and benevolent sexism weaponized and employed for emotional manipulation. High EQ manipulators are so rare, my favourite type of yandere (especially when paired perfectly with someone who gets swept up in the moment easily, like Techno). I wonder why MAME doesn't write Janus-faced men that way too. And the men who perform winsomeness such as Tongrak, Kengkla and Tharn, when they do so, have motivations that aren’t Machiavellian enough.

4. Heavens x Candy - OP Pictures is bringing to screens BL that are otherwise tough to get made. This one explored otaku culture, loneliness, family and love through fan pilgrimages, cute and horrifying family dynamics, adult entertainment avenues and love hotels with those transparent walls of bathrooms. It healed my heart after the blow dealt by I Became the Main Role of a BL Drama. 

3. Love Syndrome: The Beginning – I didn't expect this but I'm glad to have received it. I want more but now that the director, F Nontapat Sriwichai, has passed away, I don't expect anything anymore. If only his legacy would inspire someone with the ability and mettle. I prefer meriba endings over happy endings. So, when Love Syndrome III was the first to get an adaptation, I was drawn into Yeonim’s universe. The movie focuses on Gear and Night’s relationship and spends relatively less time on Day and Itt. Yet, it is not hesitant to portray the beginning of their relationships, especially the eroticized violence and the morbid conditioning (調教), showcasing exceptional BL literacy.

2. Kubi (2023) – [Fan-subs] I must praise the excellent production quality before anything else. It is about multiple legendary figures in Japanese history such as Oda Nobunaga, Araki Murashige, Akechi Mitsuhide, Mori Ranmaru and Yasuke. The movie has historically accurate ending with specifics changed to fit the narrative. It is based on Honno-ji Incident and Battle of Yamazaki. Those who died then, dies in the movie too but who killed who and why are fictional. (meta here)

1. Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (2023) – this one and Kubi came out last year but I got the chance to watch them only this year. Thanks to fan subs by @furritsubs. I read and re-read those chapters from the novel and I'm still basking in the magic of Shinobu Gotoh's storytelling. First time since Unni R's story and screenplay for Charlie (2015), I got immersed in a love story where the couple barely even interact and the romance unfolds in a thriller-like fashion. While a lot of character motivation gets lost on the way in this live action, most important of them were impossible to miss when snow fluttered around in a bottle, when a delirious Takumi sought Gii in a crowded stairway landing and when Yoshizawa jumped out to stop Takabayashi from hurting. (ongoing meta series here)

-

Here are the top 20 of 2024: live-action BL that I watched and enjoyed this year. I haven't watched everything that came out this year (I'm saving up some for the upcoming year) and did revisit a lot of older stuff (not listed) when there was nothing enjoyable to watch. This year, I realized that I am able to tolerate, if not enjoy, when I'm not too familiar with the content it is adapted from with some exceptions. I don't treat BL like fables or life lessons. I don't bother with moral validation from the choice of media I consume either. But there are certain real-world killjoys in media that may affect my enjoyment, like what happened with The Sign. Please feel free to ask for content warnings.

[hobiebrownismygod]

Let's talk about Desi representation again!!

I don't talk about this stuff often but when I do, I have some strong ass opinions

and yes I'm gonna be talking about none other than Pavitr Prabhakar at the end cuz he's just special to me <3

Hollywood is lagging behind on Desi representation

You'd think one of the biggest film industries in the world would be able to represent us properly, considering the fact that we make up the largest group of South-Asian Americans and the second largest group of Asian-Americans in the US, but instead-

Western Television forces Indians to conform to harmful stereotypes

Some of the most popular Desi characters on screen are Raj Koothrappali from the Big Bang Theory, Devi Vishwakumar from Never Have I Ever and Kelly Kapoor from the Office.

Indian men are almost always portrayed as robotics engineers and computer whizzes, but with terrible social intellect, making them seem like awkward nerds.

Indian women are almost always portrayed as "whitewashed", or wanting to appear more western, with zero understanding of their own culture or language along with an unrelenting need for attention from white friends/colleagues.

These are both based on stereotypes that Indian culture is "toxic" and "too traditional" and that Indians are only interested in studies.

Most Desi characters in western media have stories that are solely based around their ethnicity and/or racial stereotypes.

British television actually showcases a lot more representation than Hollywood does

I was watching Polite Society, a movie starring two Pakistani characters as the main leads, and there was a dance scene where both the leads are wearing traditional desi attire. My mom turned over, looked at me, and asked, "Is this Hollywood? It can't be."

And she was right. It's a British movie with British-Pakistani actors.

The reason she didn't believe that it could've been Hollywood was because the dresses the two leads were wearing were traditional and beautiful and the song playing in the background was authentic Hindi music, not some random westernized DJ version of it.

A Hollywood movie would've never dressed up their Desi actors in actually flattering attire (*cough cough the Patel twins from Harry Potter) or have used real, popular Desi music in the background.

You see my point?

It is so uncommon to see well-thought-out Desi representation in TV nowadays, where to see real diversity we have to watch movies made by the same country that colonized us.

Ironic.

British movies/shows with desi leads have far better South Asian representation than anything I've seen in Hollywood recently.

The Hollywood movies starring Indian leads, like Slumdog Millionaire or Bend it like Beckham were filmed in the UK, and because they were filmed in the UK, they had fantastic South Asian representation.

Not only does Hollywood refuse to create shows and movies about real problems that South Asians face, but they also don't cast South Asian actors in good roles.

When's the last time you saw a South Asian actor playing a character that wasn't a walking stereotype? When's the last time you saw a South Asian actor playing a character that was a genuine part of the story rather than just comedic relief or a random smart kid in the classroom?

Not often, right?

Me, personally, I didn't grow up with a lot of South Asian characters or actors in shows/movies that I watched. In fact, every time someone even close to my skin color showed up on TV, I was on the edge of my seat because it was just so rare to see it.

This is why representation matters.

You've heard about all the young girls with braids being so excited when the new little mermaid with Halle Bailey came out. Well, us desi kids wanted that too.

I wanted to see a Telugu speaking girl with wavy hair and dark skin who would wear traditional clothing to Desi get-togethers and parties, go to the temple with her family, eat vegetarian Indian meals, etc...

I wanted to see a character who was a representation of me and my experiences as an Indian-American. I wanted to see a character that was at least a representation of Indians or just South Asians in general.

Instead, we were given characters that ridiculed their own culture, were extreme stereotypes and furthered the existence of casual racism in western society today. So many Desi kids experience small acts of racism on a daily basis because people have been so desensitized to the existence of these stereotypes.

Telling South Asians that their culture is a joke and feeding non-asian children media which pokes fun at other cultures is harmful, not only to us South Asians but also communities that could end up being targeted next.

Pavitr Prabhakar; Representation Matters

If you've been following me or if we're mutuals, you probably know I have a tiny obsession with Pavitr Prabhakar. But why?

Because of all the reasons I just listed.

There are few South Asian characters us Desis can look up to these days, and Pavitr Prabhakar is one of the maybe two or three characters who have great writing, magnificent representation, and overall a fun vibe.

He's likable, funny, smart and best of all, unapologetically Desi.

He's just like all the other side characters, with a little bit of his own culture mixed in. He's not being shoved down our throats to further an agenda about fake diversity, he's not a walking stereotype and best of all, he was designed by Indian creators.

He's refreshing and exciting to follow in a world full of a demand for half-hearted representations and the people who created him were obviously putting their hearts and souls into it.

He's awoken a love for Indian culture amongst, not only Desi children themselves but also among westerners who, prior to this, had thought of India as a "3rd world" country, because that's the agenda that Hollywood pushes onto many South Asian countries today.

WE LOVE PAVITR PRABHAKAR!!

This was kinda all over the place but I just had to get this off my chest <3

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/10/discrimination-against-indian-americans-happens-more-than-you-might-think/

[raymencranpin17]

克里斯兄弟，这又是你一整天的无事可做，永远不可能永远不可能你总是保持善良生病，甚至没有人适应你，通过从不很多事情成员太老很多可能对你没有。停止嘶嘶声废话，再次与你分享你冷静下来好吗。不能被阻止隐藏仍然在跳过僧侣好吗，Clay Zach #ClayZach Stay easily calm okay Yes 2017 2023 December soon gay love soon came again a lot always okay yes stay strong Rachen Cadtren ago all day hope more forever more all day again soon bad perm hair and other latino espanol dark skin are bad horrible and terrible the whole thing anymore crapo over no more again okay yes #CraymenPin white blue Angelic always Home soon okay Yes American Asian Summer Storm Grande ecole and Stress Around never hope. Being Calm relax save money soon back again Raymen Pin bro okay Yes Stay strong always okay yes Chris Gay Romance all day again soon so much #CraymenPralo #GayLove Sad Alone on around town road not Place area again. Yes Exactly over saw seeing back all day may still coast you have save it soon do not lose it again back soon over you bro okay yes, Gay Love Summer Storm Sad Alone water rock beach at the same time again soon okay Yes No European Yes Austraila the same thing back again come home all day i can't go out seeing any places to go anymore never again okay Yes, Family and friends tryed to help Raymen soon praying healed back soon Restored to Raymen Memory his tongue can pain talk will go away the same thing over no more all day i am worried everytime again okay Yes Japan Korean China Chinese Japanese Korean Vietnamese Khmer Cambodia no Spain barcelona never again to Chris anymore White Blue Purple Brief classic polo Shirt Pants Jeans and Canvas Short soon okay Yes always being calm all day soon Asian gay Renmance soon back over #雷平曼 . #安慰 #回家 Return account to Facebook all day same time all day again soon okay Yes being calm stay good all day again soon okay Yes Come home soon,. I am not going any place i just stay home Fan made always the sam time back again sex sexual love male men man boy twink bodybuilding skinny teen boy okay Yes #KirbyCran #2017 #2023 #AngelicChurch Heavenly #Heavenlyrainbow stay easily soon okay yes Piano and Guitar Indie Rock and Soft Rock all day any choices i cant sleep anymore again okay yes Bald and Spiky hair look okay better okay yes,. Bracelet Necklace calm help you ok. being same time again soon swim trunk i can't go on anymore swim suit trunks again,. Wearing Normal Clothes Winter Fall spring not summer and Rain all day again anymore okay Yes Ribbon Formal Calm Clothes easy all day okay Return okay Yes #소피몽크

딜런미네트 crying all day over home home safe family always accept okay yes. ross butler brandon flynn miles heizer christian navarro model character male model cute. Maybe chill out calm cute okay yes. English stay calm do not lose not breaking anything and everything makes you calm all day okay Yes #Gay #raymenpinbaldbluewhite #comemyway dylan minnette logan lerman innocent Heaven i miss you i love you anytime a lot to me you all day being calm healed milky way across soon okay 💙❤👌🏻👌🏻😍🌈👍🏻👋🏻 Yes plaid polo shirt canvas soon backpack all packed up it's time to going home all day moving out anytime okay yes stay good bro okay Bro. Relax soon Western USA US vs uk asia aust okay yes 🇨🇳 ❌ 🇪🇸🇰🇭🇦🇺 #TrandyCrewmen #Claycalmdown okay Yes. Balcony Angelic eng okay Old navy Calvin Klein Hanes and Faded glory okays Ben Mitchell Lee Carter 🇨🇳 ❌ 🇪🇸🇰🇭🇦🇺 💙💙🎄🎄 😈👿❌❌🙂🙂❤❤⭕⭕ how many time public facebook you have perm hair you have you have to spiky hair look handsome sometime chris bro All many time public i wanted wanna being friends never public not blocked always never all day no perm hair allowed gay love same time before anytime like same time all day okay yes the exactly whole thing none maniac like a total idiot Ok yes

[raymenpin61]

克里斯兄弟，这又是你一整天的无事可做，永远不可能永远不可能你总是保持善良生病，甚至没有人适应你，通过从不很多事情成员太老很多可能对你没有。停止嘶嘶声废话，再次与你分享你冷静下来好吗。不能被阻止隐藏仍然在跳过僧侣好吗，Clay Zach #ClayZach Stay easily calm okay Yes 2017 2023 December soon gay love soon came again a lot always okay yes stay strong Rachen Cadtren ago all day hope more forever more all day again soon bad perm hair and other latino espanol dark skin are bad horrible and terrible the whole thing anymore crapo over no more again okay yes #CraymenPin white blue Angelic always Home soon okay Yes American Asian Summer Storm Grande ecole and Stress Around never hope. Being Calm relax save money soon back again Raymen Pin bro okay Yes Stay strong always okay yes Chris Gay Romance all day again soon so much #CraymenPralo #GayLove Sad Alone on around town road not Place area again. Yes Exactly over saw seeing back all day may still coast you have save it soon do not lose it again back soon over you bro okay yes, Gay Love Summer Storm Sad Alone water rock beach at the same time again soon okay Yes No European Yes Austraila the same thing back again come home all day i can't go out seeing any places to go anymore never again okay Yes, Family and friends tryed to help Raymen soon praying healed back soon Restored to Raymen Memory his tongue can pain talk will go away the same thing over no more all day i am worried everytime again okay Yes Japan Korean China Chinese Japanese Korean Vietnamese Khmer Cambodia no Spain barcelona never again to Chris anymore White Blue Purple Brief classic polo Shirt Pants Jeans and Canvas Short soon okay Yes always being calm all day soon Asian gay Renmance soon back over #雷平曼 . #安慰 #回家 Return account to Facebook all day same time all day again soon okay Yes being calm stay good all day again soon okay Yes Come home soon,. I am not going any place i just stay home Fan made always the sam time back again sex sexual love male men man boy twink bodybuilding skinny teen boy okay Yes #KirbyCran #2017 #2023 #AngelicChurch Heavenly #Heavenlyrainbow stay easily soon okay yes Piano and Guitar Indie Rock and Soft Rock all day any choices i cant sleep anymore again okay yes Bald and Spiky hair look okay better okay yes,. Bracelet Necklace calm help you ok. being same time again soon swim trunk i can't go on anymore swim suit trunks again,. Wearing Normal Clothes Winter Fall spring not summer and Rain all day again anymore okay Yes Ribbon Formal Calm Clothes easy all day okay Return okay Yes #소피몽크

딜런미네트 crying all day over home home safe family always accept okay yes. ross butler brandon flynn miles heizer christian navarro model character male model cute. Maybe chill out calm cute okay yes. English stay calm do not lose not breaking anything and everything makes you calm all day okay Yes #Gay #raymenpinbaldbluewhite #comemyway dylan minnette logan lerman innocent Heaven i miss you i love you anytime a lot to me you all day being calm healed milky way across soon okay 💙❤👌🏻👌🏻😍🌈👍🏻👋🏻 Yes plaid polo shirt canvas soon backpack all packed up it's time to going home all day moving out anytime okay yes stay good bro okay Bro. Relax soon Western USA US vs uk asia aust okay yes 🇨🇳 ❌ 🇪🇸🇰🇭🇦🇺 #TrandyCrewmen #Claycalmdown okay Yes. Balcony Angelic eng okay Old navy Calvin Klein Hanes and Faded glory okays Ben Mitchell Lee Carter 🇨🇳 ❌ 🇪🇸🇰🇭🇦🇺 💙💙🎄🎄 😈👿❌❌����🙂❤❤⭕⭕ how many time public facebook you have perm hair you have you have to spiky hair look handsome sometime chris bro All many time public i wanted wanna being friends never public not blocked always never all day no perm hair allowed gay love same time before anytime like same time all day okay yes the exactly whole thing none maniac like a total idiot Ok yes Dummick barkcalklesas

[twopoppies]

Hi Gina! Thank you so much for taking care of everyone and everything today. <3

This is for the anons talking about funeral customs and cultural aspects of it. I totally understand how a Western/Catholic funeral might seem strange to other cultures. A family friend of my family is a mortician, and I thought I might share what I know from them.

First of all, I saw that people seemed to be confused about what the term funeral means. Like an anon said before, the casket (it’s not a coffin if it’s shaped like a rectangle, it’s a coffin if it’s shaped like a human) being present at a funeral doesn’t mean someone was buried in a coffin/casket at the cemetery the same day. Burials (where you put the coffin in the ground) can happen after the funeral (the service at church to remember someone) but they don’t have to. The casket might have been taken back to a funeral home by a hearse for a burial to happen at a different place and/or time or for the body to be cremated. Cremation and burial are what happens with human remains in the UK, with about 70-80% of people being cremated in England.

Now, for the gravesite, bodies and urns don’t have to be put in a cemetery in the UK. Home burials are not forbidden. And it’s allowed to keep someone’s ashes at home or scatter ashes (with the permission of the land owner) in the UK, too. The only rules is that the ashes have to be kept safe in urn. Usually, they’re sealed in a plastic bag and then placed in a decorative urn (side note, the thing that happens on movies sometimes with an urn dropping and ashes scattering everywhere is not true to reality).

Notable cultural differences in funerals are that in Arabic/Muslim countries there’s no cremation and no burial in a casket/coffin. The body is wrapped in three to five layers of cloth to my knowledge. In Hindu culture, all bodies are cremated and the ashes scatter in water. Unfortunately I don’t know about funeral customs in Jewish culture or Eastern-Asian countries.

I understand that seeing Liam’s funeral differing from what you’re used to might cause you to feel an unease, especially when religious beliefs are tied to your culture’s funeral customs, e.g. the soul being freed when the ashes are scattered in water (Hinduism).

I hope this helps anyone understand why they might feel like they’re feeling right now or understand how others feel.

Take care everyone! <3

Thank you so much for this, sweetheart. It's really fascinating how different cultures approach death.

[zot3-flopped]

What were the low points of Louis' career?

1. Signing with Syco again when all the other guys had moved on.

2. Becoming an XF judge.

3. Miss You failing to chart on the Hot 100, along with all his subsequent singles.

4. Being dropped by Sony and taking a year to find a new label. Nobody was interested in him.

5. BBC Radio 6, NME, Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds and other touchstones of alternative music rejecting his reincarnation as Liam Gallagher. The last time he was played on UK radio was 2019.

6. The four AOTV premieres. Not a single journalist showed up to review his film. Not a single celebrity walked the red carpets.

7. His tragic attempts to play huge stadiums. 16k people at Velez Sarsfield, capacity 50k.

8. The empty venues for the FitF tour of the US. Thousands of tickets on resale sites for just $10. Some venues had less than 20% attendance.

9. The album FitF receiving only four critic reviews.

10. The casual cancellation of his Asian tour dates.

11. 28 Clothing launching and not a single style magazine reporting on it.

12. Louis cancelling signings because he broke his arm when he was drunk on vodka.

[tumibaba]

November 10th, 2024 Posted In: Garden Style & Living The best cottage garden plants have pretty blooms. They flower for a long time and are often fragrant. And above all, they are plants which grow well in your climate and soil.But there are no rules in cottage garden style. You can adopt a colour theme as Tim Pilgrim has in this contemporary cottage garden.Or you can grow a glorious patchwork of different flowers together.You can plan a cottage garden, but you don’t have to. You can let it evolve, experimenting over time. If you love to buy plants on impulse, then this style is perfect for you.So this is a list of the best cottage garden plants, with their pros and cons. They all have charming flowers, some are sweetly scented and they’re all perfect for pollinators. That’s not just bees but butterflies, moths and other insects.These plants grow in a wide range of climates and zones, so you’re likely to have a variety available to you.Firstly, decide whether you want a low maintenance cottage garden, a romantic ‘cottagecore’ haven or you’re prepared to spend time and effort on creating a classic cottage garden.What makes a garden a cottage garden?Cottage garden style is colourful and relaxed. It has informal plantings of flowers, fruit and vegetables. See what is cottage garden style and how to achieve it?The name derives from the idea that workers in cottages would use plants they could grow cheaply and easily. This can mean choosing native plants. It certainly means using plants that grow easily.Cottage gardens don’t need defined areas. Whereas English country garden style will have lawns, herbaceous borders and a separate ‘veg patch’, everything can be grown together in a cottage garden.A cottage garden doesn’t look designed. It evolves slowly, with vintage finds and thrifty hand-me-downs. Paths, pots, troughs, arches and other landscaping elements are recycled or upcycled. See A Rustic Cottage Garden on A Budget , Recycled Garden Ideas from RHS Chelsea and Eco-Friendly Garden Design for ideas.You could also use natural materials, such as stone or wood, for furniture and hardscaping elements.Recycled zinc bins and pavers with thrifty vintage garden furniture in Arit Anderson’s peat-free show garden at RHS Hampton CourtWhat are the most ‘cottagecore’ flowers?‘Cottagecore’ is a social media term. It stands for a simple, rustic life where you grow your own food, bake your own bread and make home-made clothes. It’s a lifestyle ideal around simplicity, sustainability and biodiversity.The hashtag #cottagecore on social media is  associated with pretty cottages, romantic floral dresses and other picturesque rural elements such as keeping hens or ducks.All the plants in this post have charming ‘cottagecore’ flowers. But if you want to emphasize the ‘cottagecore’ ethos, combine flowers and veg growing and make sure your garden supports biodiversity.Find out which plants are native to your area, too, as these will support your local wildlife best.However, non-native plants can also support biodiversity, especially when weather patterns are unexpected. For example, some non-native plants flower earlier or later than your native plants. This helps pollinators if there is warm weather earlier or later than usual.So ‘grow native plants’ isn’t a ���one size fits all’ rule.Old bricks, a pretty gate and ducks – elements of ‘cottagecore’ style.Asters (asters & symphyotrichum)Hardiness varies, but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Asters are daisy-like flowers in blue, pink, red, white or purple, perfect for the cottage garden look. Botanists have recently re-classified them into several different, unrelated species. But the common name for them all is still asters.‘Symphyotrichum’ asters are native to many parts of the Americas. Plants with the botanic name of ‘Aster’ are European, UK and Asian natives. There are other species too.If you want to focus on native plants, look up the asters that are native you where you are. Otherwise, both asters and symphyotrichum are pretty, easy-grow plants that flower for a long period from summer to the first frosts.They’re a good flower for pollinators at the end of the season when many other flowers are over.Aster amellus ‘King George’ has pretty blue flowers. It starts flowering in summer and goes on flowering until the first frosts.HoneysuckleHardiness varies, some down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Dappled or partial shade.A classic cottage garden climbing plant, but do your research before planting one! There are nearly 200 species of honeysuckle. Different varieties are native to north America, northern Europe or Asia.Some honeysuckle varieties may be invasive where you are, so check the name carefully. Some Asian honeysuckles can be very invasive in parts of the USA and Canada, for example. That means that they will spread too quickly, which will crowd out other plants. This can be damaging to biodiversity.However, there will be a honeysuckle for where you live.The honeysuckle fragrance is famous, but not all honeysuckles are scented. Check that too.And some honeysuckles will grow and grow. Unless you’re happy to prune back several times a year, check the eventual height and size.Honeysuckle comes in white, cream, yellow or gold. This yellow honeysuckle is native to North America, but grows well in the UK too.PoppiesThe seed of Common Poppies can survive very cold temperatures, such as minus 50C/minus 60F but they need the weather to warm up before they sprout and flower.  Full sun or partial shade.Poppies are famous for popping up when the soil has been disturbed. If you dig a new bed, turning over the soil for the first time for years, you’re likely to get poppies the following summer.That’s why so many poppies appeared in the fields after World War 1. They germinated where the soil had been turned by tires or dug up in trenches.There are dozens of different types of poppy, all good for a cottage garden. But the best known is the Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), mainly available in scarlet and light purple/pink.They are particularly loved by pollinators. I often find two or three bees sharing one poppy flower.Grow Common Poppies from seed. You can either sow them in trays and plant them out or scatter the seed directly on the ground.Poppies self-seed well. They seem to prefer to self-seed – they want to decide where they will grow! Once you have them in your garden, they will dot themselves around.The common poppy grows every year from seed. The seed heads look good in winter.See this post for more self-seeding plants – all 20 are so pretty and perfect for a cottage garden.Low maintenance perennials for a cottage gardenIf you want low maintenance cottage garden plants, then choose shrubs and perennials. They need less work than annuals and bedding plants.Annuals are plants that grow from seed, flower and die in one year.Perennials are plants that live in your garden for three years or more. See perennials made simple for advice from Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants.And here are three top long-flowering, easy-care perennials for cottage gardens.Catmint (Nepeta)Very hardy – down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Drought resistant, deer and slug resistant, easy going, long flowering…this must be one of the easiest plants to grow. It flowers for weeks from mid-summer onwards. If you cut it back when the blooms fade, it will start flowering again. It grows in almost any soil, is loved by pollinators and comes in shades of blue, white or lavender.Nepeta is often recommended as an easier alternative to lavender. Lavender isn’t difficult to grow. However, nepeta will tolerate wet weather and lavender hates getting its feet wet.Catmint (nepeta) in the gardens in the famous West Dean Gardens in Sussex.Globe thistle (Echinops)Hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Another easy-growing plant which is drought-resistant, deer and slug resistant and with a long season of interest.The sculptural blue or white globe thistle flowers make this one of the best plants for pollinators. And when the blooms are over, they develop seedheads for the birds.Once established, globe thistle needs almost no care. Once the birds have enjoyed the seeds, the stems will slowly collapse over winter and can be cleared away easily in spring. New foliage will spring from the base.Globe thistle (Echinops) is a magnet for pollinators. And the birds will enjoy the seedheads in winter. A cottage garden plant with a long season of interest.Hardy geraniumsHardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and some varieties full shade.Don’t be confused by the brightly coloured bedding plants labelled ‘geraniums’ for sale in garden centres in summer. Those are called pelargoniums. They won’t survive any freezing weather outside.But there are nearly 500 different varieties of hardy geranium. Some like full sun, others are perfect woodland ground cover plants. Many are drought resistant once established. Geranium macrorrhizum (Cranesbill) is even good in dry shade and difficult conditions under trees.They flower for months with blooms in pinks, reds, purple or white. They’re deer and rabbit-resistant.The only care hardy geraniums need is to be cut back once a year after flowering. Then they will often flower again.Hardy geraniums, such as ‘Anne Folkard’ can be sprawling plants or you can find low-growing ground cover varieties.When are cottage gardens high maintenance?A cottage garden generally has lots of different plants and flowers in it. This may mean that there are lots of different caring schedules – you’ll be pruning, feeding, watering or dead-heading at different times.Some people enjoy looking after their gardens, so ‘high maintenance’ isn’t always a bad thing. But if you want the cottage garden to be low maintenance, plant perennials, shrubs and trees.Annuals and vegetables are the high maintenance elements in a cottage garden.The following cottage gardens plants are delightfully pretty. But they are ‘high maintenance.’ This doesn’t mean they’re ‘difficult to grow’. It means they will need regular attention.Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)Annuals (grown from seed every year) so can be grown in most temperate climates. Full sun in cooler climates, light shade in warmer places.Probably the most famous ‘cottage garden plant.’ But also the one that requires the most attention, sadly! The blooms are adorably pretty in colours such as pink , purple, blue or white. The scent is delightful and the fragrance from a vase of sweet peas will fill a room.You’ll need to train sweet peas up a support, water them, dead-head them constantly and protect them from rodents.None of these tasks are difficult, but it isn’t a plant that can be left to its own devices. If you want a low maintenance garden, then don’t plant sweet peas.Everlasting sweet peas are less work and come back every year, but they don’t have the fragrance.I know so few people who grow sweet peas that I only have a photo of them in a vase. They are the most beautiful, fragrant cottage garden plants, but they do need regular attention.LupinsThere are some very cold hardy lupins but many lupins you buy in garden centres won’t come back year after year. Full sun.Some experts suggest treating lupins as an annual or short-lived perennial, although the original cottage garden lupins were both cold hardy and long-lived. But the gorgeous new cultivars are less likely to survive over winter in your garden.In the UK, the milder winters mean that lupins may survive, but gardeners often report disappointment. They are also prone to slug damage.They are stunningly beautiful cottage garden staples in blues, yellows, reds, purples or white.Lupins are classic cottage garden plants. Their spikes add fireworks to any border, but they do need more care than many other border plants.TulipsTulips grow best in areas with cold winters and can survive down to minus 40C/minus 40F. However if you have hot summers and mild winters, then tulips may not grow as well. Full sun or part shade.Tulips have all the gorgeous drama that makes a cottage garden.But in many gardens, they don’t come back year after year. And Head Gardener Neil Miller of Hever Castle says that tulips flower best in their first year. Read his advice on growing tulips here.My garden is full of odd tulips in different sizes and colours. That’s because I planted a group of them in a certain colour scheme, and just one remains. Then I planted a different colour scheme another year. And only one  or two of those survived. It looks pretty and cottagey, but if you want a particular effect, it’s best to grow your tulips from new every year.They’re easy to grow in pots. But they don’t reliably come back in borders. Tulips may get tulip fire after a very wet winter or spring.These mixed tulips in my lawn are pretty, but they are all different sizes and colours. Tulips don’t come back reliably, so these are the remnants of several planting schemes over the years!Delphiniums (sometimes called larkspur, although true larkspur is different)Hardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Delphinium blooms are vibrant spires in purple, red, blue or white. They are probably the most striking and gorgeous flowers for any cottage or ‘English country’ garden.But they need looking after. They need feeding, staking and protecting from slugs. They don’t want too much competition. They need enough water, but not too much.None of this is difficult but you can’t just plant delphiniums and leave them to get on with it. You need to look after them on an almost daily basis.Any list of cottage garden plants will include delphiniums, such as this blue delphinium at Doddington Place Gardens. They are gorgeous but they are not low maintenance.Best cottage gardens bulbs & tubersDaffodils/narcissiHardy down to minus 20C/minus 4F. Not suitable for climates with hot summers and mild winters. Full sun or partial shade.Daffodils, also called narcissi, are probably the easiest bulbs to grow. Many of them will spread and they come back year after year.Plant them in a lawn for a romantic cottage garden look. But remember that you won’t be able to mow the lawn until six weeks after the flowers have faded.All bulbs need about six weeks of sun on their leaves in order to make their flowers for next year. So if you mow too soon, you will lose next year’s blooms.There’s more about growing and choosing daffodils here.One good place to plant them is under trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter. By the time the leaves are back, the daffodil will be almost ready to go dormant again. See where to plant bulbs.Daffodils are the easiest bulbs to grow. They come back reliably year after year and even spread. These were planted over 30 years ago, so I don’t know their name!AlliumsHardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shade.Alliums have striking blue, white or purple pom-pom blooms. These add punctuation points to a cottage garden border. In some places, they’ll self-seed easily, popping up in unexpected places. Another very popular flower for pollinators.Deer, rabbits, squirrels and voles don’t like the taste of onion. Alliums are the decorative side of the onion family, so pests leave them alone. Super easy and very resilient, alliums flower in early summer. The seed heads offer sculptural interest for several months afterwards. The foliage dies away by mid-summer.Alliums (this is ‘Purple Sensation’) keep their distinctive shapes after the flower colour has gone. So they are a presence in the garden for around three months from early summer.Alstromerias (also known as alstroemerias)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 10C/14F. Full sun or light shade.Easy to grow and long flowering. See alstromeria grower Ben Cross’s advice in how to grow alstromerias for endless flowers. The red and orange blooms are taller – if you want the more delicate shades, they’ll be shorter. Plant in the front of a border.Alstromerias can spread too vigorously in some areas. If they’re invasive in your area, they grow well in pots.They are very good flowers for the vase but always twist and pull the stem out. Never cut an alstromeria!Best cottage garden shrubsLavenderHardiness varies but most ‘English lavender’ hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun.Lavender loves sunlight. It’s a Mediterranean plant but ‘English lavender’ will grow well in colder climates, as long as they are fairly dry. It’s another pollinator magnet and has magnificent fragrance.You can get lavender in several shades of blue and purple, and also white.I had bushes of Lavender ‘Munstead’ in the garden for 15 years. They only needed cutting back once a year, after flowering. Otherwise they were almost maintenance free. I cut my lavender back much harder than many people advise. It keeps it in good shape. See The Absolutely Best Way to Prune Lavender.My lavender ‘Munstead’. It flowers in summer, after which we cut it into neat mounds.RosesHardiness varies but many hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and a few grow in shade.Roses are the most famous cottage garden plant of all. You can grow roses round arches, arbours and pergolas. You can grow them in pots. And you can grow them in a mixed border.Some roses have fragrance and others do not. If the blooms have an open centre, they’re good for pollinators. But the double-flowered ones are less beneficial.There are more than thirty thousand different varieties of roses. You can find roses for very cold climates and roses for hotter climates. But you’ll get the biggest choice of roses if your winters are no colder than minus 28C/minus 20F and your summers average below 30C/100F.Roses can be low maintenance or high maintenance, depending on what you want. If you insist on perfect blooms without black spot on the leaf or aphids, then you will have to keep fussing over them.However, if you accept imperfection, you can enjoy beautiful roses in your garden without too much work. They will need fertilising once or twice a year and will flower best if you deadhead them regularly. See how to grow roses and how to choose roses for an obelisk, arch, fence or pergola.The archetypal cottage garden flower ��� roses! Here at the Peter Beales rose garden in Norfolk, there are roses on arbours, arches, fences and obelisks, as well as in borders and climbing up walls. Roses mix well with other cottage garden plants, such as foxgloves.HydrangeasHardiness varies, generally down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Also some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Shade or partial shade.Hydrangeas are easy-going plants that grow well in shade. Some varieties are good for pollinators but the ‘mop head’ varieties (with a round flower) don’t offer pollen or nectar. If you want pollinator-friendly hydrangeas, check the variety before buying.Hydrangeas flower from mid to late summer. Then their flowers slowly dry on the stem and turn into autumn shades of brown and cream. Some hydrangeas, such as ‘Annabelle’, stay sculptural all through the winter and look magnificent with frost on them. So these plants offer a long season of interest.See everything you need to know about growing hydrangeas.Hydrangeas are very easy-care. They need watering in dry summers, but otherwise all they need is to be pruned once a year in spring. Not all hydrangeas are wildlife friendly, but this hydrangea flower is called ‘lace-cap’ and offers benefits to pollinators.Best cottage garden perennialsMonarda (bee balm)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Another easy-care, deer resistant plant although it can get some slug and snail damage. Popular with pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. The striking spidery blooms come in brilliant, jewel red, pin or purple and also white.Monardas won’t like long droughts or boggy conditions.The unusual spidery flower of monarda (bee balm) attracts bees and hummingbirds.Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena)If your winters go below minus 17C/0F, then you’ll need to grow verbena bonariensis as an annual. Full sun.Butterflies and bees both adore the purple flowers and birds love the seeds. A tall ‘see-through’ plant with slender stems and blooms which last from mid-late summer to the first frosts. Best planted in clumps – you’ll hardly be able to see just one verbena bonariensis.Verbena bonariensis is generally considered slug-resistant, deer resistant and easy care. You can leave the flowers to turn into winter seed heads for the birds and they look good in frost.Verbena bonariensis is a short-lived perennial. If you have colder winters, you will probably need to grow it as an annual. A clump of verbena bonariensis creates a mass of see-through stems topped by a cloud of purple.Sedum/stonecrop (now hylotelephium)Hardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shadeSedum (now hylotelephium) is one of the 10 resilient plants in 10 beautiful but tough perennials which will survive both too wet and too dry summers.I find Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be extra-ordinarily resilient. It can get nibbled by slugs. But I picked up a stem that had been nibbled by a slug and put it into a vase. I forgot about it and two months later, I realised it had grown roots. So I planted it in the soil. It’s grown into a proper plant!And when you look at ‘Autumn Joy’ in bloom, you will see the flowers are crowded with pollinators of lots of different types and sizes, all enjoying the nectar.Sedum (now hylotelephium) ‘Autumn Joy’ is on the bottom right of this photo. A superbly resilient plant for late summer and autumn/fall. Adored by pollinators.Best cottage garden annuals & biennialsAnnuals grow from seed every year so you don’t always need to know about hardiness.Biennials grow from seed, flower, set seed and die over two years.Many people plant their annuals from seed in the autumn/fall so that their plants have a head start the following summer. If you’re doing this, you’ll need to check whether you can plant them outside over the winter.You can also grow the seedlings in a greenhouse or potting shed until spring comes. When temperatures and light levels are low, plants don’t grow much.Annuals and biennials have lots of flowers and come in a wonderful range of colours. They’re perfect for filling gaps or creating a gorgeous display. But they are more work. You have to sow the seed and/or plant the seedlings. Then you may have to support them, feed, water and deadhead them, then clear them away at the end of summer.CosmosFull sun or partial shade.One of the prettiest and most popular cottage garden annuals. I find them easy to grow. One warning, however! Don’t give them extra fertilizer!Most plants flower more if you fertilize them. But cosmos will grow green and bushy, then fail to flower.Cosmos are available in various shades of pink, yellow and cream, along with white. Perfect cottage garden blooms!Hollyhocks (can be annual or biennial)Full sun.A classic cottage garden flower. It’s tall and vigorous with blooms in white, pink or cream. Hollyhocks can sometimes have a mind of their own. Gardeners have often told me that they’ve struggled to grow hollyhocks. Then suddenly hollyhocks start to spring up on their driveway or in the cracks of pavers.You can get single flowered hollyhocks and double-flowered ones. Only the single flowered ones benefit pollinators.They can grow to 6ft/2m tall so may need staking.A hollyhock in the Abbey Physic Garden in Faversham. The soft colours and frilly flowers make it a beautifully romantic cottage garden plant.Cleome (Spider flowers)Full sun or light shadeCleomes aren’t as well known as cosmos or hollyhocks, but they are striking, pollinator-friendly flowers. They have spidery blooms in deep pink, pale pink or white.Although cleomes are tall (3ft/1m), they are upright and don’t usually need supports. It doesn’t need fertilizer and can be very drought-resistant. Resistant to most pests and diseases.Cleomes and salvias in the Savill Garden near Windsor. The cleomes are the taller, spidery flowers. They’re long-lasting and dramatic.Foxgloves (biennial)Partial shadeFoxgloves have spires of flowers in white, pink, purple, white or cream in early summer.They’re toxic to both humans and pets, so if you are worried about either nibbling plants in your garden, then don’t plant them. Most pets know what to nibble though. See how to puppy-proof your garden.Foxgloves often self-seed easily and need very little attention. If you cut the first big spire of flowers off when it is over, you should be rewarded by a spray of smaller spires.Foxgloves are another popular cottage garden plant. The spires add spikes of colour in early summer. They are toxic so be careful around children and pets.Best cottage garden plants for warmer climatesMost of the plants in this post will grow well in warmer climates, but some will not like temperatures that are regularly above 30C/100F or never freeze. If you don’t need a winter coat and spend most of your life in a T shirt instead of a sweater, you probably won’t be able to grow tulips, daffodils, delphiniums or hydrangeas!However, some popular cottage garden plants grow as perennials in warmer climates and are re-planted annually in cooler climates. Mix them with local native plants as Bill Bampton of The Diggers Club does in Cottage Garden Mash-up – how to adapt English cottage garden style to your own climate.SalviaFull sun or partial shadeSalvias come from Mexico and grow well in climates which rarely freeze in winter. They can tolerate hot summers and drought.However, if you see a salvia growing in the UK, you’ll see lots of bees enjoying the nectar. They’re proof that non-native flowers can be valuable to wildlife.There are 900 different types of salvia in a very wide range of different colours. There are some vivid pinks and purples, pastel pinks and creams plus bi-coloured salvias.Read the UK’s top expert on growing salvias here. Those in cooler climates will probably have to replant salvias every year.  But they flower for months at a time. See 18 long flowering perennials that bloom from summer until the first frost.Plants such as rosemary and sage have recently been re-classified as salvias. They are perfect cottage garden herbs.Salvias are quite tender and if your winters freeze regularly you will either have to lift and store them or plant again from new. But they are amongst the longest-flowering perennials and perfect for a cottage garden.Best cottage garden treesEvery cottage garden should have a fruit tree!  You may want to choose something unusual, such as a quince or a medlar tree. A native fruit tree is always a good choice.But a simple apple or crab apple tree will give you flowers in spring and fruit in autumn/fall. You can enjoy this or share it with wildlife by leaving it on the tree.See An Orchard in Your Garden for tips on growing fruit trees in a small garden.Crab apple trees on either side of a vintage gate. These are Malus hupehensis and birds adore the tiny red fruits at the end of summer.Pin to remember the best cottage garden plantsAnd do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration.  Source link

[lawfulneeds]

szayelaporro rant just to feel something . So . he is my beautiful husband yes i know i call him my wife but he is my husband. i am the girl uke bottom idiot woman in this relationship #wedonthavesex BUT i am his princess . because sometimes freakishly tall scruffy asian men need to be princesses ok ? and NO i am not talking about nnoitra (i technically kinda am but id rather kill myself than let myself rant about nnoiszay) but my sweet angel is actually crazy right so like . Why tf would i an exception, but i dont think he experiments on me because he thinks im weak and is like “No, Jack, I’d rather keep you alive. You make good company. Smile.” (yes he says smile out loud, so do i and the rest of my family tree) id like to think he just rubs my head like im not even a being to him and moreso just a specimen who follows him around (SORT OF LIKE HOW NNOITRAS LIKE ‘tesra just follows me around’ BUT NNOITRA AND TESRA ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND WAY MORE COMPLEX IN A WAY ILL SAVE FOR A DIFFERENT TIME) also i hc szayels touchy ^_^ because despite not getting close to his enemies, he’ll caress and lean on the other espada (and the fracciónes too don’t think i forgot) so he just fucking pets me and is like “Aw. How cute, you’re so compliant I almost thought you were braindead!” and then i drool 🤤 ANYWAY. i have a couple strands of hair on my head that my brother likes to call feelers, so i believe they like to feel szayelaporro. WHO HAS THICK HAIR . AHEM…MY THICK HAIRED, WELL MAINTAINED KING. sorry my canon headcanons. he lets me run around inside of his palace and sleep on his bed but im not allowed to touch any equipment 🩷 he genuinely thinks im fucking stupid but like . I’m not (ive analyzed more than he knows) so it’s whatever szayel [insert lawfulneeds beating card here] but i love him! and he loves me! he gives me like some clothes he has and is like “Here. So you can still detect me with your scent.” and it’s lowk sweet ty my angel but hey What? appreciate dat shit on yhwach but do you think im a dog? but hes right i like to Smell him [smiles like the image of squidward where hes like guys it’s okay] i also like to lick him mmm [stomach growls] but im really normal about him. Smile. its also canon in szaylaw lore is that he hits me with his clipboard, on the head, over the head, on the side, in my stomach, on my dick, and other various places and im like “? what i even said” or it goes something like [CENSORED] [REDACTED] [ARCHIVED] [SPOILERED] [BLURRED] [DELETED] [VANISHED] but he also likes to just straight up no diddy beat me [insert lawfulneeds beating cards again] but its one of his many green flags™️ so if you judge him i will fucking kill you until you wake up dead so leave my husband alone!!!!! [clings to him yaoi style, slaps his ass and you hear a screenshot sound] i also just remembered that my brother headcanoned that he annoys nnoitra with his yapping of me and it’s like aww :3 he gaf… but i think it’s more like “(playing with his hair and staring at the ceiling dreamily) Nnoitra you don’t understand. I need him dead.” “(praying mantis accent) do you want me to kill him????? tf?” “(his pupil twitches like in the anime where it just shakes) NO. i mean it in an AFFECTIONATE way you BRUTE. like how i talk about YOU, when i say i want to RIP YOU APART.” “(his eye opens and somehow get more buglike) WHAT DO YOU MEAN BRUTE????? WHAT DO YOU MEAN RIP ME APART????!?!?!?!l” then the two start arguing and maybe even kiss in the middle of it, which confuses the spectating tesra who is trying to calm nnoitra down like “(trying his hardest not to baby voice nnoitra) no nnoitra you’re the strongest espada, szayelaporro doesn’t know what hes talking about” and szayelaporros like “strongest espada? im surprised hes even at number five!” then nnoitra gets even angrier so it doesn’t get any better and its like oouuu….yikes. then it happens again same time next week. but that’s all i have to say about szayelaporro as my husband. Gulp. [turns off livestream]

[romaleen]

November 10th, 2024 Posted In: Garden Style & Living The best cottage garden plants have pretty blooms. They flower for a long time and are often fragrant. And above all, they are plants which grow well in your climate and soil.But there are no rules in cottage garden style. You can adopt a colour theme as Tim Pilgrim has in this contemporary cottage garden.Or you can grow a glorious patchwork of different flowers together.You can plan a cottage garden, but you don’t have to. You can let it evolve, experimenting over time. If you love to buy plants on impulse, then this style is perfect for you.So this is a list of the best cottage garden plants, with their pros and cons. They all have charming flowers, some are sweetly scented and they’re all perfect for pollinators. That’s not just bees but butterflies, moths and other insects.These plants grow in a wide range of climates and zones, so you’re likely to have a variety available to you.Firstly, decide whether you want a low maintenance cottage garden, a romantic ‘cottagecore’ haven or you’re prepared to spend time and effort on creating a classic cottage garden.What makes a garden a cottage garden?Cottage garden style is colourful and relaxed. It has informal plantings of flowers, fruit and vegetables. See what is cottage garden style and how to achieve it?The name derives from the idea that workers in cottages would use plants they could grow cheaply and easily. This can mean choosing native plants. It certainly means using plants that grow easily.Cottage gardens don’t need defined areas. Whereas English country garden style will have lawns, herbaceous borders and a separate ‘veg patch’, everything can be grown together in a cottage garden.A cottage garden doesn’t look designed. It evolves slowly, with vintage finds and thrifty hand-me-downs. Paths, pots, troughs, arches and other landscaping elements are recycled or upcycled. See A Rustic Cottage Garden on A Budget , Recycled Garden Ideas from RHS Chelsea and Eco-Friendly Garden Design for ideas.You could also use natural materials, such as stone or wood, for furniture and hardscaping elements.Recycled zinc bins and pavers with thrifty vintage garden furniture in Arit Anderson’s peat-free show garden at RHS Hampton CourtWhat are the most ‘cottagecore’ flowers?‘Cottagecore’ is a social media term. It stands for a simple, rustic life where you grow your own food, bake your own bread and make home-made clothes. It’s a lifestyle ideal around simplicity, sustainability and biodiversity.The hashtag #cottagecore on social media is  associated with pretty cottages, romantic floral dresses and other picturesque rural elements such as keeping hens or ducks.All the plants in this post have charming ‘cottagecore’ flowers. But if you want to emphasize the ‘cottagecore’ ethos, combine flowers and veg growing and make sure your garden supports biodiversity.Find out which plants are native to your area, too, as these will support your local wildlife best.However, non-native plants can also support biodiversity, especially when weather patterns are unexpected. For example, some non-native plants flower earlier or later than your native plants. This helps pollinators if there is warm weather earlier or later than usual.So ‘grow native plants’ isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ rule.Old bricks, a pretty gate and ducks – elements of ‘cottagecore’ style.Asters (asters & symphyotrichum)Hardiness varies, but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Asters are daisy-like flowers in blue, pink, red, white or purple, perfect for the cottage garden look. Botanists have recently re-classified them into several different, unrelated species. But the common name for them all is still asters.‘Symphyotrichum’ asters are native to many parts of the Americas. Plants with the botanic name of ‘Aster’ are European, UK and Asian natives. There are other species too.If you want to focus on native plants, look up the asters that are native you where you are. Otherwise, both asters and symphyotrichum are pretty, easy-grow plants that flower for a long period from summer to the first frosts.They’re a good flower for pollinators at the end of the season when many other flowers are over.Aster amellus ‘King George’ has pretty blue flowers. It starts flowering in summer and goes on flowering until the first frosts.HoneysuckleHardiness varies, some down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Dappled or partial shade.A classic cottage garden climbing plant, but do your research before planting one! There are nearly 200 species of honeysuckle. Different varieties are native to north America, northern Europe or Asia.Some honeysuckle varieties may be invasive where you are, so check the name carefully. Some Asian honeysuckles can be very invasive in parts of the USA and Canada, for example. That means that they will spread too quickly, which will crowd out other plants. This can be damaging to biodiversity.However, there will be a honeysuckle for where you live.The honeysuckle fragrance is famous, but not all honeysuckles are scented. Check that too.And some honeysuckles will grow and grow. Unless you’re happy to prune back several times a year, check the eventual height and size.Honeysuckle comes in white, cream, yellow or gold. This yellow honeysuckle is native to North America, but grows well in the UK too.PoppiesThe seed of Common Poppies can survive very cold temperatures, such as minus 50C/minus 60F but they need the weather to warm up before they sprout and flower.  Full sun or partial shade.Poppies are famous for popping up when the soil has been disturbed. If you dig a new bed, turning over the soil for the first time for years, you’re likely to get poppies the following summer.That’s why so many poppies appeared in the fields after World War 1. They germinated where the soil had been turned by tires or dug up in trenches.There are dozens of different types of poppy, all good for a cottage garden. But the best known is the Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), mainly available in scarlet and light purple/pink.They are particularly loved by pollinators. I often find two or three bees sharing one poppy flower.Grow Common Poppies from seed. You can either sow them in trays and plant them out or scatter the seed directly on the ground.Poppies self-seed well. They seem to prefer to self-seed – they want to decide where they will grow! Once you have them in your garden, they will dot themselves around.The common poppy grows every year from seed. The seed heads look good in winter.See this post for more self-seeding plants – all 20 are so pretty and perfect for a cottage garden.Low maintenance perennials for a cottage gardenIf you want low maintenance cottage garden plants, then choose shrubs and perennials. They need less work than annuals and bedding plants.Annuals are plants that grow from seed, flower and die in one year.Perennials are plants that live in your garden for three years or more. See perennials made simple for advice from Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants.And here are three top long-flowering, easy-care perennials for cottage gardens.Catmint (Nepeta)Very hardy – down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Drought resistant, deer and slug resistant, easy going, long flowering…this must be one of the easiest plants to grow. It flowers for weeks from mid-summer onwards. If you cut it back when the blooms fade, it will start flowering again. It grows in almost any soil, is loved by pollinators and comes in shades of blue, white or lavender.Nepeta is often recommended as an easier alternative to lavender. Lavender isn’t difficult to grow. However, nepeta will tolerate wet weather and lavender hates getting its feet wet.Catmint (nepeta) in the gardens in the famous West Dean Gardens in Sussex.Globe thistle (Echinops)Hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Another easy-growing plant which is drought-resistant, deer and slug resistant and with a long season of interest.The sculptural blue or white globe thistle flowers make this one of the best plants for pollinators. And when the blooms are over, they develop seedheads for the birds.Once established, globe thistle needs almost no care. Once the birds have enjoyed the seeds, the stems will slowly collapse over winter and can be cleared away easily in spring. New foliage will spring from the base.Globe thistle (Echinops) is a magnet for pollinators. And the birds will enjoy the seedheads in winter. A cottage garden plant with a long season of interest.Hardy geraniumsHardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and some varieties full shade.Don’t be confused by the brightly coloured bedding plants labelled ‘geraniums’ for sale in garden centres in summer. Those are called pelargoniums. They won’t survive any freezing weather outside.But there are nearly 500 different varieties of hardy geranium. Some like full sun, others are perfect woodland ground cover plants. Many are drought resistant once established. Geranium macrorrhizum (Cranesbill) is even good in dry shade and difficult conditions under trees.They flower for months with blooms in pinks, reds, purple or white. They’re deer and rabbit-resistant.The only care hardy geraniums need is to be cut back once a year after flowering. Then they will often flower again.Hardy geraniums, such as ‘Anne Folkard’ can be sprawling plants or you can find low-growing ground cover varieties.When are cottage gardens high maintenance?A cottage garden generally has lots of different plants and flowers in it. This may mean that there are lots of different caring schedules – you’ll be pruning, feeding, watering or dead-heading at different times.Some people enjoy looking after their gardens, so ‘high maintenance’ isn’t always a bad thing. But if you want the cottage garden to be low maintenance, plant perennials, shrubs and trees.Annuals and vegetables are the high maintenance elements in a cottage garden.The following cottage gardens plants are delightfully pretty. But they are ‘high maintenance.’ This doesn’t mean they’re ‘difficult to grow’. It means they will need regular attention.Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)Annuals (grown from seed every year) so can be grown in most temperate climates. Full sun in cooler climates, light shade in warmer places.Probably the most famous ‘cottage garden plant.’ But also the one that requires the most attention, sadly! The blooms are adorably pretty in colours such as pink , purple, blue or white. The scent is delightful and the fragrance from a vase of sweet peas will fill a room.You’ll need to train sweet peas up a support, water them, dead-head them constantly and protect them from rodents.None of these tasks are difficult, but it isn’t a plant that can be left to its own devices. If you want a low maintenance garden, then don’t plant sweet peas.Everlasting sweet peas are less work and come back every year, but they don’t have the fragrance.I know so few people who grow sweet peas that I only have a photo of them in a vase. They are the most beautiful, fragrant cottage garden plants, but they do need regular attention.LupinsThere are some very cold hardy lupins but many lupins you buy in garden centres won’t come back year after year. Full sun.Some experts suggest treating lupins as an annual or short-lived perennial, although the original cottage garden lupins were both cold hardy and long-lived. But the gorgeous new cultivars are less likely to survive over winter in your garden.In the UK, the milder winters mean that lupins may survive, but gardeners often report disappointment. They are also prone to slug damage.They are stunningly beautiful cottage garden staples in blues, yellows, reds, purples or white.Lupins are classic cottage garden plants. Their spikes add fireworks to any border, but they do need more care than many other border plants.TulipsTulips grow best in areas with cold winters and can survive down to minus 40C/minus 40F. However if you have hot summers and mild winters, then tulips may not grow as well. Full sun or part shade.Tulips have all the gorgeous drama that makes a cottage garden.But in many gardens, they don’t come back year after year. And Head Gardener Neil Miller of Hever Castle says that tulips flower best in their first year. Read his advice on growing tulips here.My garden is full of odd tulips in different sizes and colours. That’s because I planted a group of them in a certain colour scheme, and just one remains. Then I planted a different colour scheme another year. And only one  or two of those survived. It looks pretty and cottagey, but if you want a particular effect, it’s best to grow your tulips from new every year.They’re easy to grow in pots. But they don’t reliably come back in borders. Tulips may get tulip fire after a very wet winter or spring.These mixed tulips in my lawn are pretty, but they are all different sizes and colours. Tulips don’t come back reliably, so these are the remnants of several planting schemes over the years!Delphiniums (sometimes called larkspur, although true larkspur is different)Hardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Delphinium blooms are vibrant spires in purple, red, blue or white. They are probably the most striking and gorgeous flowers for any cottage or ‘English country’ garden.But they need looking after. They need feeding, staking and protecting from slugs. They don’t want too much competition. They need enough water, but not too much.None of this is difficult but you can’t just plant delphiniums and leave them to get on with it. You need to look after them on an almost daily basis.Any list of cottage garden plants will include delphiniums, such as this blue delphinium at Doddington Place Gardens. They are gorgeous but they are not low maintenance.Best cottage gardens bulbs & tubersDaffodils/narcissiHardy down to minus 20C/minus 4F. Not suitable for climates with hot summers and mild winters. Full sun or partial shade.Daffodils, also called narcissi, are probably the easiest bulbs to grow. Many of them will spread and they come back year after year.Plant them in a lawn for a romantic cottage garden look. But remember that you won’t be able to mow the lawn until six weeks after the flowers have faded.All bulbs need about six weeks of sun on their leaves in order to make their flowers for next year. So if you mow too soon, you will lose next year’s blooms.There’s more about growing and choosing daffodils here.One good place to plant them is under trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter. By the time the leaves are back, the daffodil will be almost ready to go dormant again. See where to plant bulbs.Daffodils are the easiest bulbs to grow. They come back reliably year after year and even spread. These were planted over 30 years ago, so I don’t know their name!AlliumsHardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shade.Alliums have striking blue, white or purple pom-pom blooms. These add punctuation points to a cottage garden border. In some places, they’ll self-seed easily, popping up in unexpected places. Another very popular flower for pollinators.Deer, rabbits, squirrels and voles don’t like the taste of onion. Alliums are the decorative side of the onion family, so pests leave them alone. Super easy and very resilient, alliums flower in early summer. The seed heads offer sculptural interest for several months afterwards. The foliage dies away by mid-summer.Alliums (this is ‘Purple Sensation’) keep their distinctive shapes after the flower colour has gone. So they are a presence in the garden for around three months from early summer.Alstromerias (also known as alstroemerias)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 10C/14F. Full sun or light shade.Easy to grow and long flowering. See alstromeria grower Ben Cross’s advice in how to grow alstromerias for endless flowers. The red and orange blooms are taller – if you want the more delicate shades, they’ll be shorter. Plant in the front of a border.Alstromerias can spread too vigorously in some areas. If they’re invasive in your area, they grow well in pots.They are very good flowers for the vase but always twist and pull the stem out. Never cut an alstromeria!Best cottage garden shrubsLavenderHardiness varies but most ‘English lavender’ hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun.Lavender loves sunlight. It’s a Mediterranean plant but ‘English lavender’ will grow well in colder climates, as long as they are fairly dry. It’s another pollinator magnet and has magnificent fragrance.You can get lavender in several shades of blue and purple, and also white.I had bushes of Lavender ‘Munstead’ in the garden for 15 years. They only needed cutting back once a year, after flowering. Otherwise they were almost maintenance free. I cut my lavender back much harder than many people advise. It keeps it in good shape. See The Absolutely Best Way to Prune Lavender.My lavender ‘Munstead’. It flowers in summer, after which we cut it into neat mounds.RosesHardiness varies but many hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and a few grow in shade.Roses are the most famous cottage garden plant of all. You can grow roses round arches, arbours and pergolas. You can grow them in pots. And you can grow them in a mixed border.Some roses have fragrance and others do not. If the blooms have an open centre, they’re good for pollinators. But the double-flowered ones are less beneficial.There are more than thirty thousand different varieties of roses. You can find roses for very cold climates and roses for hotter climates. But you’ll get the biggest choice of roses if your winters are no colder than minus 28C/minus 20F and your summers average below 30C/100F.Roses can be low maintenance or high maintenance, depending on what you want. If you insist on perfect blooms without black spot on the leaf or aphids, then you will have to keep fussing over them.However, if you accept imperfection, you can enjoy beautiful roses in your garden without too much work. They will need fertilising once or twice a year and will flower best if you deadhead them regularly. See how to grow roses and how to choose roses for an obelisk, arch, fence or pergola.The archetypal cottage garden flower – roses! Here at the Peter Beales rose garden in Norfolk, there are roses on arbours, arches, fences and obelisks, as well as in borders and climbing up walls. Roses mix well with other cottage garden plants, such as foxgloves.HydrangeasHardiness varies, generally down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Also some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Shade or partial shade.Hydrangeas are easy-going plants that grow well in shade. Some varieties are good for pollinators but the ‘mop head’ varieties (with a round flower) don’t offer pollen or nectar. If you want pollinator-friendly hydrangeas, check the variety before buying.Hydrangeas flower from mid to late summer. Then their flowers slowly dry on the stem and turn into autumn shades of brown and cream. Some hydrangeas, such as ‘Annabelle’, stay sculptural all through the winter and look magnificent with frost on them. So these plants offer a long season of interest.See everything you need to know about growing hydrangeas.Hydrangeas are very easy-care. They need watering in dry summers, but otherwise all they need is to be pruned once a year in spring. Not all hydrangeas are wildlife friendly, but this hydrangea flower is called ‘lace-cap’ and offers benefits to pollinators.Best cottage garden perennialsMonarda (bee balm)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Another easy-care, deer resistant plant although it can get some slug and snail damage. Popular with pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. The striking spidery blooms come in brilliant, jewel red, pin or purple and also white.Monardas won’t like long droughts or boggy conditions.The unusual spidery flower of monarda (bee balm) attracts bees and hummingbirds.Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena)If your winters go below minus 17C/0F, then you’ll need to grow verbena bonariensis as an annual. Full sun.Butterflies and bees both adore the purple flowers and birds love the seeds. A tall ‘see-through’ plant with slender stems and blooms which last from mid-late summer to the first frosts. Best planted in clumps – you’ll hardly be able to see just one verbena bonariensis.Verbena bonariensis is generally considered slug-resistant, deer resistant and easy care. You can leave the flowers to turn into winter seed heads for the birds and they look good in frost.Verbena bonariensis is a short-lived perennial. If you have colder winters, you will probably need to grow it as an annual. A clump of verbena bonariensis creates a mass of see-through stems topped by a cloud of purple.Sedum/stonecrop (now hylotelephium)Hardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shadeSedum (now hylotelephium) is one of the 10 resilient plants in 10 beautiful but tough perennials which will survive both too wet and too dry summers.I find Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be extra-ordinarily resilient. It can get nibbled by slugs. But I picked up a stem that had been nibbled by a slug and put it into a vase. I forgot about it and two months later, I realised it had grown roots. So I planted it in the soil. It’s grown into a proper plant!And when you look at ‘Autumn Joy’ in bloom, you will see the flowers are crowded with pollinators of lots of different types and sizes, all enjoying the nectar.Sedum (now hylotelephium) ‘Autumn Joy’ is on the bottom right of this photo. A superbly resilient plant for late summer and autumn/fall. Adored by pollinators.Best cottage garden annuals & biennialsAnnuals grow from seed every year so you don’t always need to know about hardiness.Biennials grow from seed, flower, set seed and die over two years.Many people plant their annuals from seed in the autumn/fall so that their plants have a head start the following summer. If you’re doing this, you’ll need to check whether you can plant them outside over the winter.You can also grow the seedlings in a greenhouse or potting shed until spring comes. When temperatures and light levels are low, plants don’t grow much.Annuals and biennials have lots of flowers and come in a wonderful range of colours. They’re perfect for filling gaps or creating a gorgeous display. But they are more work. You have to sow the seed and/or plant the seedlings. Then you may have to support them, feed, water and deadhead them, then clear them away at the end of summer.CosmosFull sun or partial shade.One of the prettiest and most popular cottage garden annuals. I find them easy to grow. One warning, however! Don’t give them extra fertilizer!Most plants flower more if you fertilize them. But cosmos will grow green and bushy, then fail to flower.Cosmos are available in various shades of pink, yellow and cream, along with white. Perfect cottage garden blooms!Hollyhocks (can be annual or biennial)Full sun.A classic cottage garden flower. It’s tall and vigorous with blooms in white, pink or cream. Hollyhocks can sometimes have a mind of their own. Gardeners have often told me that they’ve struggled to grow hollyhocks. Then suddenly hollyhocks start to spring up on their driveway or in the cracks of pavers.You can get single flowered hollyhocks and double-flowered ones. Only the single flowered ones benefit pollinators.They can grow to 6ft/2m tall so may need staking.A hollyhock in the Abbey Physic Garden in Faversham. The soft colours and frilly flowers make it a beautifully romantic cottage garden plant.Cleome (Spider flowers)Full sun or light shadeCleomes aren’t as well known as cosmos or hollyhocks, but they are striking, pollinator-friendly flowers. They have spidery blooms in deep pink, pale pink or white.Although cleomes are tall (3ft/1m), they are upright and don’t usually need supports. It doesn’t need fertilizer and can be very drought-resistant. Resistant to most pests and diseases.Cleomes and salvias in the Savill Garden near Windsor. The cleomes are the taller, spidery flowers. They’re long-lasting and dramatic.Foxgloves (biennial)Partial shadeFoxgloves have spires of flowers in white, pink, purple, white or cream in early summer.They’re toxic to both humans and pets, so if you are worried about either nibbling plants in your garden, then don’t plant them. Most pets know what to nibble though. See how to puppy-proof your garden.Foxgloves often self-seed easily and need very little attention. If you cut the first big spire of flowers off when it is over, you should be rewarded by a spray of smaller spires.Foxgloves are another popular cottage garden plant. The spires add spikes of colour in early summer. They are toxic so be careful around children and pets.Best cottage garden plants for warmer climatesMost of the plants in this post will grow well in warmer climates, but some will not like temperatures that are regularly above 30C/100F or never freeze. If you don’t need a winter coat and spend most of your life in a T shirt instead of a sweater, you probably won’t be able to grow tulips, daffodils, delphiniums or hydrangeas!However, some popular cottage garden plants grow as perennials in warmer climates and are re-planted annually in cooler climates. Mix them with local native plants as Bill Bampton of The Diggers Club does in Cottage Garden Mash-up – how to adapt English cottage garden style to your own climate.SalviaFull sun or partial shadeSalvias come from Mexico and grow well in climates which rarely freeze in winter. They can tolerate hot summers and drought.However, if you see a salvia growing in the UK, you’ll see lots of bees enjoying the nectar. They’re proof that non-native flowers can be valuable to wildlife.There are 900 different types of salvia in a very wide range of different colours. There are some vivid pinks and purples, pastel pinks and creams plus bi-coloured salvias.Read the UK’s top expert on growing salvias here. Those in cooler climates will probably have to replant salvias every year.  But they flower for months at a time. See 18 long flowering perennials that bloom from summer until the first frost.Plants such as rosemary and sage have recently been re-classified as salvias. They are perfect cottage garden herbs.Salvias are quite tender and if your winters freeze regularly you will either have to lift and store them or plant again from new. But they are amongst the longest-flowering perennials and perfect for a cottage garden.Best cottage garden treesEvery cottage garden should have a fruit tree!  You may want to choose something unusual, such as a quince or a medlar tree. A native fruit tree is always a good choice.But a simple apple or crab apple tree will give you flowers in spring and fruit in autumn/fall. You can enjoy this or share it with wildlife by leaving it on the tree.See An Orchard in Your Garden for tips on growing fruit trees in a small garden.Crab apple trees on either side of a vintage gate. These are Malus hupehensis and birds adore the tiny red fruits at the end of summer.Pin to remember the best cottage garden plantsAnd do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration.  Source link

[shelyold]

November 10th, 2024 Posted In: Garden Style & Living The best cottage garden plants have pretty blooms. They flower for a long time and are often fragrant. And above all, they are plants which grow well in your climate and soil.But there are no rules in cottage garden style. You can adopt a colour theme as Tim Pilgrim has in this contemporary cottage garden.Or you can grow a glorious patchwork of different flowers together.You can plan a cottage garden, but you don’t have to. You can let it evolve, experimenting over time. If you love to buy plants on impulse, then this style is perfect for you.So this is a list of the best cottage garden plants, with their pros and cons. They all have charming flowers, some are sweetly scented and they’re all perfect for pollinators. That’s not just bees but butterflies, moths and other insects.These plants grow in a wide range of climates and zones, so you’re likely to have a variety available to you.Firstly, decide whether you want a low maintenance cottage garden, a romantic ‘cottagecore’ haven or you’re prepared to spend time and effort on creating a classic cottage garden.What makes a garden a cottage garden?Cottage garden style is colourful and relaxed. It has informal plantings of flowers, fruit and vegetables. See what is cottage garden style and how to achieve it?The name derives from the idea that workers in cottages would use plants they could grow cheaply and easily. This can mean choosing native plants. It certainly means using plants that grow easily.Cottage gardens don’t need defined areas. Whereas English country garden style will have lawns, herbaceous borders and a separate ‘veg patch’, everything can be grown together in a cottage garden.A cottage garden doesn’t look designed. It evolves slowly, with vintage finds and thrifty hand-me-downs. Paths, pots, troughs, arches and other landscaping elements are recycled or upcycled. See A Rustic Cottage Garden on A Budget , Recycled Garden Ideas from RHS Chelsea and Eco-Friendly Garden Design for ideas.You could also use natural materials, such as stone or wood, for furniture and hardscaping elements.Recycled zinc bins and pavers with thrifty vintage garden furniture in Arit Anderson’s peat-free show garden at RHS Hampton CourtWhat are the most ‘cottagecore’ flowers?‘Cottagecore’ is a social media term. It stands for a simple, rustic life where you grow your own food, bake your own bread and make home-made clothes. It’s a lifestyle ideal around simplicity, sustainability and biodiversity.The hashtag #cottagecore on social media is  associated with pretty cottages, romantic floral dresses and other picturesque rural elements such as keeping hens or ducks.All the plants in this post have charming ‘cottagecore’ flowers. But if you want to emphasize the ‘cottagecore’ ethos, combine flowers and veg growing and make sure your garden supports biodiversity.Find out which plants are native to your area, too, as these will support your local wildlife best.However, non-native plants can also support biodiversity, especially when weather patterns are unexpected. For example, some non-native plants flower earlier or later than your native plants. This helps pollinators if there is warm weather earlier or later than usual.So ‘grow native plants’ isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ rule.Old bricks, a pretty gate and ducks – elements of ‘cottagecore’ style.Asters (asters & symphyotrichum)Hardiness varies, but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Asters are daisy-like flowers in blue, pink, red, white or purple, perfect for the cottage garden look. Botanists have recently re-classified them into several different, unrelated species. But the common name for them all is still asters.‘Symphyotrichum’ asters are native to many parts of the Americas. Plants with the botanic name of ‘Aster’ are European, UK and Asian natives. There are other species too.If you want to focus on native plants, look up the asters that are native you where you are. Otherwise, both asters and symphyotrichum are pretty, easy-grow plants that flower for a long period from summer to the first frosts.They’re a good flower for pollinators at the end of the season when many other flowers are over.Aster amellus ‘King George’ has pretty blue flowers. It starts flowering in summer and goes on flowering until the first frosts.HoneysuckleHardiness varies, some down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Dappled or partial shade.A classic cottage garden climbing plant, but do your research before planting one! There are nearly 200 species of honeysuckle. Different varieties are native to north America, northern Europe or Asia.Some honeysuckle varieties may be invasive where you are, so check the name carefully. Some Asian honeysuckles can be very invasive in parts of the USA and Canada, for example. That means that they will spread too quickly, which will crowd out other plants. This can be damaging to biodiversity.However, there will be a honeysuckle for where you live.The honeysuckle fragrance is famous, but not all honeysuckles are scented. Check that too.And some honeysuckles will grow and grow. Unless you’re happy to prune back several times a year, check the eventual height and size.Honeysuckle comes in white, cream, yellow or gold. This yellow honeysuckle is native to North America, but grows well in the UK too.PoppiesThe seed of Common Poppies can survive very cold temperatures, such as minus 50C/minus 60F but they need the weather to warm up before they sprout and flower.  Full sun or partial shade.Poppies are famous for popping up when the soil has been disturbed. If you dig a new bed, turning over the soil for the first time for years, you’re likely to get poppies the following summer.That’s why so many poppies appeared in the fields after World War 1. They germinated where the soil had been turned by tires or dug up in trenches.There are dozens of different types of poppy, all good for a cottage garden. But the best known is the Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), mainly available in scarlet and light purple/pink.They are particularly loved by pollinators. I often find two or three bees sharing one poppy flower.Grow Common Poppies from seed. You can either sow them in trays and plant them out or scatter the seed directly on the ground.Poppies self-seed well. They seem to prefer to self-seed – they want to decide where they will grow! Once you have them in your garden, they will dot themselves around.The common poppy grows every year from seed. The seed heads look good in winter.See this post for more self-seeding plants – all 20 are so pretty and perfect for a cottage garden.Low maintenance perennials for a cottage gardenIf you want low maintenance cottage garden plants, then choose shrubs and perennials. They need less work than annuals and bedding plants.Annuals are plants that grow from seed, flower and die in one year.Perennials are plants that live in your garden for three years or more. See perennials made simple for advice from Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants.And here are three top long-flowering, easy-care perennials for cottage gardens.Catmint (Nepeta)Very hardy – down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Drought resistant, deer and slug resistant, easy going, long flowering…this must be one of the easiest plants to grow. It flowers for weeks from mid-summer onwards. If you cut it back when the blooms fade, it will start flowering again. It grows in almost any soil, is loved by pollinators and comes in shades of blue, white or lavender.Nepeta is often recommended as an easier alternative to lavender. Lavender isn’t difficult to grow. However, nepeta will tolerate wet weather and lavender hates getting its feet wet.Catmint (nepeta) in the gardens in the famous West Dean Gardens in Sussex.Globe thistle (Echinops)Hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Another easy-growing plant which is drought-resistant, deer and slug resistant and with a long season of interest.The sculptural blue or white globe thistle flowers make this one of the best plants for pollinators. And when the blooms are over, they develop seedheads for the birds.Once established, globe thistle needs almost no care. Once the birds have enjoyed the seeds, the stems will slowly collapse over winter and can be cleared away easily in spring. New foliage will spring from the base.Globe thistle (Echinops) is a magnet for pollinators. And the birds will enjoy the seedheads in winter. A cottage garden plant with a long season of interest.Hardy geraniumsHardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and some varieties full shade.Don’t be confused by the brightly coloured bedding plants labelled ‘geraniums’ for sale in garden centres in summer. Those are called pelargoniums. They won’t survive any freezing weather outside.But there are nearly 500 different varieties of hardy geranium. Some like full sun, others are perfect woodland ground cover plants. Many are drought resistant once established. Geranium macrorrhizum (Cranesbill) is even good in dry shade and difficult conditions under trees.They flower for months with blooms in pinks, reds, purple or white. They’re deer and rabbit-resistant.The only care hardy geraniums need is to be cut back once a year after flowering. Then they will often flower again.Hardy geraniums, such as ‘Anne Folkard’ can be sprawling plants or you can find low-growing ground cover varieties.When are cottage gardens high maintenance?A cottage garden generally has lots of different plants and flowers in it. This may mean that there are lots of different caring schedules – you’ll be pruning, feeding, watering or dead-heading at different times.Some people enjoy looking after their gardens, so ‘high maintenance’ isn’t always a bad thing. But if you want the cottage garden to be low maintenance, plant perennials, shrubs and trees.Annuals and vegetables are the high maintenance elements in a cottage garden.The following cottage gardens plants are delightfully pretty. But they are ‘high maintenance.’ This doesn’t mean they’re ‘difficult to grow’. It means they will need regular attention.Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)Annuals (grown from seed every year) so can be grown in most temperate climates. Full sun in cooler climates, light shade in warmer places.Probably the most famous ‘cottage garden plant.’ But also the one that requires the most attention, sadly! The blooms are adorably pretty in colours such as pink , purple, blue or white. The scent is delightful and the fragrance from a vase of sweet peas will fill a room.You’ll need to train sweet peas up a support, water them, dead-head them constantly and protect them from rodents.None of these tasks are difficult, but it isn’t a plant that can be left to its own devices. If you want a low maintenance garden, then don’t plant sweet peas.Everlasting sweet peas are less work and come back every year, but they don’t have the fragrance.I know so few people who grow sweet peas that I only have a photo of them in a vase. They are the most beautiful, fragrant cottage garden plants, but they do need regular attention.LupinsThere are some very cold hardy lupins but many lupins you buy in garden centres won’t come back year after year. Full sun.Some experts suggest treating lupins as an annual or short-lived perennial, although the original cottage garden lupins were both cold hardy and long-lived. But the gorgeous new cultivars are less likely to survive over winter in your garden.In the UK, the milder winters mean that lupins may survive, but gardeners often report disappointment. They are also prone to slug damage.They are stunningly beautiful cottage garden staples in blues, yellows, reds, purples or white.Lupins are classic cottage garden plants. Their spikes add fireworks to any border, but they do need more care than many other border plants.TulipsTulips grow best in areas with cold winters and can survive down to minus 40C/minus 40F. However if you have hot summers and mild winters, then tulips may not grow as well. Full sun or part shade.Tulips have all the gorgeous drama that makes a cottage garden.But in many gardens, they don’t come back year after year. And Head Gardener Neil Miller of Hever Castle says that tulips flower best in their first year. Read his advice on growing tulips here.My garden is full of odd tulips in different sizes and colours. That’s because I planted a group of them in a certain colour scheme, and just one remains. Then I planted a different colour scheme another year. And only one  or two of those survived. It looks pretty and cottagey, but if you want a particular effect, it’s best to grow your tulips from new every year.They’re easy to grow in pots. But they don’t reliably come back in borders. Tulips may get tulip fire after a very wet winter or spring.These mixed tulips in my lawn are pretty, but they are all different sizes and colours. Tulips don’t come back reliably, so these are the remnants of several planting schemes over the years!Delphiniums (sometimes called larkspur, although true larkspur is different)Hardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Delphinium blooms are vibrant spires in purple, red, blue or white. They are probably the most striking and gorgeous flowers for any cottage or ‘English country’ garden.But they need looking after. They need feeding, staking and protecting from slugs. They don’t want too much competition. They need enough water, but not too much.None of this is difficult but you can’t just plant delphiniums and leave them to get on with it. You need to look after them on an almost daily basis.Any list of cottage garden plants will include delphiniums, such as this blue delphinium at Doddington Place Gardens. They are gorgeous but they are not low maintenance.Best cottage gardens bulbs & tubersDaffodils/narcissiHardy down to minus 20C/minus 4F. Not suitable for climates with hot summers and mild winters. Full sun or partial shade.Daffodils, also called narcissi, are probably the easiest bulbs to grow. Many of them will spread and they come back year after year.Plant them in a lawn for a romantic cottage garden look. But remember that you won’t be able to mow the lawn until six weeks after the flowers have faded.All bulbs need about six weeks of sun on their leaves in order to make their flowers for next year. So if you mow too soon, you will lose next year’s blooms.There’s more about growing and choosing daffodils here.One good place to plant them is under trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter. By the time the leaves are back, the daffodil will be almost ready to go dormant again. See where to plant bulbs.Daffodils are the easiest bulbs to grow. They come back reliably year after year and even spread. These were planted over 30 years ago, so I don’t know their name!AlliumsHardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shade.Alliums have striking blue, white or purple pom-pom blooms. These add punctuation points to a cottage garden border. In some places, they’ll self-seed easily, popping up in unexpected places. Another very popular flower for pollinators.Deer, rabbits, squirrels and voles don’t like the taste of onion. Alliums are the decorative side of the onion family, so pests leave them alone. Super easy and very resilient, alliums flower in early summer. The seed heads offer sculptural interest for several months afterwards. The foliage dies away by mid-summer.Alliums (this is ‘Purple Sensation’) keep their distinctive shapes after the flower colour has gone. So they are a presence in the garden for around three months from early summer.Alstromerias (also known as alstroemerias)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 10C/14F. Full sun or light shade.Easy to grow and long flowering. See alstromeria grower Ben Cross’s advice in how to grow alstromerias for endless flowers. The red and orange blooms are taller – if you want the more delicate shades, they’ll be shorter. Plant in the front of a border.Alstromerias can spread too vigorously in some areas. If they’re invasive in your area, they grow well in pots.They are very good flowers for the vase but always twist and pull the stem out. Never cut an alstromeria!Best cottage garden shrubsLavenderHardiness varies but most ‘English lavender’ hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun.Lavender loves sunlight. It’s a Mediterranean plant but ‘English lavender’ will grow well in colder climates, as long as they are fairly dry. It’s another pollinator magnet and has magnificent fragrance.You can get lavender in several shades of blue and purple, and also white.I had bushes of Lavender ‘Munstead’ in the garden for 15 years. They only needed cutting back once a year, after flowering. Otherwise they were almost maintenance free. I cut my lavender back much harder than many people advise. It keeps it in good shape. See The Absolutely Best Way to Prune Lavender.My lavender ‘Munstead’. It flowers in summer, after which we cut it into neat mounds.RosesHardiness varies but many hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and a few grow in shade.Roses are the most famous cottage garden plant of all. You can grow roses round arches, arbours and pergolas. You can grow them in pots. And you can grow them in a mixed border.Some roses have fragrance and others do not. If the blooms have an open centre, they’re good for pollinators. But the double-flowered ones are less beneficial.There are more than thirty thousand different varieties of roses. You can find roses for very cold climates and roses for hotter climates. But you’ll get the biggest choice of roses if your winters are no colder than minus 28C/minus 20F and your summers average below 30C/100F.Roses can be low maintenance or high maintenance, depending on what you want. If you insist on perfect blooms without black spot on the leaf or aphids, then you will have to keep fussing over them.However, if you accept imperfection, you can enjoy beautiful roses in your garden without too much work. They will need fertilising once or twice a year and will flower best if you deadhead them regularly. See how to grow roses and how to choose roses for an obelisk, arch, fence or pergola.The archetypal cottage garden flower – roses! Here at the Peter Beales rose garden in Norfolk, there are roses on arbours, arches, fences and obelisks, as well as in borders and climbing up walls. Roses mix well with other cottage garden plants, such as foxgloves.HydrangeasHardiness varies, generally down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Also some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Shade or partial shade.Hydrangeas are easy-going plants that grow well in shade. Some varieties are good for pollinators but the ‘mop head’ varieties (with a round flower) don’t offer pollen or nectar. If you want pollinator-friendly hydrangeas, check the variety before buying.Hydrangeas flower from mid to late summer. Then their flowers slowly dry on the stem and turn into autumn shades of brown and cream. Some hydrangeas, such as ‘Annabelle’, stay sculptural all through the winter and look magnificent with frost on them. So these plants offer a long season of interest.See everything you need to know about growing hydrangeas.Hydrangeas are very easy-care. They need watering in dry summers, but otherwise all they need is to be pruned once a year in spring. Not all hydrangeas are wildlife friendly, but this hydrangea flower is called ‘lace-cap’ and offers benefits to pollinators.Best cottage garden perennialsMonarda (bee balm)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Another easy-care, deer resistant plant although it can get some slug and snail damage. Popular with pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. The striking spidery blooms come in brilliant, jewel red, pin or purple and also white.Monardas won’t like long droughts or boggy conditions.The unusual spidery flower of monarda (bee balm) attracts bees and hummingbirds.Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena)If your winters go below minus 17C/0F, then you’ll need to grow verbena bonariensis as an annual. Full sun.Butterflies and bees both adore the purple flowers and birds love the seeds. A tall ‘see-through’ plant with slender stems and blooms which last from mid-late summer to the first frosts. Best planted in clumps – you’ll hardly be able to see just one verbena bonariensis.Verbena bonariensis is generally considered slug-resistant, deer resistant and easy care. You can leave the flowers to turn into winter seed heads for the birds and they look good in frost.Verbena bonariensis is a short-lived perennial. If you have colder winters, you will probably need to grow it as an annual. A clump of verbena bonariensis creates a mass of see-through stems topped by a cloud of purple.Sedum/stonecrop (now hylotelephium)Hardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shadeSedum (now hylotelephium) is one of the 10 resilient plants in 10 beautiful but tough perennials which will survive both too wet and too dry summers.I find Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be extra-ordinarily resilient. It can get nibbled by slugs. But I picked up a stem that had been nibbled by a slug and put it into a vase. I forgot about it and two months later, I realised it had grown roots. So I planted it in the soil. It’s grown into a proper plant!And when you look at ‘Autumn Joy’ in bloom, you will see the flowers are crowded with pollinators of lots of different types and sizes, all enjoying the nectar.Sedum (now hylotelephium) ‘Autumn Joy’ is on the bottom right of this photo. A superbly resilient plant for late summer and autumn/fall. Adored by pollinators.Best cottage garden annuals & biennialsAnnuals grow from seed every year so you don’t always need to know about hardiness.Biennials grow from seed, flower, set seed and die over two years.Many people plant their annuals from seed in the autumn/fall so that their plants have a head start the following summer. If you’re doing this, you’ll need to check whether you can plant them outside over the winter.You can also grow the seedlings in a greenhouse or potting shed until spring comes. When temperatures and light levels are low, plants don’t grow much.Annuals and biennials have lots of flowers and come in a wonderful range of colours. They’re perfect for filling gaps or creating a gorgeous display. But they are more work. You have to sow the seed and/or plant the seedlings. Then you may have to support them, feed, water and deadhead them, then clear them away at the end of summer.CosmosFull sun or partial shade.One of the prettiest and most popular cottage garden annuals. I find them easy to grow. One warning, however! Don’t give them extra fertilizer!Most plants flower more if you fertilize them. But cosmos will grow green and bushy, then fail to flower.Cosmos are available in various shades of pink, yellow and cream, along with white. Perfect cottage garden blooms!Hollyhocks (can be annual or biennial)Full sun.A classic cottage garden flower. It’s tall and vigorous with blooms in white, pink or cream. Hollyhocks can sometimes have a mind of their own. Gardeners have often told me that they’ve struggled to grow hollyhocks. Then suddenly hollyhocks start to spring up on their driveway or in the cracks of pavers.You can get single flowered hollyhocks and double-flowered ones. Only the single flowered ones benefit pollinators.They can grow to 6ft/2m tall so may need staking.A hollyhock in the Abbey Physic Garden in Faversham. The soft colours and frilly flowers make it a beautifully romantic cottage garden plant.Cleome (Spider flowers)Full sun or light shadeCleomes aren’t as well known as cosmos or hollyhocks, but they are striking, pollinator-friendly flowers. They have spidery blooms in deep pink, pale pink or white.Although cleomes are tall (3ft/1m), they are upright and don’t usually need supports. It doesn’t need fertilizer and can be very drought-resistant. Resistant to most pests and diseases.Cleomes and salvias in the Savill Garden near Windsor. The cleomes are the taller, spidery flowers. They’re long-lasting and dramatic.Foxgloves (biennial)Partial shadeFoxgloves have spires of flowers in white, pink, purple, white or cream in early summer.They’re toxic to both humans and pets, so if you are worried about either nibbling plants in your garden, then don’t plant them. Most pets know what to nibble though. See how to puppy-proof your garden.Foxgloves often self-seed easily and need very little attention. If you cut the first big spire of flowers off when it is over, you should be rewarded by a spray of smaller spires.Foxgloves are another popular cottage garden plant. The spires add spikes of colour in early summer. They are toxic so be careful around children and pets.Best cottage garden plants for warmer climatesMost of the plants in this post will grow well in warmer climates, but some will not like temperatures that are regularly above 30C/100F or never freeze. If you don’t need a winter coat and spend most of your life in a T shirt instead of a sweater, you probably won’t be able to grow tulips, daffodils, delphiniums or hydrangeas!However, some popular cottage garden plants grow as perennials in warmer climates and are re-planted annually in cooler climates. Mix them with local native plants as Bill Bampton of The Diggers Club does in Cottage Garden Mash-up – how to adapt English cottage garden style to your own climate.SalviaFull sun or partial shadeSalvias come from Mexico and grow well in climates which rarely freeze in winter. They can tolerate hot summers and drought.However, if you see a salvia growing in the UK, you’ll see lots of bees enjoying the nectar. They’re proof that non-native flowers can be valuable to wildlife.There are 900 different types of salvia in a very wide range of different colours. There are some vivid pinks and purples, pastel pinks and creams plus bi-coloured salvias.Read the UK’s top expert on growing salvias here. Those in cooler climates will probably have to replant salvias every year.  But they flower for months at a time. See 18 long flowering perennials that bloom from summer until the first frost.Plants such as rosemary and sage have recently been re-classified as salvias. They are perfect cottage garden herbs.Salvias are quite tender and if your winters freeze regularly you will either have to lift and store them or plant again from new. But they are amongst the longest-flowering perennials and perfect for a cottage garden.Best cottage garden treesEvery cottage garden should have a fruit tree!  You may want to choose something unusual, such as a quince or a medlar tree. A native fruit tree is always a good choice.But a simple apple or crab apple tree will give you flowers in spring and fruit in autumn/fall. You can enjoy this or share it with wildlife by leaving it on the tree.See An Orchard in Your Garden for tips on growing fruit trees in a small garden.Crab apple trees on either side of a vintage gate. These are Malus hupehensis and birds adore the tiny red fruits at the end of summer.Pin to remember the best cottage garden plantsAnd do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration.  Source link

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November 10th, 2024 Posted In: Garden Style & Living The best cottage garden plants have pretty blooms. They flower for a long time and are often fragrant. And above all, they are plants which grow well in your climate and soil.But there are no rules in cottage garden style. You can adopt a colour theme as Tim Pilgrim has in this contemporary cottage garden.Or you can grow a glorious patchwork of different flowers together.You can plan a cottage garden, but you don’t have to. You can let it evolve, experimenting over time. If you love to buy plants on impulse, then this style is perfect for you.So this is a list of the best cottage garden plants, with their pros and cons. They all have charming flowers, some are sweetly scented and they’re all perfect for pollinators. That’s not just bees but butterflies, moths and other insects.These plants grow in a wide range of climates and zones, so you’re likely to have a variety available to you.Firstly, decide whether you want a low maintenance cottage garden, a romantic ‘cottagecore’ haven or you’re prepared to spend time and effort on creating a classic cottage garden.What makes a garden a cottage garden?Cottage garden style is colourful and relaxed. It has informal plantings of flowers, fruit and vegetables. See what is cottage garden style and how to achieve it?The name derives from the idea that workers in cottages would use plants they could grow cheaply and easily. This can mean choosing native plants. It certainly means using plants that grow easily.Cottage gardens don’t need defined areas. Whereas English country garden style will have lawns, herbaceous borders and a separate ‘veg patch’, everything can be grown together in a cottage garden.A cottage garden doesn’t look designed. It evolves slowly, with vintage finds and thrifty hand-me-downs. Paths, pots, troughs, arches and other landscaping elements are recycled or upcycled. See A Rustic Cottage Garden on A Budget , Recycled Garden Ideas from RHS Chelsea and Eco-Friendly Garden Design for ideas.You could also use natural materials, such as stone or wood, for furniture and hardscaping elements.Recycled zinc bins and pavers with thrifty vintage garden furniture in Arit Anderson’s peat-free show garden at RHS Hampton CourtWhat are the most ‘cottagecore’ flowers?‘Cottagecore’ is a social media term. It stands for a simple, rustic life where you grow your own food, bake your own bread and make home-made clothes. It’s a lifestyle ideal around simplicity, sustainability and biodiversity.The hashtag #cottagecore on social media is  associated with pretty cottages, romantic floral dresses and other picturesque rural elements such as keeping hens or ducks.All the plants in this post have charming ‘cottagecore’ flowers. But if you want to emphasize the ‘cottagecore’ ethos, combine flowers and veg growing and make sure your garden supports biodiversity.Find out which plants are native to your area, too, as these will support your local wildlife best.However, non-native plants can also support biodiversity, especially when weather patterns are unexpected. For example, some non-native plants flower earlier or later than your native plants. This helps pollinators if there is warm weather earlier or later than usual.So ‘grow native plants’ isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ rule.Old bricks, a pretty gate and ducks – elements of ‘cottagecore’ style.Asters (asters & symphyotrichum)Hardiness varies, but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Asters are daisy-like flowers in blue, pink, red, white or purple, perfect for the cottage garden look. Botanists have recently re-classified them into several different, unrelated species. But the common name for them all is still asters.‘Symphyotrichum’ asters are native to many parts of the Americas. Plants with the botanic name of ‘Aster’ are European, UK and Asian natives. There are other species too.If you want to focus on native plants, look up the asters that are native you where you are. Otherwise, both asters and symphyotrichum are pretty, easy-grow plants that flower for a long period from summer to the first frosts.They’re a good flower for pollinators at the end of the season when many other flowers are over.Aster amellus ‘King George’ has pretty blue flowers. It starts flowering in summer and goes on flowering until the first frosts.HoneysuckleHardiness varies, some down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Dappled or partial shade.A classic cottage garden climbing plant, but do your research before planting one! There are nearly 200 species of honeysuckle. Different varieties are native to north America, northern Europe or Asia.Some honeysuckle varieties may be invasive where you are, so check the name carefully. Some Asian honeysuckles can be very invasive in parts of the USA and Canada, for example. That means that they will spread too quickly, which will crowd out other plants. This can be damaging to biodiversity.However, there will be a honeysuckle for where you live.The honeysuckle fragrance is famous, but not all honeysuckles are scented. Check that too.And some honeysuckles will grow and grow. Unless you’re happy to prune back several times a year, check the eventual height and size.Honeysuckle comes in white, cream, yellow or gold. This yellow honeysuckle is native to North America, but grows well in the UK too.PoppiesThe seed of Common Poppies can survive very cold temperatures, such as minus 50C/minus 60F but they need the weather to warm up before they sprout and flower.  Full sun or partial shade.Poppies are famous for popping up when the soil has been disturbed. If you dig a new bed, turning over the soil for the first time for years, you’re likely to get poppies the following summer.That’s why so many poppies appeared in the fields after World War 1. They germinated where the soil had been turned by tires or dug up in trenches.There are dozens of different types of poppy, all good for a cottage garden. But the best known is the Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), mainly available in scarlet and light purple/pink.They are particularly loved by pollinators. I often find two or three bees sharing one poppy flower.Grow Common Poppies from seed. You can either sow them in trays and plant them out or scatter the seed directly on the ground.Poppies self-seed well. They seem to prefer to self-seed – they want to decide where they will grow! Once you have them in your garden, they will dot themselves around.The common poppy grows every year from seed. The seed heads look good in winter.See this post for more self-seeding plants – all 20 are so pretty and perfect for a cottage garden.Low maintenance perennials for a cottage gardenIf you want low maintenance cottage garden plants, then choose shrubs and perennials. They need less work than annuals and bedding plants.Annuals are plants that grow from seed, flower and die in one year.Perennials are plants that live in your garden for three years or more. See perennials made simple for advice from Rosy Hardy of Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants.And here are three top long-flowering, easy-care perennials for cottage gardens.Catmint (Nepeta)Very hardy – down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Drought resistant, deer and slug resistant, easy going, long flowering…this must be one of the easiest plants to grow. It flowers for weeks from mid-summer onwards. If you cut it back when the blooms fade, it will start flowering again. It grows in almost any soil, is loved by pollinators and comes in shades of blue, white or lavender.Nepeta is often recommended as an easier alternative to lavender. Lavender isn’t difficult to grow. However, nepeta will tolerate wet weather and lavender hates getting its feet wet.Catmint (nepeta) in the gardens in the famous West Dean Gardens in Sussex.Globe thistle (Echinops)Hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Another easy-growing plant which is drought-resistant, deer and slug resistant and with a long season of interest.The sculptural blue or white globe thistle flowers make this one of the best plants for pollinators. And when the blooms are over, they develop seedheads for the birds.Once established, globe thistle needs almost no care. Once the birds have enjoyed the seeds, the stems will slowly collapse over winter and can be cleared away easily in spring. New foliage will spring from the base.Globe thistle (Echinops) is a magnet for pollinators. And the birds will enjoy the seedheads in winter. A cottage garden plant with a long season of interest.Hardy geraniumsHardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 29C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and some varieties full shade.Don’t be confused by the brightly coloured bedding plants labelled ‘geraniums’ for sale in garden centres in summer. Those are called pelargoniums. They won’t survive any freezing weather outside.But there are nearly 500 different varieties of hardy geranium. Some like full sun, others are perfect woodland ground cover plants. Many are drought resistant once established. Geranium macrorrhizum (Cranesbill) is even good in dry shade and difficult conditions under trees.They flower for months with blooms in pinks, reds, purple or white. They’re deer and rabbit-resistant.The only care hardy geraniums need is to be cut back once a year after flowering. Then they will often flower again.Hardy geraniums, such as ‘Anne Folkard’ can be sprawling plants or you can find low-growing ground cover varieties.When are cottage gardens high maintenance?A cottage garden generally has lots of different plants and flowers in it. This may mean that there are lots of different caring schedules – you’ll be pruning, feeding, watering or dead-heading at different times.Some people enjoy looking after their gardens, so ‘high maintenance’ isn’t always a bad thing. But if you want the cottage garden to be low maintenance, plant perennials, shrubs and trees.Annuals and vegetables are the high maintenance elements in a cottage garden.The following cottage gardens plants are delightfully pretty. But they are ‘high maintenance.’ This doesn’t mean they’re ‘difficult to grow’. It means they will need regular attention.Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)Annuals (grown from seed every year) so can be grown in most temperate climates. Full sun in cooler climates, light shade in warmer places.Probably the most famous ‘cottage garden plant.’ But also the one that requires the most attention, sadly! The blooms are adorably pretty in colours such as pink , purple, blue or white. The scent is delightful and the fragrance from a vase of sweet peas will fill a room.You’ll need to train sweet peas up a support, water them, dead-head them constantly and protect them from rodents.None of these tasks are difficult, but it isn’t a plant that can be left to its own devices. If you want a low maintenance garden, then don’t plant sweet peas.Everlasting sweet peas are less work and come back every year, but they don’t have the fragrance.I know so few people who grow sweet peas that I only have a photo of them in a vase. They are the most beautiful, fragrant cottage garden plants, but they do need regular attention.LupinsThere are some very cold hardy lupins but many lupins you buy in garden centres won’t come back year after year. Full sun.Some experts suggest treating lupins as an annual or short-lived perennial, although the original cottage garden lupins were both cold hardy and long-lived. But the gorgeous new cultivars are less likely to survive over winter in your garden.In the UK, the milder winters mean that lupins may survive, but gardeners often report disappointment. They are also prone to slug damage.They are stunningly beautiful cottage garden staples in blues, yellows, reds, purples or white.Lupins are classic cottage garden plants. Their spikes add fireworks to any border, but they do need more care than many other border plants.TulipsTulips grow best in areas with cold winters and can survive down to minus 40C/minus 40F. However if you have hot summers and mild winters, then tulips may not grow as well. Full sun or part shade.Tulips have all the gorgeous drama that makes a cottage garden.But in many gardens, they don’t come back year after year. And Head Gardener Neil Miller of Hever Castle says that tulips flower best in their first year. Read his advice on growing tulips here.My garden is full of odd tulips in different sizes and colours. That’s because I planted a group of them in a certain colour scheme, and just one remains. Then I planted a different colour scheme another year. And only one  or two of those survived. It looks pretty and cottagey, but if you want a particular effect, it’s best to grow your tulips from new every year.They’re easy to grow in pots. But they don’t reliably come back in borders. Tulips may get tulip fire after a very wet winter or spring.These mixed tulips in my lawn are pretty, but they are all different sizes and colours. Tulips don’t come back reliably, so these are the remnants of several planting schemes over the years!Delphiniums (sometimes called larkspur, although true larkspur is different)Hardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun.Delphinium blooms are vibrant spires in purple, red, blue or white. They are probably the most striking and gorgeous flowers for any cottage or ‘English country’ garden.But they need looking after. They need feeding, staking and protecting from slugs. They don’t want too much competition. They need enough water, but not too much.None of this is difficult but you can’t just plant delphiniums and leave them to get on with it. You need to look after them on an almost daily basis.Any list of cottage garden plants will include delphiniums, such as this blue delphinium at Doddington Place Gardens. They are gorgeous but they are not low maintenance.Best cottage gardens bulbs & tubersDaffodils/narcissiHardy down to minus 20C/minus 4F. Not suitable for climates with hot summers and mild winters. Full sun or partial shade.Daffodils, also called narcissi, are probably the easiest bulbs to grow. Many of them will spread and they come back year after year.Plant them in a lawn for a romantic cottage garden look. But remember that you won’t be able to mow the lawn until six weeks after the flowers have faded.All bulbs need about six weeks of sun on their leaves in order to make their flowers for next year. So if you mow too soon, you will lose next year’s blooms.There’s more about growing and choosing daffodils here.One good place to plant them is under trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter. By the time the leaves are back, the daffodil will be almost ready to go dormant again. See where to plant bulbs.Daffodils are the easiest bulbs to grow. They come back reliably year after year and even spread. These were planted over 30 years ago, so I don’t know their name!AlliumsHardiness varies but some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shade.Alliums have striking blue, white or purple pom-pom blooms. These add punctuation points to a cottage garden border. In some places, they’ll self-seed easily, popping up in unexpected places. Another very popular flower for pollinators.Deer, rabbits, squirrels and voles don’t like the taste of onion. Alliums are the decorative side of the onion family, so pests leave them alone. Super easy and very resilient, alliums flower in early summer. The seed heads offer sculptural interest for several months afterwards. The foliage dies away by mid-summer.Alliums (this is ‘Purple Sensation’) keep their distinctive shapes after the flower colour has gone. So they are a presence in the garden for around three months from early summer.Alstromerias (also known as alstroemerias)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 10C/14F. Full sun or light shade.Easy to grow and long flowering. See alstromeria grower Ben Cross’s advice in how to grow alstromerias for endless flowers. The red and orange blooms are taller – if you want the more delicate shades, they’ll be shorter. Plant in the front of a border.Alstromerias can spread too vigorously in some areas. If they’re invasive in your area, they grow well in pots.They are very good flowers for the vase but always twist and pull the stem out. Never cut an alstromeria!Best cottage garden shrubsLavenderHardiness varies but most ‘English lavender’ hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun.Lavender loves sunlight. It’s a Mediterranean plant but ‘English lavender’ will grow well in colder climates, as long as they are fairly dry. It’s another pollinator magnet and has magnificent fragrance.You can get lavender in several shades of blue and purple, and also white.I had bushes of Lavender ‘Munstead’ in the garden for 15 years. They only needed cutting back once a year, after flowering. Otherwise they were almost maintenance free. I cut my lavender back much harder than many people advise. It keeps it in good shape. See The Absolutely Best Way to Prune Lavender.My lavender ‘Munstead’. It flowers in summer, after which we cut it into neat mounds.RosesHardiness varies but many hardy down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Full sun, partial shade and a few grow in shade.Roses are the most famous cottage garden plant of all. You can grow roses round arches, arbours and pergolas. You can grow them in pots. And you can grow them in a mixed border.Some roses have fragrance and others do not. If the blooms have an open centre, they’re good for pollinators. But the double-flowered ones are less beneficial.There are more than thirty thousand different varieties of roses. You can find roses for very cold climates and roses for hotter climates. But you’ll get the biggest choice of roses if your winters are no colder than minus 28C/minus 20F and your summers average below 30C/100F.Roses can be low maintenance or high maintenance, depending on what you want. If you insist on perfect blooms without black spot on the leaf or aphids, then you will have to keep fussing over them.However, if you accept imperfection, you can enjoy beautiful roses in your garden without too much work. They will need fertilising once or twice a year and will flower best if you deadhead them regularly. See how to grow roses and how to choose roses for an obelisk, arch, fence or pergola.The archetypal cottage garden flower – roses! Here at the Peter Beales rose garden in Norfolk, there are roses on arbours, arches, fences and obelisks, as well as in borders and climbing up walls. Roses mix well with other cottage garden plants, such as foxgloves.HydrangeasHardiness varies, generally down to minus 28C/minus 20F. Also some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Shade or partial shade.Hydrangeas are easy-going plants that grow well in shade. Some varieties are good for pollinators but the ‘mop head’ varieties (with a round flower) don’t offer pollen or nectar. If you want pollinator-friendly hydrangeas, check the variety before buying.Hydrangeas flower from mid to late summer. Then their flowers slowly dry on the stem and turn into autumn shades of brown and cream. Some hydrangeas, such as ‘Annabelle’, stay sculptural all through the winter and look magnificent with frost on them. So these plants offer a long season of interest.See everything you need to know about growing hydrangeas.Hydrangeas are very easy-care. They need watering in dry summers, but otherwise all they need is to be pruned once a year in spring. Not all hydrangeas are wildlife friendly, but this hydrangea flower is called ‘lace-cap’ and offers benefits to pollinators.Best cottage garden perennialsMonarda (bee balm)Hardiness varies, some down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or partial shade.Another easy-care, deer resistant plant although it can get some slug and snail damage. Popular with pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. The striking spidery blooms come in brilliant, jewel red, pin or purple and also white.Monardas won’t like long droughts or boggy conditions.The unusual spidery flower of monarda (bee balm) attracts bees and hummingbirds.Verbena bonariensis (tall verbena)If your winters go below minus 17C/0F, then you’ll need to grow verbena bonariensis as an annual. Full sun.Butterflies and bees both adore the purple flowers and birds love the seeds. A tall ‘see-through’ plant with slender stems and blooms which last from mid-late summer to the first frosts. Best planted in clumps – you’ll hardly be able to see just one verbena bonariensis.Verbena bonariensis is generally considered slug-resistant, deer resistant and easy care. You can leave the flowers to turn into winter seed heads for the birds and they look good in frost.Verbena bonariensis is a short-lived perennial. If you have colder winters, you will probably need to grow it as an annual. A clump of verbena bonariensis creates a mass of see-through stems topped by a cloud of purple.Sedum/stonecrop (now hylotelephium)Hardiness varies but some hardy down to minus 40C/minus 40F. Full sun or light shadeSedum (now hylotelephium) is one of the 10 resilient plants in 10 beautiful but tough perennials which will survive both too wet and too dry summers.I find Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ to be extra-ordinarily resilient. It can get nibbled by slugs. But I picked up a stem that had been nibbled by a slug and put it into a vase. I forgot about it and two months later, I realised it had grown roots. So I planted it in the soil. It’s grown into a proper plant!And when you look at ‘Autumn Joy’ in bloom, you will see the flowers are crowded with pollinators of lots of different types and sizes, all enjoying the nectar.Sedum (now hylotelephium) ‘Autumn Joy’ is on the bottom right of this photo. A superbly resilient plant for late summer and autumn/fall. Adored by pollinators.Best cottage garden annuals & biennialsAnnuals grow from seed every year so you don’t always need to know about hardiness.Biennials grow from seed, flower, set seed and die over two years.Many people plant their annuals from seed in the autumn/fall so that their plants have a head start the following summer. If you’re doing this, you’ll need to check whether you can plant them outside over the winter.You can also grow the seedlings in a greenhouse or potting shed until spring comes. When temperatures and light levels are low, plants don’t grow much.Annuals and biennials have lots of flowers and come in a wonderful range of colours. They’re perfect for filling gaps or creating a gorgeous display. But they are more work. You have to sow the seed and/or plant the seedlings. Then you may have to support them, feed, water and deadhead them, then clear them away at the end of summer.CosmosFull sun or partial shade.One of the prettiest and most popular cottage garden annuals. I find them easy to grow. One warning, however! Don’t give them extra fertilizer!Most plants flower more if you fertilize them. But cosmos will grow green and bushy, then fail to flower.Cosmos are available in various shades of pink, yellow and cream, along with white. Perfect cottage garden blooms!Hollyhocks (can be annual or biennial)Full sun.A classic cottage garden flower. It’s tall and vigorous with blooms in white, pink or cream. Hollyhocks can sometimes have a mind of their own. Gardeners have often told me that they’ve struggled to grow hollyhocks. Then suddenly hollyhocks start to spring up on their driveway or in the cracks of pavers.You can get single flowered hollyhocks and double-flowered ones. Only the single flowered ones benefit pollinators.They can grow to 6ft/2m tall so may need staking.A hollyhock in the Abbey Physic Garden in Faversham. The soft colours and frilly flowers make it a beautifully romantic cottage garden plant.Cleome (Spider flowers)Full sun or light shadeCleomes aren’t as well known as cosmos or hollyhocks, but they are striking, pollinator-friendly flowers. They have spidery blooms in deep pink, pale pink or white.Although cleomes are tall (3ft/1m), they are upright and don’t usually need supports. It doesn’t need fertilizer and can be very drought-resistant. Resistant to most pests and diseases.Cleomes and salvias in the Savill Garden near Windsor. The cleomes are the taller, spidery flowers. They’re long-lasting and dramatic.Foxgloves (biennial)Partial shadeFoxgloves have spires of flowers in white, pink, purple, white or cream in early summer.They’re toxic to both humans and pets, so if you are worried about either nibbling plants in your garden, then don’t plant them. Most pets know what to nibble though. See how to puppy-proof your garden.Foxgloves often self-seed easily and need very little attention. If you cut the first big spire of flowers off when it is over, you should be rewarded by a spray of smaller spires.Foxgloves are another popular cottage garden plant. The spires add spikes of colour in early summer. They are toxic so be careful around children and pets.Best cottage garden plants for warmer climatesMost of the plants in this post will grow well in warmer climates, but some will not like temperatures that are regularly above 30C/100F or never freeze. If you don’t need a winter coat and spend most of your life in a T shirt instead of a sweater, you probably won’t be able to grow tulips, daffodils, delphiniums or hydrangeas!However, some popular cottage garden plants grow as perennials in warmer climates and are re-planted annually in cooler climates. Mix them with local native plants as Bill Bampton of The Diggers Club does in Cottage Garden Mash-up – how to adapt English cottage garden style to your own climate.SalviaFull sun or partial shadeSalvias come from Mexico and grow well in climates which rarely freeze in winter. They can tolerate hot summers and drought.However, if you see a salvia growing in the UK, you’ll see lots of bees enjoying the nectar. They’re proof that non-native flowers can be valuable to wildlife.There are 900 different types of salvia in a very wide range of different colours. There are some vivid pinks and purples, pastel pinks and creams plus bi-coloured salvias.Read the UK’s top expert on growing salvias here. Those in cooler climates will probably have to replant salvias every year.  But they flower for months at a time. See 18 long flowering perennials that bloom from summer until the first frost.Plants such as rosemary and sage have recently been re-classified as salvias. They are perfect cottage garden herbs.Salvias are quite tender and if your winters freeze regularly you will either have to lift and store them or plant again from new. But they are amongst the longest-flowering perennials and perfect for a cottage garden.Best cottage garden treesEvery cottage garden should have a fruit tree!  You may want to choose something unusual, such as a quince or a medlar tree. A native fruit tree is always a good choice.But a simple apple or crab apple tree will give you flowers in spring and fruit in autumn/fall. You can enjoy this or share it with wildlife by leaving it on the tree.See An Orchard in Your Garden for tips on growing fruit trees in a small garden.Crab apple trees on either side of a vintage gate. These are Malus hupehensis and birds adore the tiny red fruits at the end of summer.Pin to remember the best cottage garden plantsAnd do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration.  Source link

[siriannatan]

Empires Arknights AU - Scott fWhip

Is it an excuse to ramble about one of my favourite games? Maybeeeee… {: <3<3<3

Slightly lore-dumpy explanation of stuff (can probably be skipped):

Arknights - tower defence gatcha

Lungmen - mobile, modern Chinese/Japanesee style city

Liberi - bird people {reference}

Lung - asian style dragon {reference} people as oposed to draco {reference}

Ægir - fish people {reference}

Leithanien - Arknights Germany

Victoria - Arknights UK

Wei - leader of Lungmen

Lin's - old Lin, or Rat King is kinda the godfather of Lungmen underworld, his {granddaughter} is to take over after him

Penguin Logistics - a logistics company with an actual penguin for a boss

Siracusa - Arknights Italy, full of wolf-people, minus Vatican, that's Laterano, totally separate place with Sankta - angels with guns

L.G.D. - Lungmen Guard Departmen, kind of Lungmen police

Hoshiguma - member of the Special Service of Lungmen Guard Department {reference}

Ch'en - Special Inspection Unit Chief, L.G.D. {reference}

Scott was having a great day. Yes, he spent most of it in his high-rise office. Taking in appointments, and making phone calls. But at least today no one pulled out a gun on him. Just the thought of the few rude 'customers' was enough to have the Liberi's feathers ruffled. With a sigh, he calmed down and glanced at the clock. Nicely made, imported from Leithanien. He had some fond memories of a brief stay there in his youth. Not that it was that long ago.

He was starting to wonder how long he should stay, waiting for his last guest when his door swung open. An angry Lung, dressed in rather traditional Lungmen garb. Ginger hair tied in a long braid. Scott kind of hated it. Blue eyes narrowed in a glare that the Liberi met with a polite smile.

"Punctual as always, Mr fWhip," he greeted with his best 'Victorian', as fWhip called it, smile.

"Don't give me that, why did you send assassins after me this time?" he asked, taking most of the couch opposite of Scot's desk.

"I simply didn't want you to ignore my invitation, unlike the last time I sent one," Scott's smile faltered slightly. fWhip could be damn annoying. Unfortunately, he was Lungmen's best when it came to explosives and Scott's... business often needed them. "Would you like some tea? I recently received a shipment of Victoria's finest," he offered, the legal part of his business was all about trade. Less legal... also imports but of things Mr Wei would approve. Lin's certainly did like him.

"Sure, why not," the Lung huffed. He did keep his eye on Scott as he made the two cups. "You still insist on dressing like a Victorian," he huffed. For some reason, he was really against Scott's suits.

"Well, that's where I'm from after all," Scott shrugged. And Victorian clothes were comfier for him. He did not mention that.

"What did you get me to come here for? And be glad I didn't report you to Madam Ch'en. She's not let you go no matter how much Lin's like you," he huffed. Ever loyal to Wei. How boring.

"Right to the business," Scott shook his head. "Maybe I just wanted to share a cup of tea with a friend?"

fWhip laughed at that. "Yeah right. What do you want?"

Scott sighed. How Lung of fWhip. "I need help locating a certain box for an acquaintance. Miss Ling brought him here so it's kind of important. But relics are not quite my cup of tea, but then I remembered a friend who has a nice collection," he said, giving up on playing with fWhip.

"Acquaintance? Lin Yühsia? Now that's interesting," fWhip mused. 

"Mhm. I have no idea where she found an Ægir here," not that it was all that interesting to him.

"Why didn't she just go to Penguin Logistics? I'm sure they could find it easily."

"Maybe she needed some more... finesse?" Scott offered with a giggle. "They are certainly fun but I think the Ægir she dragged here would drop dead after just seeing them," he giggled setting a teacup in front of fWhip. Victorian make, of course, just to annoy him further.

"Maybe, but really... Did it have to be damn Siracusans you send? They're a pain to deal with," fWhip huffed, taking a sip. He said nothing so it had to be good.

"You're still here so not that bad," Scott did not regret sending assassins after fWhip. It always got him to his office. "So how about we leave the box for tomorrow, and spend the rest of today on..." he said as he settled next to fWhip, "...me apologising to you?" he finished, one hand resting on fWhip's thigh.

"Fine, but you have a lot to apologise for, I had to talk to L.G.D.'s  Madam Hoshiguma, I don't want to repeat that anytime soon..." fWhip sighed as he finished his tea. It was always fun to hear him indirectly complain about his height.