New paintings and regular art updates.
I took a few photos of them this morning. The sun wasn’t shining so I think they don’t look as bright as they could. There’s lobelia, fushia, begonia, surfinia, pelargonium, nemesia and other plants in them. There are other plants in the yard and I’ve taken a photo of the cala lily as well.
On my kitchen roof
Bouncing around,
Pesky magpies and pigeons.
I like them,
Don’t get me wrong,
But just as I’m about to
Pour a coffee
THUD patter patter,
Or get the bread out of the oven…
THUD patter patter
Delicately lining up some icing
THUD! Patter…. Patter!
Do you have to?
You make me jump…
THUD!
Looked out of a friends window at the weekend. I decided to take a photo. I love the delicate frame with thin wooden sections to allow more light in. Shrubs and perennials surround a neat lawn. Mature trees grow up on the boundaries of the property. The large spiky leaved plant is Gunnera I think.
I’d like such a beautiful view (apart from the cars). I would love such a beautiful house. It will never happen though. I could never afford anything like this, but I can dream.
X
One plant is doing really, the other is partly dying off. I wonder if its too shaded out. I’m going to move it into a brighter place.
Anyway one of them is covered with blueberries which are starting to ripen, the other has a few flowers on it. I might also clear the slate off the top of the pots to allow the compost to breathe a bit more.
X
I’m craving bright plants and flowers,
Summer sun and bright blue skies,
Hanging baskets
Piled up with blousy flowers
Swiss chard and marigolds
Poppies and antirrhinums
Names that scramble on the tongue
But bloom on the ground.
Days to sit on the patio getting hot,
Or in the summerhouse keeping cool
……. Instead? Rain and wind!
I have really interesting, involved dreams, marvellous fantasies. The trouble is when I wake up they are gone. Dissappeared, dissolved into the mists of reality. I have just woken up from one marvellous concoction. But it’s gone. I can’t grasp it back from my sleep. Today as I woke I could hear myself shouting Noooooo…..
In other news, I just heard the very quiet sound of running water. A hiss that signifies something is happening outside? Went out. My partner had switched the outside tap on last night with the hose attached… He’s left it on all night! I’m surprised the garden hasn’t floated away! We don’t have a hose ban, but I might ban him. Thank goodness we are not on a water meter!
Another reason to wake up shouting Noooooooo!
X
My friend Su (ladybirdsu) has a op up garden at the Etruria festival. Blue boxes are laced in a geometric grid which is based on Islamic tiles. The whole effect is calming with a small solar powered fountain at the centre. Set on slightly sloping ground the whole piece sits on an unused part of the grounds between the Trent and Mersey Canal and the Cauldon canal. It is by lock 39 of the Trent and Mersey if you are looking for a specific location. It’s good to see art and history coming together in an effort to integrate the two.
Other projects in the area include greening Stoke, where areas of the town have had wild flowers planted and Spode Rose garden which has been more formally planted. In an age if climate crisis I think we need more of this work.
I would post other photos but I appear to have reached a limit on WordPress. I will see what I can do.
This is an image from Rode Hall that I photographed a couple of weeks ago. As you can see the rhododendrons are in full bloom. These showy shrubs originally come from the far east, China I think? They are grown for their flowers which can come in a variety of colours.
They do spread though and can shade out native plants which is why they are sometimes drastically cut back in wooded areas, allowing light to penetrate the canopy of leaves.
I must visit the Dorothy Clive garden soon. They have a large and mixed collection in their quarry garden. They are in the countryside west of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
I was trying to help move a huge flower pot with an olive tree and a walnut tree growing out of it. My husband was pulling the pot and I tried to push.. He pulled me over! I crashed into some plants luckily not the concrete. Im glad he was there! I realised I was OK with only a slightly bashed knee. But I don’t have the strength to get up that I once had. I was flailing around on the floor, like the dying fly dance from the 70s or 80s. I managed to turn to my knees then he hauled me to my feet. My knee is a bit sore but it’s the shock and surprise, you feel yourself topple, everything goes sideways. Then it’s shock that you are on the ground. Last time was because a chair leg broke. Then I broke a rib so I count myself lucky today. Its scary enough when you are a child and fall over, when you’re a middle aged, unfit female it can be frightening. X
Found this lumpy moss on the church wall. It was lovely, little blobs growing on the old stone, even though its close to a busy road. It’s at the top of the hill so the wind scours across the hill top. Sometimes the wind is so strond it could blow you off your feet..
Moss is an interesting plant, the reproduction is by spores I think, and it needs damp conditions to live in. I’m sure people know more about it than I do. Anyway I took a couple of photos as an idea if what it looked like.
I then did a duplicated picture of it because it made an interesting pattern. 
Hope you enjoy.
X
Mallaband-Brown