A butterfly

Posted on August 13, 2023August 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bathroom, bumblebee, Butterfly, Gardening, Insects, Life, pollenating, Summer, SunshineLeave a comment

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.

10 years ago

Posted on August 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 10 years ago, Back yard, Beauty, Bright, Colour, Flowers, Gardening, Growth, Life, PlantsLeave a comment

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

Foliage

Posted on August 2, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Flowers, Gardening, ladies mantel, leaf patterns, Life, mature, Plants, Poem, Poetry2 Comments

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.

Medicinal garden

Posted on August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Food, Ford Green Hall, Gardening, Green, Healing, Health, Life, medicines, Plants, remedies, TimeLeave a comment

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

Posted on July 31, 2023July 31, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Colour, Flowers, Gardening, green stems, Hot, Lavender, Life, Memories, Purple, Summer, Time2 Comments

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.

Blooming

Posted on July 26, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blooming, Flowers, Gardening, Life, Mediterranean, Plants, Raining, Weather, Wet, wildfires2 Comments

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 and cats

Posted on July 24, 2023 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Care, Cat, Damage, Dog, Flowers, Gardening, harmful, Life, Pets, Plants, Toxic4 Comments

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.

The yard

Posted on July 21, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Back yard, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Green, Hanging baskets, Life, Overgrown, Plants, potting on, Time4 Comments

Very leafy, I need to pot some small flowering plants on but not while my arm is shaking and sore. I’ll try and use some pain killers to stop it hurting so much. Hubby has dumped a big bag of compost in the way and I need to get it moved so I can get further up the yard. Some of these plants survived the winter, they are very leafy, to be honest I could move them into the main garden but I don’t have the energy and there are some dodgy steps as you walk round the back. I must get hubby to get some sand and cement to replace some loose bricks.

Little poppy

Posted on July 19, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Bud, dew, Fine Art, Gardening, Life, Painting, Poppy, Rain, Water2 Comments

I had a lovely afternoon out so I gave my friend this small painting to say thank you. It’s only about three inches square. We had gone to a garden center so I felt it would be nice to give her something floral. Poppies are my favourite flower, vibrant and silken looking. This is a simple painting in acrylic. Drops of dew or rain sit on the petals and shimmer in the light. A bud ready to burst sits next to the flower with it’s promise of further beauty.

Wild flowers in town

Posted on July 17, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged car wash, Colour, Flowers, Gardening, Growth, Old building, Plants, Wild flowers, wild plants1 Comment

Wild flowers sewn at a local car wash a few years ago are a riot of colours and shapes now. They haven’t been cut back and each year the crop gets more varied and colourful. I hadn’t seen the yellow spikes of flowers until this year. Unusually we have had a lot of rain recently and I think that has encouraged a spurt of growth.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Gardening