New paintings and regular art updates.
Wildflowers, on the pavement, Stoke. I can almost see green men in this duplicated image.
There are wildflowers springing up everywhere on pavements. I guess the local council aren’t spraying weeds like they used to. Hopefully the bees are enjoying these bonus flowers.
The sitting bench became a potting bench. Now it’s become a rotting bench! Moss covered and with holes. It was never varnished and the rain over a few years just got to it. One day I will try and replace it with something more solid. Sad demise of an old friend. Hubby used to sit and read the paper on it.
Walking through the middle of Stoke today, there is a small patch of land next to a car wash that was seeded with wildflowers a few years ago. Every year I walk past and I’m amazed with what springs up. I think the local bees must be happy. Just down the road from there another patch of land in front of a large billboard has become overgrown with buddlea and grass and amazing clover flowers. I hope they don’t get cut down!
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!
My garden bench looks a bit worn out. There’s a hole where the wood has rotted. Now it’s growing moss. There’s a small strawberry plant in a pot, and a few empty pots which I might fill up with flowers letter on.
I’m posting about gardening, but I haven’t been out much. The rain has been pouring down all month. Less flaming June, more flipping wet June!
I took this photo today, I might buy another bench. Perhaps a metal one? In the meantime I will continue to use this as a potting bench for now.
I like petunias, so bright
Shine in the light
Bedding plant winner,
Trailing around the pots
Hanging from baskets
Tough as old boots
I love this gem
Of colour on a stem!
Plants love growing, their seeds sneak in cracks, send down roots and push up paving, this thistle is an example of one. Looking round my area the streets are less littered with litter and more by plants. I’m not calling them weeds, they are wild vegetation. I don’t really mind them, except where they grow in front of and on doorsteps. I do think that the streets used to get maintained in a better way. I don’t think I’d like a lot of weed killer to be used, but I hope things can improve soon. Hopefully owners could do a little hand weeding.
I added shading to a rose painting I started a couple of weeks ago to give it more depth. It is one of those blush roses, with pink and red on the edges of the petals and some yellow further down. Roses are beautiful flowers, but the simplest of them, like wild roses, Rosa rugosa, are better for insects to pollenate and collect nectar. That is because the petals are open and the central part of the flower is easily accessible.
Unfortunately a lot of flowers are now being bred to have twice the petals (doubles). They look beautiful and interesting, but they make it hard to pollenate by insects like bees and they are frequently infertile so they don’t produce viable seeds.
Look for bee friendly plants if you are looking for flowers for your garden.
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
Flowers open
First daffodils then tulips
Some promise of primroses
Helibores nod their head
Leaves unfurl and spread
Yellows and golds attract the bees
Their eyes subtle patterns insects see.
Guiding them to nectar
From flowers and trees.
That’s the season set to please!
Marigolds in a bag, something seems to have broken the flowers off. I’ve got to get them planted but yesterday the rain fall was stupendous. Today the weather was better, but I am very tired. Tomorrow could be the day they get planted. Meanwhile, the forecast is for more rain and cold winds coming from the north. June seems to be below par for the time of year. But I’m determined to get my garden looking good instead of full of overgrown weeds!
Mallaband-Brown