Blow wind, loose seeds
Fly high over grass
Dandy lion
Mane of fluff
Lifting up
Gossamer parachute
Land and grow.
Spiky leaves
Golden flowers,
For bees to drink…
Deep tap root
Ties it down
Weed or plant?
Who cares…
New seeds
Afloat….
Dandelion
Tag: Gardening
Our white lilac
I saw a post on my friend Martha’s blog and I realised her lilac and ours are flowering at the same time despite being on different continents.
At the side of our house near the front door are several bushes and trees. These include a white buddlea (not in flower yet) and a tall white lilac which has ivy scrambling up through it. The lilac is two thirds the height of our house and is happy there, which is strange because the two purple lilac bushes we had in the garden died off because they were shaded out.
I can see the lilac bush as I’m driving home down our hill. The white flowers are all over it. It sparkles in the sunshine. The blossom should be there for a while. I only wish I could smell it, but a head injury several years ago means my sense of smell is limited. I will post a few garden photos soon.
Back yard
It’s growing,
a bit of water
It’s gone mad!
Pots overflow
Burgeoning leaves
With green waterfalls
Bubbling out of the soil
Brown turned green
Ferns in the wall..
Yellow Welsh poppies
And dark mauve geraniums
Fun to see it grow
But no room to walk
A path is required
But raspberries
And blueberries
Have flowers
Now I need bees!
Dorothy Clive garden today
A few miles from Stoke on Trent in the Staffordshire countryside is the Dorothy Clive garden. We went there today because I knew the rhododendrons would be in flower and also I wanted to see if I could drive that far (my arm is still shaking and very sore and it’s hard to drive). Luckily I was OK and it was a gorgeous day and a lovely place to visit. You walk up from the car park at the bottom, past the pool, up a steepish slope covered in trees and flowerbeds. There is a cafe at the top and a dry garden and quarry garden at the top (where the majority of the rhododendrons are). There is also a stag sculpture and a waterfall. From the top of the garden you can see three counties, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire. Worth a day out….
Retired
How do you balance work and home life?
Balance, what’s that?
Retired: bored or busy?
Sometimes life sucks
Other times it’s lovely.
Time passes quickly
Flowers grow, and fade
Trees shed leaves
And bud.
Stay up late
Lose the daylight
A twylight time?
Prevaricate and regret…
Loss of what’s left…
I should work more
But my mind is tied
In gossamer threads
Of nothing…
Frustrated by
My lack of
Vision and
Determination
To do more…
Potting bench
“We should be sitting on this!”
“But I need a table to pot on”
“Yes, but you have one”
“But it’s got my trains on”
“Well can you move them?”
“No, I’m making a layout, I got some ‘n’ gauge stock” “I want to build it up”.
Sigh, “OK but the plants can go in the garden, the bench needs varnish or something to protect it”.
I didn’t mention to hubby that the last bench was treated in the same way, the wood rotted and the bench collapsed. I bought new wooden slats, but ‘someone’ (hubby), nailed them on to something else….
Garden nine years ago
We had lots of aqualegias and tulips, geraniums, and alliums. The photos just popped up on my Facebook page. I forgot how much the trees have grown up in the intervening years. We are cutting some of the branches back, to let more light in. The photos were a bit blurred but it was good to see them. Gardening is a lovely pastime. When you get results like this it makes the work worthwhile.
Close up
Flowers today, I thought they might be forget-me-nots but I’m not sure. The camera on my phone seems to be quite good if I can avoid shaking too much, so they are quite detailed in this photo Perhaps they are a type of Cranesbill? I like the way there is a reddish purple flower developing in the background. I love the bright green of the foliage, so luscious and fresh.
Magnolia
Beautiful pink fingers
Reach for the sky
Magnificent Magnolia
Giving me joy
Seen on a warm day
In early May
Life changes quickly
Soon they will die
Then the leaves come
Shade the ground
Summer has arrived then.
Wait for spring
To come again.
Gunnera
One plant we tried to grow in the garden was Gunnera, seen here at Rode hall. It’s a large leafed plant with a spiky surface. It grows in wet conditions and the leaves can get to 2 or 3 feet across. This was by a large pond that has a waterfall at one end flowing down a stream to the lake. There are a large variety of plants at the hall but this is a favourite.
We also noticed there were rhododendrons in flower today, which means we must visit the Dorothy Clive garden to see how that is growing.
Mallaband-Brown 