Bathtubs for the garden

I took this photo outside the front entrance to the 25Hours hotel in Vienna. I love that they’ve got old galvanised bathtubs filled with plants! They’ve also done a good job with the plants where the mix of colours, textures, and heights is pleasing to look at.

Most hotel entrances are sterile places devoid of plant life. You don’t need to spend lots of money on expensive pots. An old bath tub can look just as good if not better.

Before going away I was worried about my garden here in Aberdeen, particularly the plants in the greenhouse. I moved some of the plants outside so they’d get rain and the remainder I hooked up to a drip-feeding bag. Only it didn’t work properly and most of the water was still in the bag when I got back. The strange thing is the plants seemed to look better after my absence. I think I was over-watering them.

Does anyone know what this plant is?

There are a few in my garden and when they first appeared in spring I thought they were weeds. However I left them just in case and now they have developed these enormous pink buds. I can’t wait to see what the flowers look like.

Posted

July 3, 2016

Journal

Rachel M

Tags:

bath tub, gardening, gardens, hotel, plants, pots, vintage

Comments

13 responses to “Bathtubs for the garden”

Matthew Evans

July 3, 2016

Looks like the plant is some type of poppy based on the bud and leaf shape. Should be huge.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  July 3, 2016
  
  I think you’re right. It looks like this one – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_somniferum
  
  Reply
TanGental

July 3, 2016

Yep poppies. We have loads. Let them dry where they are ( don’t pull them when they finish flowering) and the seeds can be shaken around in any old corner and next year you will have an amazing display. The little pepperbox heads are great for the kids to cut and Shake and be part of the garden. And don’t worry. However enterprising your kids they can’t make opiates from the seeds….!

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  July 3, 2016
  
  Nice! Do I have to deadhead the flowers?
  
  Reply
  1. TanGental
    
    July 3, 2016
    
    No just let the leaves fall and the seed heads dry. You know they’re ready when you shake one and seeds come out like black pepper from a pepper mill
fossilcyclist

July 3, 2016

I love our poppies, all sorts of colours except blue. The guy round the corner was a plumber and has their flowers in Arnold decorated loo pan, looks great!

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  July 3, 2016
  
  I love poppies too! And what a great use for an old toilet 🙂
  
  Reply
Lorraine Brady

July 3, 2016

Check the variety out though. They popped up in my front garden and I saw two shady looking characters cutting the flowers one day. They ran when I went outside but someone suggested they were opium poppies and to pull them all out so I did!

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  July 4, 2016
  
  They’re in our backyard and no-one can see them unless they jump over our fence and enter our backyard. There are also so many in Aberdeen – everyone seems to grow them – that I doubt ours would be particularly desirable. Poppies self-seed all over the place here.
  
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Denise

July 3, 2016

I actually want to go on holiday to one of those hotels now. Since I’ve started planting on my roof terrace, I’ve seen so many bees. Plants are important, even in cities, you’re right that more corporate buildings should make an effort with it.

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  July 4, 2016
  
  The hotel is part of a small chain with locations in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Zurich. If you have any trips planned to one of those places I definitely recommend this hotel. And yay to bees on your roof terrace! You can grow a surprising number of things in pots. They’re less affected by slugs and snails too.
  
  Reply
  1. Denise
    
    July 4, 2016
    
    I am astounded by the snails who have found their way three storeys up but yes, it’s a much improved situation for the plants in pots from that point of view.
Sarah Hird

July 5, 2016

Yes, they look like opium poppies- unless you put little diagonal pinpricks on the base of where the flowers are, then you should be fine- you could always hope that no one finds them and let the flowers become fruit then keep the seed heads for the poppy seeds to use for cooking! Our bulk food stores had to get rid of the poppy seeds as too many people were making poppy seed tea- reckon you’d need a heck of a lot to get some sort of narcotic effect though- Its the ‘sap’ that is used to extract opium that forms the basis of morphine. They actually grow quite a few opium poppies in Tasmania for production of morphine.

Reply