Baby raspberries

Posted on November 11, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, Gardening, Green, November fruit, Photo, Picture, Plants, Raspberries, Stamen, WeatherLeave a comment

I went out to take photos of our hanging baskets and took a photo of these at the same time. I was lucky to see them because they are a bit further into the garden.

I was surprised because they didn’t flower earlier in the year. I’m sure they won’t ripen, but I’ll give them 10/10 for trying!

I never know which bits of a flower are stamens bur whatever the little bits of fluffy stuff are, but you can clearly see where the ones that have been pollenated have started to turn into green fruit.

I’m pleased the photo turned out so clear, it was windy and hard to get the phone camera to focus.

Poppies for remembrance

Posted on November 11, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Annuals, Gardening, Life, Perrenial, Plants, Poppy, Remembrance, Varieties, WarLeave a comment

Poppies germinate in disturbed soil so when the First World War came to an end they sprang up in ‘Flanders fields’. This then became the iconic symbol for armastice day and is used as a way of collecting donations. Paper flowers are sold in shops and by volunteers to raise money for the Royal British Legion charity.

Poppies come in a variety of forms, among which are the common poppy, probably the ones that grew in the fields after the war. Welsh poppies, oranges and yellows. Californian poppies (I’m not sure they are the same plant as I think they are called Escholsia? not Papaver). Oriental poppies, which are grown in some places to make opiates. Himalayan blue poppy (mecanopsis) one of which I managed to grow last year. Then also different garden varieties, perrenials and annuals.

My favourite annual poppy is Shirley. Lots of variety of colours from pale pinks and whites to deep reds and with different shading, also the perrenial Patty’s Plum although it’s colour tends to fade. I also love painting them….

Is that a fish?

Posted on November 8, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Blue, Bottles, Cat, Clear, Glass, Goldfish, Light, Ornament, Photo, Plants, WindowledgeLeave a comment

A photo of a glass ornament of a cat with a gold fish modeled inside it. I grow lots of plants on our windowledges and also collect bottles so it’s a bit messy I know. The plant is a fern and now it’s getting cooler it’s dropped some of its leaves. I need to clean it up but it’s really huge and I don’t want to damage it. I also like the textures on the clear glass and blue glass bottles. I might paint a still life of it. I like the way the light is illuminating all the glass and the way the cats head is acting like a lens.

Backyard today

Posted on November 3, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, Colours, Flowers, Frost, Garden, Gardening, Hanging baskets, Plants, ShelteredLeave a comment

I’m still waiting, on the 3rd November, for my hanging baskets to get knocked off by the frost. October was the fifth wettest since the 19th century. And it was wet, and windy. A couple of ex hurricanes blew over us, the sky stayed battleship grey for a lot of the month. The wind makes our windows whistle and moan in the kitchen if its from the South West, and the noise moves to the front of the house if the wind shifts to the North East. That’s why the plants do well round the back, they are in a little sheltered micro climate. So I’m waiting to see what happens tomorrow… And not just in the garden!

Sunflowers

Posted on October 19, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Facebook, Flowers, Gardening, Instagram, Layout app, Plants, Sunflower, SunnyLeave a comment

Sunflower silhouetted in the bright sunlight of an aurumn day.

From am original photograph taken at Trentham Gardens in 2019. Edited in the Layout app that works with Instagram and Facebook.

Floating in the air, defying gravity.

Ivy

Posted on October 18, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Berries, Christmas, Garden, Gardening, Holly, Ivy, Photo, Plants, Winter, WreathLeave a comment

I like ivy, it covers the ground, grows up trees, makes berries birds can eat. Places where birds can nest where it grows up walls. This is a mixture of plain and variegated varieties. It’s mature because it’s growing berries now. There is a Holly Bush near it which is also making berries. I might even make a wreath for the door when it gets to Christmas.

In front of the house

Posted on October 18, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Colours, Covid, Gardening, House front, In front, Life, Masks, Nasturtiums, Pavement, Plants, Road6 Comments

Nasturtium with varigated leaves and other plants that are in front of the house. The only problem is the litter that blows about outside. Now I wear gloves or pick it up in a plastic bag to dispose of it.

Today I saw several discarded marks just lying on the pavement mixed with the fallen leaves. How horrible that people won’t take care of the place they live in. I hate the way they take no responsibility for their environment.

Our plants out the front are doing well although I’ve seen people through the front window, stopping when walking their dogs, no doubt to pee on the plants! Still I’m glad we grow them…

Hanging basket

Posted on October 17, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bee friendly, Colours, Environment, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Hanging baskets, Life, Nature, Nursery plants, Plants, ShedLeave a comment

It’s mid October and the baskets just keep flowering. This ones on the garden shed, another sheltered spot. I would recommend ordering them from a small nursery or farm, they generally end up filled with more and different flowers that have matured more by the time you get them. I usually ask for lots of colour and the lady that plants them up will put in lobelia, begonias, fushias, trailing petunias, and other flowers I can’t remember the names of. Then we fill our own baskets with pelagoniums, small sunflowers and trailing tomato plants (this year). I hang baskets one below another. Then set up pots on the wall and the ground. Finally we’ve grown a few, like this one, on the shed. Those have had nasturtium seeds put in them and have given a lovely late flowering display. In all the sadness of this year they have given me great joy.

The back yard, mid october

Posted on October 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Autumn, Back yard, Colours, Flowers, Frost, Gardening, Growing, Micro climate, Photos, PlantsLeave a comment

Despite the cold, wet weather the flowers in the back yard continue to survive. If we get any bad frosts I think they will go, but the sheer number of them packed together offer shelter to all of them.

So pleased we had the hanging baskets filled by a little farm nursery back in May/June, they have certainly been worth the initial cost. I go outside and am immediately cheered.

Morning glory flower

Posted on October 7, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cold, Flower, Germination, Morning glory, Plant earlier, Plants, Sad, Time, Trumpet shaped flowers, WetLeave a comment

They are just about hanging on, and starting to develop flowers! The rains coming down most days and is starting to soak the soil too much. If we get a frost it’s going to destroy all the plant cells, and then, no more tender plants like these. The thing I’ve learned? Plant the seeds a month earlier, get them warm and germinating and get them out in the sun a month earlier too.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Plants