
Climb a tree
Go up high
Up the branches
To the sky
Rough, hard bark
Hard to climb
In the dark
And down again.
Eighty foot
Old and strong
Limbs of great girth
Twisted and long.
Memory showed
Trees far up there
If I climbed up?
I’d get a scare!
New paintings and regular art updates.

Climb a tree
Go up high
Up the branches
To the sky
Rough, hard bark
Hard to climb
In the dark
And down again.
Eighty foot
Old and strong
Limbs of great girth
Twisted and long.
Memory showed
Trees far up there
If I climbed up?
I’d get a scare!

Snapped and broken
Lying crushed
Your red heart
Exposed
Squashed,
Cut off in your prime.
Your parents will recover
But you,
Young flower
Petals besmirched,
You have sacrificed
Yourself to the storm

Wow! I’ve ever seen hailstones this big. I know there are bigger ones but these re the biggest I’ve ever seen…
It’s already melted, but it was so heavy my plants were bashed. Now? Bright sunshine. Mad weather, global warming? Could be, the thunderstorms these days are bad ass!

Too many flowers
Growing out and round
Hanging baskets
Decked out and grand.
Pots filled with lots
Of colours and shapes
Joy to my heart
These flower baskets make.
A real riot of colour
Blooming in my heart
And the heart
Of the city.

Next to my raspberries a tallish purple flower stands. I think it’s a phlox? I’m not sure of the spelling. Homonyms, words that sound the same but are spelt /spelled differently.
The English language can trip you up. It has evolved, with different spelling rules like ‘i before e except after c’, which isn’t always correct.
Anyway, back to this plant. I was really pleased I managed to get a reasonably close image of the flowers. With water droplets visible on the petals. Any ideas on identification?

I just love them, their colour, brilliance, shape, papery petals. Colourful flowers that are imbued with sorrow because they were used to commemorate wars. They sprang up in the fields of flanders after the battles there. And yet to me they don’t signify fighting or fears, but memories of summers long gone, my favourite colour and how tiny seeds can create such magnificent flowers.

When you see this leaf shape with beads of water on it you can pretty much identify it as a perennial plant, ladies mantel. I think the name is based on the fact that the edge of it looks like an old fashioned ladies collar. It’s used as a border plant because of its unusual shape and bright green colour. One of the plants at the Dorothy Clive Garden.

Sadly today we just have a few green cherries on our tree. They are not ripening because of the cool wet weather. Apparently we are on the north side of the jet stream and so low pressure systems are being drawn down from scandanavia towards the UK.
So we sit and wait. If I manage to pick any of this years crop I will post pictures of it. At the moment I’m using our umbrella for its correct use. Not for catching cherries.

Like a firework
You spark the garden
Into flame.
Stars sparkle
In a green universe
You are galaxies
Of delight

By duplicating and flipping one side of the couple of photos I ended up with an interesting structure (in reality next doors small extension bathroom). The hanging baskets and pots pop with green and bright flowers. As they grow and bloom I will post more pictures (and include more if the rain stops!). Summer is here so they should take up more space. Gardening and rain, a typical British summer.