New paintings and regular art updates.
Old photo of the golden calf which is next to the Chinese garden and temple at Biddulph Grange garden a National Trust property. Near to it is a huge and grotesque stone frog. I guess the place is so eccentric that it’s worth several visits just to take it all in. There are garden rooms and buildings that are so spectacular. It’s hard to think the Grange was once a hospital for TB patients.
I must visit again before the end of the summer.
Some years the pears set, the tree is well watered and we get many pears off our tree. But it’s looking sad as the wind blew it over at an angle a few years ago. We had to support it on blocks of wood.
As the branches are horizontal that usually encourages fruiting. But both the pear and cherry trees flowered but we’re caught by late frosts and then strong winds that blew the blossom off. The cherry only managed half it’s crop and now the pear is even worse. A few pears had a fungal infection and had to be thrown away, you can’t compost them as it encourages the fungus to spread. So we only have a few pears to show this year. Here are three. The little one is going squishy so it’s getting thrown out.
Pears are funny, they stay unripe for ages. Then seem to ripen overnight. We will just eat these, as there is not enough for a chutney.
Ivy is growing right over our roof and into the yard. I’m worried that the roof of the extention will be damaged. The problem is neither of us are up to the heavy work required to sort it out. So the yard is starting to look like a picturesque ruin. I took a photo because the sun was setting and the sky was a nice, contrastong pink, but I think my camera over exposes photos, so you can only see a hint of the salmon pink it was glowing.
I just looked out of the window as a squirrel came flying past! I just saw the fluffy tail as it jumped from the fence onto one of the hanging basket brackets, then up onto the kitchen roof.
Why is it visiting us? WALNUTS! We have a walnut tree that we planted 25 years ago and it GREW. It must be 60 to 80 feet high. For years now we know when autumn is getting here when the squirrels arrive. Then they go on the a rampage and bury the walnuts. So sooner or later we have baby walnut saplings springing up all over the place. I don’t begrudge the squirrels, we have said we want a wildlife garden, and it is.
I can almost see a koala bear in this collaged photo. Above and below that I can see eyes on stalks. It’s called Pareidolia, and it’s something I seem to do all the time.. I saw patterns in wallpaper when I was young. Roses became teddy bears somehow. Green leaves became fairies. I could see faces in bowls of fruit. I think I’m weird!
Almost metallic, huchera leaves look like copper in the moist air. The pattern was achieved using a symmetrical collage tool on a photo I took a few years ago. I need to do more of these, it’s fascinating to see how the symmetrical pattern enhances the shapes. This could almost be a bowl with a drain in its centre.
Old tree stumps can be used to create something like a rockery in a garden. This photo was taken at the Biddulph Grange garden last year. I’ve also seen this technique used in other gardens and there were some stumps created at Trentham Gardens last year too. I guess the stumps give an interesting effect, especially when they are covered in green moss. They can be interplanted with shade loving plants including ferns. The appearance is like seeing shedded stag horns scattered and stacked neatly along the path at the Grange.
Actually my small 2022 crop.
I only put in a couple of small plants this year so we have had about 8 or 10 tomatoes this year. I just haven’t had the heart. Then this appeared on my Facebook memories and I’m amazed at the sunshine. This last few weeks have been a succession of grey, wet days, Atlantic lows storming in with chill winds. According to the weather forecast September might be slightly better. I’d like something summery please, not too hot, not to cold. X
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.
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!
Mallaband-Brown