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.

Back yard today

Posted on October 4, 2020October 4, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Back yard, Begonias, Cold, Flowers, Gardening, Microclimate, Plants, Surviving, Wet, WindyLeave a comment

It’s still looking good despite the heavy rain we have been having. At least its meant that the hanging baskets have been getting watered. I think we have a bit of a microclimate so the area doesn’t get as cold as in the main garden, but it does get the sun when it shines in the afternoon. Hopefully everything will keep going for a while longer. The begonias have bee spectacular this year!

Off on his trike

Posted on October 4, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Allotments, Autumn sun, Cycling, Exercise, Gardening, Photos, Plants, Sunny, Trike, Trilby2 Comments

Setting out in the sun to meet a friend on his allotment. I got a message later that one of his wheels has collapsed? Luckily it’s only about a couple of miles away. What you can’t see is that he’s on his sandals! I tried to get him to wear his shoes… Weird! I hope the ground isn’t too wet.

He usually wears a flat cap, but when he went to the allotments last week his friend accidentally put a pickaxe through it (it was on the ground). I do wonder if this is something they should be doing! But gardening and exercise is good for mental health, so I suppose it’s good for him. Meanwhile I’m off to get some college work done.

Flowers from a friend

Posted on September 26, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Flower press, Flowers, Freesias, From friends, Illustration, Photo, Plants, Pressed flowers, Roses2 Comments

In exchange for some pears my friend gave me some flowers. I thought how kind, I wasn’t expecting anything back. The roses are a mellow red colour, and there are pale purple Fushias and white roses and some different white flowers.

Apparently the Victorians used to give different meanings to different plants. For instance Forget-me-nots. I think also Pansies and Lily of the Valley. I don’t know the meanings, but I know people used to press flowers within the pages of heavy books. Or even flower presses. The idea was to squash the flower so it became dried and flattened. If the person pressing it was artistic it could be used in artwork, some of them would be used for illustration purposes. I’m not sure how they would have coped with larger flowers like multi petal led or stemmed flowers. I guess they would have needed more steady pressure? Sorry, a lot of this is speculation. My mind wanders across different thoughts….

Bee photo?

Posted on September 24, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bee?, Bees, Environment, Flowers, Hover fly?, Life, Nature, Photo, Plants, Pollinate, Save the planet, World5 Comments

I don’t know what species it is, I can’t get very good closeups with my phone but I think it’s a Bee, however it could be a hover fly? The back end of it doesn’t look fuzzy enough. But it has yellow and black bands on it. So does anyone know?

Whether bee or fly, at least its something that pollinates plants, and that’s what we need to protect in the world. Imagine a world without pollinating insects? There would be a lot less fruit and vegetables unless we were to hand pollinate or create machines that could do it. But we don’t need that. We need to protect what we already have! Banning pesticides that kill bees, like nicotioides. Farming responsibly and safely. Its a difficult balance. But we must make it happen.

Jumble

Posted on September 24, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Collecting, Hoarder, Life, Objects, Plants, Poem, Poetry, Sketching, Stuff, Things, Too much, Window ledgeLeave a comment

Lots of stuff,

on window ledges,

filling space,

shared with cats,

plants are growing,

decorated with things,

collected,

ornamented,

sketched and recorded.

Gathering moss,

unable to leave things,

remove things,

bin things,

Hoarder?

Maybe

From thirty years ago?

Posted on September 24, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, House of commons, Life, MP, Oil on canvas, Old painting, Painting, Perspective, Plants, Portrait, Shelves, WindowLeave a comment

Finding things that I haven’t seen for years. There is a set of old slides that I might try and get turned into photos. I’ve also seen an app where you can convert negatives to photos on your phone, which is great, but I already have them in albums and do I need more on my devices? I wish I still had the painting but it was sold to the local MP at the time. I think it ended up at the house of commons!

This was a friend years ago. I painted it with the idea that the perspective of the window gave it an interesting effect. The figure looks large in comparison to the shelves across the window. I also liked the slightly twisted pose. It’s an oil on canvas.

Six years ago…

Posted on September 19, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bright, Colour, Dorothy Clive garden, Garden, Life, Orange, Photo, Plants, Rhododendrons, Spring /summer2 Comments

Bright flowers, photo taken six years ago. I think it’s a rhododendron, glowing like an orange sun. Talk about flower power. I’m not going to try and duplicate or mirror this photo because it’s really stand alone.

This would have been taken at the Dorothy Clive Garden on the Shropshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire border. It has a quarry garden at the top of its slope which is full of beautiful rhododendrons in late spring and early summer. Do visit if you can. Visiting has been limited due to the virus but I do know they are open and you can find out more from their website.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Plants