Category: Gardening

Raindrops keep falling on my head…

I have been Sunday working today, and when I got up at 7.15 am, bleary eyed, the sun was out. I woke up properly as I had my first cuppa….

I picked this from my garden yesterday, and snapped it this morning, back-lit by the promise of a beautiful day….

by the time I left the house an hour later, I had already seen rain and above there were very heavy clouds. I remembered to check that both the raincoat and umbrella were safely in the car, just in case. Continue reading “Raindrops keep falling on my head…”

Asthall Manor, truly ‘on form’ (thank you Janus)

The English weather never ceases to surprise.

Wet and windy Saturday, dull and over cast all Sunday morning, white cloud and sunny intervals in the afternoon, followed by another downpour in the evening. Which all-in-all meant that the open gardens, (2-6 pm) were saved from being a washout and it was actually quite pleasant.

I had promised to go to my friends’ open garden, in a village near Cheltenham, and on the way I planned a stop, about half-way to their house, at Astall Manor’s, On Form Sculpture. What a treat, though a treat which wasn’t cheap.
The setting is glorious, the sculpture various and wonderful and all the while I wished I could have arranged to have a companion with me to share my ooohs and ahhhs!
However Cycloman was out on his bike and the boys revising.

Continue reading “Asthall Manor, truly ‘on form’ (thank you Janus)”

June Drops

My garden is battered, wet and lush. Luckily I put in plenty of stakes early on, but even so so extra support work is needed after yesterday’s wind. All the trees looked as though they were madly auditioning for a ‘because I’m worth it,’ hair tossing competition and this morning there are plenty of tattered green shreds on the ground.

For the photo competition

This afternoon my friend has her garden open in a village near Cheltenham – a whole group of them are open, which would be wonderful on a quintessentially warm June afternoon. Grey skies won’t pull the crowds. Continue reading “June Drops”

Waiting for Summer

Well, what a frustrating few days… with no access to WordPress! Thank you to everyone who emailed suggestions to me, and in particular to Tilly who posted about the problem and through this found an email address to try. What ever action it was that solved the problem, it now seems I am back.

Here’s Pippi under the wheelbarrow after the man with the noisy machine had gone. The grass looks awful as it has just been scarified! Continue reading “Waiting for Summer”

Nature and nurture

On motorway embankments and roundabouts the ox-eye daisy is king. Viewed from the car the familiarity of their simple shape among the long grasses is a welcome sight, meaning summer is really here. (Ha!)

Close up they are full of wild life

The grass, when you look more closely is full of wild flowers – tiny wild flowers that can so easily go unseen…. everyone sees the Foxgloves in shaded areas, Cow Parsley along the country lanes and Valerian in rocky crevices, for example: but who notices these wee things? Continue reading “Nature and nurture”

Weather or not

Our stay on the Wirral for a couple of nights over half-term was to visit Milly (Mother-in-Law) who wanted on outing. We were lucky really, to choose to go to Bodnant Gardens on the least wet day. It rained before we arrived and just before we left, but in the middle we had overcast skies and occasionally even a little sunshine. (By the time we got to Llandudno  later on, further walking about was out of the question. Wet and windy.Tea and cake seemed the best option.)

Bodnant is rather beautiful. I had never been before, but will certainly want to go again. It was the second place ever left to The National Trust after Hidcote (which is much closer to home, both geographically and in terms of growing conditions.)

Bodnant is on a hill: which made hard work for the wheelchair pushers. The gardens reach down into a river valley and at this time of year are exploding with colour from especially from Azaleas and Rhododendrons and the leaves of various maples. The soil is acid and rich. In these respects the garden is so completely opposite to my own garden conditions (flat aspect, lime based soil, no running water etc etc) that I just know I can never emulate any of the features, except maybe I could grow laburnum…

though on a smaller scale. Continue reading “Weather or not”

Sitting on the fence

The garden is swimming with insects. In the evening a cloud of tiny midges shimmers in a cloud, back-lit by the late sun and then the Blanford Fly is out and about, nipping ankles at dusk. Once the lights have come on in the house the May bugs start battering the windows and moths seek warmth.

The local felines are edging around one another. Pippi was terribly offended when a rather high-maintenance fluff-ball entered our house without an invite earlier on today. Fluff ball was soon shooed away. The night before we had heard fighting, but Pippi came home injury free, so we assume she either stood up for herself or kept out of the action.

The rooks are raucous, shouting and demanding as they fly over head. Blackbirds are bold as they scuttle along the ground. There’s a tit’s nest in our porch, but not in the tit-box I carefully put up. And no occupants, to date in the house martins nest and the swift boxes either.

In the field behind us there’s a horse which whinnies enthusiastically much of the evening. But I don’t know enough ‘horse’ to know whether it’s joy, frustration or just high spirits. No-one seems to be concerned however, so I assume all is OK Continue reading “Sitting on the fence”

Open Gardens

The Yellow Book Scheme is a very British thing it seems to me. The premise being to
open your garden and invite folk in, sell tea, cake and cuttings, then give the takings to charity.
The charities they support are close to my heart and I love going around gardens, especially those gardens which are on a scale that I can relate to my own small patch. I’m always on the look out for ideas that I may be able to translate for my own use.

Yesterday afternoon we walked around a collection of gardens which had opened together, in one little community. It was a true ‘village affair’ – with the village hall open for tea and cakes, and 7 gardens open.  It was warm and there was a breeze – a quintessential English afternoon, just like you may see in ‘Midsomer Murders.’

The village topology is very different from ours, even though it is only a few miles away. Our village is flat: not a contour in sight. The village we explored yesterday is steep and has a river running through it.

To my mind it was a bargain – £5 a head, plus a little for the tea later on.

Early summer border

Continue reading “Open Gardens”

Backlit

Yesterday a day in the garden, admiring the contrasting leaf textures, light effects and …. well relaxing and then working! Today’s work entailed, amongst other things the deconstruction of an over grown shrub – how very satisfying – the contrast between before and after. Space for a new tree perhaps?

Geranium, back-lit Continue reading “Backlit”