New paintings and regular art updates.
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!
A butterfly sunbathes on top of the fence. I couldn’t get a decent photo because it was too far away. It looks more like a speckled leaf. The edge looks like a wrinkled and twisted old dry oak leaf. There are plenty of flowers lower down on the fence for it to collect nectar as it sips from them.
I imagine it was trying to warm up as we have had lots of cold and damp days recently.
Talking about insects there was a Huge bumblebee in the bathroom yesterday. I tried to get it out, I couldn’t reach up to the window so opened the bathroom door and in the end opened the back door as well and it just flew out into the sunshine. It was good to see two different pollenating insects in the garden on the same day.
Facebook memories from 10 years, ago. The yard was much near we, and sunnier as the hedge, at the back wasn’t as overgrown. I love all the colours that were growing there then. When I’m back in my feet I must take new pictures
Green leaves shine
Yellow flowers billow
Veins accentuate shape
Dark green splendor
Ladies mantel peeks out
Shy, pale green collars
Ready to catch water droplets
Flowers begin to turn to seed.
Mature summer garden.
At Ford Green Hall there is a small medicinal garden, various herbs are grown there including oriental poppies, marjoram, lavender, mint, teasle and other plants including apples and wild flowers.
I wish I could get some things to knit and heal my foot and ankle. Maybe I should have collected some seeds while I was there. The wet weather has made cottage garden plants really big and blousy. Life is interesting how medicinal plants like feverfew and valerian can help with illness. Not everything is safe to take, but it’s good that medicines have plants as a basis for remedies and cures.
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.
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
Lilies are beautiful flowers, but when I grow them I put them at the back of the border away from where the cats go. That is because they contain toxins that are dangerous to cats and dogs.
The Internet says :
Both calla lilies and peace lilies contain insoluble crystals of calcium oxalates (insoluble means the crystals don’t dissolve in water). When a cat or dog chews on or bites the plant, the crystals are released and directly irritate the mouth, tongue, throat, and esophagus.16 Sept 2021
So be careful what plants you grow, and try and be aware of what can be dangerous to your pets.
Mallaband-Brown