
The weather is hot
Plants wilt in summer sun
Someone turned a switch
Never ending rain… Ended
Next year I shall buy
Hanging baskets earlier
They seem to have changed
The weather to sunnier!
New paintings and regular art updates.

The weather is hot
Plants wilt in summer sun
Someone turned a switch
Never ending rain… Ended
Next year I shall buy
Hanging baskets earlier
They seem to have changed
The weather to sunnier!
My garden is in bloom
Hanging baskets hung
Plants watered
Pots filled
Took two days
Need to weed
Overgrown ivy
Need to feed
All the plants!
I’ll try and show you
When I have Internet again
Meanwhile enjoy imagining
A riot of colour
Mixed with a few weeds!

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.

I managed to step down a four inch step at the backdoor with hubbys help. Took photos of the hanging baskets before autumn starts to chill them…
Just feeling a bit of sunshine on my face was lovely. As I was helped inside again I spotted the pale grey moth with dark markings was resting, wings out on the back door, bonus! Outside at last, even if it was only a few minutes. X

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.

It’s a struggle to dry my washing in the back yard at the moment. The washing line snapped and I’ve tied it back up but it’s a bit saggy. It is also surrounded with hanging baskets which are a riot of colour and lovely scents which I hope will infuse into the drying clothes (although it’s already rained this morning!). I can’t fit a dryer in the kitchen even if I could afford one, or afford to run it. Just hoping the day stays dry now.

A few weeks late because I couldn’t afford them earlier. Some of the trailing plants got damaged in their transport in the back of our car. I would like to get a few small colourful plants to dot around the yard and make it more colourful. I will see what cheap plants I can get locally.
These cheer me up. I know they will last well into autumn, and looking out the window on a cold damp day brings up my mood. X

We used to buy more plants in the summer, this is a poppy from four years ago. I loved buying plants, but apart from ordering some hanging baskets for my birthday I don’t think we will have as much on show this year. But the trees are growing up and so are bushes. I might try and get some foxgloves…

The baskets are fading
Flowers crumple
Heads droop
Cold chills damage
Frosts pinch
Petals weep.
My beautiful baskets
The soft stems bend
Leaves are yellowed
Colour muted.
My sad eyes watch
Summers splendor fade
My floral glories
Gone soon I fear.
Some are stronger
Woodier stems
Allow life to continue
A little longer.

Hundreds of flowers. Some fruit, tomatoes, ground to fence. We go mad every year, but this year has been spectacular. We have, I must admit, been using the hose, but will have to use a watering can if they bring in the ban. The heat today was difficult to cope with. When you have humidity caused by the water it seems even hotter. The blueberries are suddenly ripening and we have had a windfall apple. Hopefully the tomatoes will ripen soon. Its crammed with plants and is my happy place in summer.
Tonight we had a visitor flying fast and silently above the yard. It was a bat catching moths and insects. I think the flowers attract them and the bat’s come to feed.