Columbia Road Market 42

It is not my custom, on the whole, to buy cut flowers – but they are in such profusion now at the market, at such low prices, that I could not resist. In these baking days of high Summer there is something quite magical about walking from the blinding sunlight of the day into the cool of the dark rooms in the old house where flowers glow in the half-light. Last week, I bought three bunches of lush Peonies for just £5 that I replaced this morning with these Larkspur, two bunches for a fiver.

Like last week, I was on the lookout for plants that will thrive in a dry sunny location under my window. This week, I bought a white Scabious for £4 and a Geranium (cinerum Ballerina) for £6. Scabious reminds me of childhood holidays in Dorset where I first saw them growing wild on the chalky downs, and this white one will be an interesting compliment to the blue one I already have. The Geranium is of the evergreen perennial variety that grows close to the ground, again this will give an interesting contrast to the other Geraniums I have in pink and blue, and some with dark foliage. The delicate lilac pink flowers, with intricate dark veins and neat diminutive leaves, of this particular variety, appealed to me.