Afternoon

What’s your favorite time of day?

When the sun is overhead

Light shines down on bright flower beds

Makes the hazy colours shine

On plants and flowers and bees divine

At the stroke of noon I see

Primary colours, one two three..

Red and blue and yellow too

And the other colours hue

Make me want to paint and draw

All the beauty that I saw

Afternoon is the key

Makes my mind feel oh so free

Mornings are OK I guess

But post meridians are the best!

Pretty

I do love how my hanging baskets grow. They build up and then splurge like a firework exploding in slow motion. Petunias (Surfinias) and Begonias are the main flowers, then small flowers and trailing small leaves. There are also fushias in some of the other baskets.

I rely on the small nursery where we buy them to create a wonderful summer spectacle. They never fail to give me joy over the summer. I usually plant up other flowers to fill in the gaps around the yard, although my touch has been lacking with everything that happened over the last several months. My hubby has added some extra plants, sunflowers, clematis, montbretia, a few osteospermums. Missing are pelagoniums, I think they were bought before I even thought of getting some. Still it’s been a good display. I will try and get some closeups if I can safely get out of the back door.

Begonia

One of my favourite flowers in the hanging baskets. Begonia flowers seem to come in big and small sizes. I think I heard that they have male and female flowers. But I might be wrong? They are quite fleshy and thick petaled, some of them are doubles like this one (double the normal number of petals). They look amazing BUT they are crammed with petals and that makes it harder, or even impossible, for bees and pollenating insects to collect nectar from their flowers. It also means that they are unlikely to be fertilised so I’m not sure if you can grow them from seed? This is all speculation on my part. I think I need to hear from a real gardener! I may not even have the correct identification of the plant!

Hanging baskets and a moth

I managed to step down a four inch step at the backdoor with hubbys help. Took photos of the hanging baskets before autumn starts to chill them…

Just feeling a bit of sunshine on my face was lovely. As I was helped inside again I spotted the pale grey moth with dark markings was resting, wings out on the back door, bonus! Outside at last, even if it was only a few minutes. X

Flower head

A planter I made about thirty years ago, I really wish I’d planted it up with lobelia like this but it got a bit late. It’s had snapdragons in it this year but they have got a bit straggly. I hope when I get a bit better I will be able to get out and rearrange things a bit. Summer is passing by and I’m stuck. Sorry to be grumpy.

Lavender

Lavender, lovely flower, place for bees to sip and feed. Likes hot and dry conditions. The aromatic oils create a delightful scent. Growing in fields of purple and green. Row upon row of beautiful flowers. People still make little bags of lavender flowers to sit under their pillows and help with sleep.

I have tried to grow it but it’s too damp and shady in our garden. I might grow a small plant, but it never flourishes like these plants in the photo.

I remember having a rockery at my childhood home. I think we had lavender growing in pockets of soil in it. It thrived in hot summers when the sun was baking hot.

Blooming

Well the plants are getting well watered by the rain that has poured down here from the start of July after a hot June.

I wish I could send some of this rain south East towards the Mediterranean and its Islands. Plus Portugal and North Africa where there have been more wildfires. People have died. Meanwhile we are dripping wet.

I’m not complaining, as things go I prefer a cooler summer but I’m not sure how the climate will change in the future. We has grass fires here last year…. I would like to think if we can get our act together climate disaster can be avoided