In a Vase on Monday

Fennel, white salvia, golden privet, pale lilac aster and calendula.

This is not a very inspiring vase, but the orange calendula lifts it up. I have to admit gardening has been a struggle for me this year, partly because of the weather and the depressing relentless onslaught of marestail but mainly because of having Sciatica from May onwards – Yikes! What agony!!!

Mercifully it is much easier to live with now. Have you ever had Sciatica? My sympathies if you have – it is grim!

To cheer myself up I ordered some irises from

https://www.chailey-iris.co.uk

There was a Sale ….I got a bit carried away.

I bought 3 of  ‘Little Surprise’,  I just love the mix of soft pink, pale lavender, cream and palest green in the flower;

one Bright Flash, a smaller iris with deep rich purple flowers;  and some that were cheaper as they do not have a label. It will be fun to see what they are.

I ordered some irises last year and they were a magnet for slugs in the flower bed so I am going to try some in the waist high growing troughs I have just outside my front door. Hopefully I will be able to keep an eye on them here until they are grown-up enough to face life in the jungle.

I have filled in an old leaky pond and have planted some Siberica Irises and Lythrum Salicaria ‘Blush’ from http://www.dorsetperennials.co.uk

The Siberica Irises I chose are 3 of White Swirl  and some mystery mixed colours. I will have to make sure these are well watered until we get some more rain.

I am joining in with Cathy at ‘Rambling in the Garden’ for her ‘In a Vase on Monday’ meme.

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A Day with the Boys

Good morning

Good afternoon

A walk round the pond.

We wanted to identify this little bird – it was so tiny and hard to spot in the fir trees. Such a loud alarm call for a tiny bird.

Even harder to find with my phone, look at the top of the video and it will come into view

We searched the free App ‘Chirp’, I have on my phone, once we were away from the bird. (we should not play recorded birdsong near birds as it confuses them) The nearest we found was the Willow Warbler and the Chiff Chaff, but ‘Chirp’ did not have their alarm calls

So I looked on You Tube and we found this clip

We think it is a Chiff Chaff, what do you think?

After a glorious gentle summer’s day in the sunshine, a last wander before bed

Good night. 🙂

Fennel and Irises

My daughter and her family have been away for a few days and I wanted to put some flowers on the table to greet them on their return, but right now my garden doesn’t have much to offer. (Must do something about that for next year.)

Sometimes something quick and simple hits the spot nicely.

and I like the way the fennel echoed the spectacular light fitting in their sitting room

Fascinated by the delicate lines of the fennel flower heads I had a play with them against a rust-dyed background

Placing a piece of glass over them to flatten them against the fabric.

Now it is decision time – do I recreate these shapes in stitch, or paint, or try some other method, using them as a resist. My sister suggests Brusho paints – I had never heard of them before, so that is an exciting new media to experiment with.

I am also wondering about using the Cyanotype Process, but that would take some practice. I am going to allow the thought to bubble away on the back burner of my mind for a while.

Onto the Irises – I am including this bit as a Garden Diary entry to help me remember the names of the new Irises I have just received from Chailey Irises

4 new Irises

Grindelwald,  white, fragrant, mid to late flowering with some blue markings

Hi, white, mid season and fragrant

Summertime Blues, pale blue and highly scented

Raspberry Blush, pink with a long flowering season

Irises are my favourite flower, especially when they are scented. I love their sculptural shapes and the way they look like flamboyant dancers with wide wavy skirts. I have cleared a patch of ground to fill with irises and bulbs, these are the first ones to go in – looking forward to Spring!

Now to think about planting for some colour in August. I look forward to seeing what others have in their vases for inspiration – I need something perennial, bug and slug resistant and low maintenance.

Joining Rambling in the Garden and other garden bloggers for In a Vase on Monday.

 

In a Vase on Monday

Quaking grass, sisyrinchium, and nigella sit in a nightlight holder above a few blooms of hypericum. I particularly enjoyed the way the setting sun played with the grass, making shadows.

Joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

Life continues to be distracting in these weird times. I have been perked up by some lovely warm messages and a delicious gift of goodies last week from Feed the Soul

There is plenty of crafting going on, to keep me on an even keel, but I seem to have no ability to order my thoughts into blog posts about it.

If you want to see what I am getting up to, look to the right and see my Instagram posts. Even there, my garden features strongly – it is my haven of peace and happiness at the moment.

Astrantia is one of the stars of the show, joining Cee’sFlower of the Day.

A plant I bought at a garden gate in Weobley in 2015.

I do hope you are able to enjoy some good weather and sunshine, even down under where you are approaching midwinter. We are enjoying some fabulous weather here.

 

Amelan Cheer!

Joining Cathy and gardeners in the UK, America, Australia, Italy and elsewhere and popping a few blooms from our gardens into a Vase on Monday. (link later)

Amelanchier, pulmonaria and cerinthe in glass vases. The dinky one on the right is a discarded Victorian ink pot I found in my garden about 45 years ago when I lived in an old thatched cottage at White Horse Farm.

The leaves of the amelanchier are a rusty brown so, of course, they reminded me of the rusty wire my star of son-in-law gave me.

Those of us with gardens are the lucky ones in these lockdown days. I am so grateful and thoroughly enjoying immersing myself in mine.

Looking up through the amelanchier at a blue sky tells me that Spring has sprung

I have transplanted some strawberries into one of my waist-high beds

and sown some salad leaves in the other one

The tinsel is to keep the pesky sparrows away – will it work I wonder?

A beautiful pink anemone has appeared in the garden, I can’t remember where I got it from, but I just love it

Can you see the little white crab spider

A spider that does not make a web – fascinating.

I hope you are able to enjoy a garden or park, or at least have a walk that takes you past other gardens.

Also joining Cee’s Flower of the Day.

A Solstice Vase on Monday

After weeks of wet and gloomy, we had the most glorious weather for the Summer Solstice

The honeysuckle grows on a fence outside my bedroom window – can you imagine the heady wafts of scent on a warm solstice evening ………. deeeeeee-lissshhhhhh-usss

I have mixed it with the froth of Lady’s Mantle for a Solstice celebration

They are in a heavy ceramic circular candle holder with a trough (there must be a better word?) around for flowers. I bought this many years ago in Glastonbury and it has been the centre piece for many a meditation gathering and Solstice celebration in my past life in hippyland.

I do hope you enjoyed the Solstice in your neck of the woods.

Oh how I am delighting in my Long Border filling out, gradually hiding more soil.

(you can see the beginnings of the creation of this border and how it looked a couple of months ago in this post)

Next door are doing some renovations, there will be a fence eventually between the concrete posts, and then that bit of the border will be north facing and in shade. I will move some hostas there when the time is right.

Did you spy a Hot Princess?

Cathy! She is flowering and she is Hot! This is my lovely birthday gift from Cathy when I went to see her last November. Cathy knows I love Hot Pink and this thoughtful gift is just perfect!

Just before I go I MUST show you some of my poppies – which have been so much enjoyed by me, my neighbours and most importantly, the bees!

Click on any photo to see it full screen

Turn up the volume to hear the buzzzzzzzz.

Joining Cathy for her In a Vase on Monday, weekly link with other gardeners around the globe.

and

Cee’s Flower of the Day

 

Happy Solstice!

 

Pineapples from my Garden

Cathy from NanaCathy, knowing my penchant for pineapples kindly sent me a photo of a pineapple door wreath made out of sunflowers, so instead of doing the digging and the weeding as intended, of course I had to have a play. Thank you Cathy for the inspiration, it was fun! 😀

Luckily the weather has been glorious this Easter here in the UK and I have been blissfully gardening each day, so some digging and weeding got done eventually.

Most of my garden is still waiting for much needed attention, but there are little cameos here and there that I love

Self sown cerinthe survived the winter under the espalier pears

Early morning sun through the amalanchier sings spring!

and the randomly planted Brompton Stocks, wallflowers and other self-seeded joys are really perking up in the sunshine

I do hope you have been able to enjoy a garden somewhere this Easter.

Pop along to see what other gardeners have been up to at Rambling in the Garden.

and

Cee’s Flower of the Day

 

Doreen’s Garden in September

Last weekend I was in beautiful Branscombe, Devon, England.

As usual I had to make my pilgrimage up the hill to Doreen’s Garden and this time I was lucky enough to meet the delightfully sprightly 84 year old. She is originally from Liverpool and has lived in this cottage for 34 years.

She gives me hope for the future!

Click on any photo to see it larger.

We had a lovely long chat and she showed me the best viewing points for photos .. Here

and then the view to the church

Doreen has a box for donations to support the Devon Air Ambulance and so far she has collected over £7,000!

You can even stay in her garden in this delightful self-catering little unit

what a sunny spot!

We talked about her magnificent dahlias

She doesn’t lift them but cuts them right back to the ground and mulches them.

I do not live in quite such a sheltered spot – I tried them years ago and did not have a good success rate, but I might give Doreen’s method a go as there is no doubt, they put on a spectacular show – if only they were scented .. mmmmm there’s a thought. Are there any scented dahlias?

 

Lime Green Vintage

At the moment I am immersing myself in the colour called Lime Green mixed with oranges and other autumnal colours whilst I crochet the Karoo Vintage Mystery Along.

Going with the Vintage theme for my Vase this week, there are a few elements in the picture all bought in the 1970s:

A Timothy Whites vacuum flask, still going strong. Who remembers Timothy Whites? A High Street chemist shop taken over by Boots in 1968,  the trading name stopped being used in 1985. The cup that went on the top has been lost but the flask still keeps water hot for a good long time. It sits by my kettle to house excess boiled water to be used for washing up etc.

The green floral table cloth (more lime green in reality) is a huge 2.5m diameter circle of Laura Ashley fabric bought as a Second from the Laura Ashley shop in Bath on a lovely pre-children shopping trip with friends. It has been brought out to cover trestle tables at many a family event over the last 40 years or more.

The bright green cloth with turquoise stitching trim was bought from Habitat in about 1978.

The bright orange metal jug with white flowers was made in (former) Yugoslavia and given to me by my Mum who found it on a market stall.

In the jug is a plant which I like the look of because of its bright pink bits – but I guess it is a weed. Do you know its name? Can it be used for anything?

From my garden:

A pot of lemon balm sits waiting to be made into a lovely refreshing tea.

The figs have been plentiful and glorious this year.

I’m delighted to have found a salad crop that does not get eaten by the sparrows – pea shoots! Thank you to Postcard From Gibraltar for inspiring me to try these – they are yummy!

I am growing them in a waist high Veg Trug outside my front door (Zone 1 in Permaculture)

My daughter thinks the new shoots look as if they are waving and dancing

here they are having a party!

Apples are plentiful but all blighted by the wretched codling moth.

Pears are looking good this year.

Joining in with Cathy and In a Vase on Monday.

Happy Gardening!

In a Vase on Monday

Mmmmmmm ….. those irises – the colour, the shape, the markings, the scent – I greet them each morning with my first cuppa,

and couldn’t resist bringing one inside …

to go with a collection of other plant shapes

From left to right

1. A local farm shop has started selling milk in returnable glass bottles Hurray! In this one are rooted cuttings of my spectacular epiphyllum
2. A miniature bottle of wine, so cute I couldn’t throw it away, with Mare’s Tail that is rampant in my front garden – I love it’s shape and design and the way it captures the dew in the morning, I respect that it has been on this planet much longer than humans – if only it did not want to take over the world.
3. A chirpy marigold in a teeny Victorian bottle with NOT TO BE TAKEN moulded into the glass – but I will be eating the petals of the flower sprinkled on a salad later.
4. Another miniature wine bottle, bought for the bottle’s shape this time. With chives.
5. Miniature wine bottle which came as a ‘favour’ at my son’s wedding, with one of my beloved irises in it.
6. A bottle which held an organic fruit drink now holds a sprouting acorn, which I pulled up from my lawn. Squirrels bury them in autumn, and I have never seen one being retrieved. A mini forest grows at this time of the year.

Do you have anything to pop in a vase (or a bottle) this Monday? If you do, how about joining in with Cathy and her pals over at Rambling in the Garden.

Also joining Cee who has a glorious photo of a beautifully flouncy Bearded Iris for her Flower of the Day

Have you seen any of these little white spiders in your garden? I’ve seen a few recently having never seen them before. So cute!

I had to look it up and believe it is a Crab Spider.

They do not make webs but lie in wait for their prey. Some can turn yellow or light green if necessary to merge with their surroundings.

 

Summer

washed through with bright hope

looking up at Summer skies

drinking in the rays

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge, prompt words: HOPE and UP

Our Weekly Photo Challenge: SUMMER

I was wondering which photo to choose to represent Summer and walked out of my front door to be greeted by the first Stargazer Lily to open this year – mmmmm that scent – mmmm those colours – says Summer to me.

What would your SUMMER photo be – to join in, leave a link in the comments.

Click here to see the prompts for the coming weeks

Next week’s Photo Challenge Prompt

STREET

End of Month View

The weeds have made a lot of progress, but I see (comparing with last month’s photo) I haven’t!

On the plus side, I have been eating and giving away a huge amount of raspberries. The first flush is now over so I have taken out all of last year’s growth leaving some very leggy canes. They do have lots of flower buds on them so hopefully this autumn fruiting variety will bring some more juicy berries.

I gave them a good water and then mulched with homemade compost to help them along.

The so-called thornless blackberries have finally started to look promising – threatening them with removal if they did not improve obviously worked.

and the loganberries have been superb!

So much weeding to do!

Joining in with The Patient Gardener’s EoMV discovered at Cathy’s Rambling in the Garden, who also hosts the fabulous In a Vase on Monday.

Pop over to both of those blogs for an international garden fest and see what REAL gardeners get up to!

Happy gardening!

 

Beach Clean Vase on Monday

Still a little obsessed with my latest project – Beach Clean Art, I have set this oh-so-cute square vase filled with monbretia in front of one of my in-progress paintings and surrounded it with bits and pieces I have collected from the beach whilst doing my bit for the 2 Minute Beach Clean.

and

using these beach clean pieces for a backdrop again, this time complete with beach clean ‘Cleopatra’

and Tate Modern brooch

Tate Modern is selling these as a fund raiser to celebrate the new extension – exciting times, I hope to visit soon.

I have been developing the background canvases I showed you in this post, with a bit of stamping

A very roughly drawn ammonite (with a pencil) on the back of a polystryrene pizza packing disc has created some pretty good stamps I think.

I’ve been playing with bits of beach-clean to see which will make the finished piece.

These pieces are just laid on with no fixings whilst I decide – fixing everything securely is what takes the time – that is the work – all else is play.

 

I like the idea of fixing the smaller canvas to the larger, creating a little shelf – ooo i am having fun!

What do you think – does it work?

Joining in with Cathy’s inspired international garden flowers meme

and

Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Monbretia with morning dew.

Photo Challenge Round-Up: Zest

This painting shrieks ZEST to me!

paint squirted

happy shouts of glee

create art

~

Jane at Rainbow Junkie……. …………… ……St. Clements

Cathy at Nanacathy…….. ……. ……….. …….Search

 me at Wild Daffodil……… ……… ……….   Degree

💜 Denis at Haiku Hound…….. ……….. …… blossoms

Christina at A Look at the Little Things ……. …Dad

Del at CurlsnSkirls ……………………………mmmm  chocolate

Dorris at Dig With Dorris ……………………. Abundance

 

The  denotes a post that is also joining in with Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge – it’s fun to combine the two.

Please let me know if I have missed anyone

Thank you everyone for your entries all so full of ZEST

Four fab photo fiends created the 52 Week Photo Challenge, we are:

• Cathy from Nanacathydotcom
• Jane from Rainbowjunkiecorner
• Melissa from The Aran Artisan
• Sandra from Wild Daffodil

 

Next photo prompt is

STRENGTH

Photo Challenge Round-Up:Round

 

Joining in for a round of photo challenge magic are:

Jane at Rainbow Junkie……. …………… ……reflective

Cathy at Nanacathy…….. ……. ……….. …….spin

 me at Wild Daffodil……… ……… ………. . floral

💜 Denis at Haiku Hound…….. ……….. ……orbital

Christina A Look at the Little Things ……. …meow

Dorris at Dig With Dorris ………………….in the garden

 

The  denotes a post that is also joining in with Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge – it’s fun to combine the two.

Please let me know if I have missed anyone

Thank you everyone for your well-rounded entries.

Four fab photo fiends created the 52 Week Photo Challenge, we are:

• Cathy from Nanacathydotcom
• Jane from Rainbowjunkiecorner
• Melissa from The Aran Artisan
• Sandra from Wild Daffodil

Next up

ZEST

Join in any time and leave a link to your post in the comments

Round

Photo Challenge prompt: ROUND in our 52 Week Photo Challenge

The hydrangeas in my garden are at their most beautiful stage at the moment.

In a Vase on Monday: Cathy has challenged us to create a minimalist or ikebana style arrangement of flowers from  our garden this week – my very favourite style – and because my current creative obsession is using trash from the beach to create art  – here is my take on it

I couldn’t decide which placement I preferred, which do you like best?

hydrangea’s soft blues

growing bigger and brighter with time

like childhood dreams

~

 

Joining in with Ronovan’s Weekly Haiku Challenge, this week’s prompts: TIME and GROW

hydrangea’s soft blues growing bigger and brighter with time

growing bigger and brighter with time like childhood dreams

~

And for Cee’s Flower of the Day ………….

 

This hydrangea grows just next to my ‘field’ of lychnis

with a few self seeded mallows and purple toadflax thrown in

My front garden is alive with bugs, buzzing and beasties – a complete joy to behold.

Next week’s Photo Challenge Prompt is

ZEST

 

 

Photo Challenge Round Up: REPEAT

Jane at Rainbow Junkie……. …………… ……patterns

Cathy at Nanacathy…….. ……. ……….. ……button holes

 me at Wild Daffodil……… ……… ………..beach

💜 Denis at Haiku Hound…….. ……….. ……sky theatre

Christina A Look at the Little Things ……. …cryptic

 Srivi at Piscean Me……………. ………… ….sea

The  denotes a post that is also joining in with Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge – it’s fun to combine the two.

The  denotes a post with a poem or haiku written to go with the photo, but not using  Ronovan’s prompt words.

Please let me know if I have missed anyone

Thank you everyone for your repetitious entries.

Four fab photo fiends created the 52 Week Photo Challenge, we are:

• Cathy from Nanacathydotcom
• Jane from Rainbowjunkiecorner
• Melissa from The Aran Artisan
• Sandra from Wild Daffodil

 

The photos were taken in a private garden in Cerne Abbas, Dorset

Next week’s photo prompt is

ROUND

Vase OM and EoMV

Pan guards the entrance

flowers celebrate wildness

and happy buzzing bees

The little stone statue of Pan was found in a reclamation yard many years ago, and then found again yesterday whilst I was weeding, hidden under some rampant aquilegias. I thought he would be better placed guarding the fairy entrance to the underworld under the oak tree, but first he had a job to do – modelling as the prop for this week’s In a Vase on Monday, hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. Pop across for a gorgeous floral feast and a tour of gardens across the world.

In the Vase: lavender, birdsfoot trefoil, cerinthe, lychnis, alchemilla mollis, and a purple thistle-flowered weed that I don’t know the name of, much loved by tiny bees.

My Flower of the Day is the BFT

with its tiny visitor

I’m staying in the garden to show you my EOMV hosted by Helen, The Patient Gardener

Still lots to do but I’m getting there. I have moved a veg trug into the cage to get away from marauding sparrows. The wood was rotting so I have treated it and it awaits compost and plants.

Below is the view looking from East to West, complete with old bits of carpet keeping the strawberries clear of the soil.

The Autumn fruiting raspberries seem determined to take over the world – their lush growth is wonderful to see.

On Cathy’s advice I did not cut back last year’s canes in February and I am getting a lovely early raspberry crop – Yum!!!! They are a bit smaller than last year and a bit more difficult to find under all the new growth, but worth it for being early.

The loganberry is magnificent and I have already had a few berries. It seems very happy with its north-facing position.

At last some decent gardening weather has turned up so I’d better get out there and clear more weeds.

Thanks for dropping by.

In a Vase: White

Cathy, of Rambling in the Garden, has been inspired by Christina, of My Hesperides Garden  this week and is celebrating blogging friendship with a vase full of beautiful white flowers from her garden – which in turn has inspired my vase.

This little white jug has Tiarella Sky Rocket, a self seeded white lavender, saxifrage and erigeron.

The props are some crocheted daisies ready to adorn a blanket for Miss E. I started this way back in April last year, doing the many squares for the border has halted the process, but it is her birthday coming up and I really want to finish the blanket in time.

Here it is without a border

and here is the border in progress with daisies arranged by Miss E

40 squares and 12 daisies and so many ends to sew in!

I am also creating a pattern for the blanket so that if I ever did want to make one again (?!) I will have the instructions to hand. This will be available as a free pattern for anyone else who would like to give it a go.

White flowers are my favourite and despite the heavy rain this morning I managed to find some in the garden for another vase

In the vase on the left there is feverfew, astrantia, and a perennial white wallflower with a gorgeous scent, especially at dusk.

The vases are sitting amongst the pot plants: a white orchid,

Streptocarpus Rhiannon

and Streptocarpus Myfanwy

Do pop on over to see Cathy’s vase and all the others that come pouring in from all over the world always lifting a Monday with beauty.

Also joining in with Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Happy Monday!

Update: Some photos of the plant which I think is a perennial white wallflower

Am I right?

Photo Challenge Round Up: NATIVE

Mint moth on

pear leaf after rain

a welcome sight

~

As far as I can discover the Mint Moth is native to the British Isles. This one was a visitor to my garden this week. So tiny.

Also going Native this week:

Jane at Rainbow Junkie……. …………… ………juicy

Cathy at Nanacathy…….. ……. ……….. …….crafty

 me at Wild Daffodil……… ……… ……….  weedy

💜 Melissa at The Aran Artisan ……………..singing

 Denis at Haiku Hound…….. ……….. …  friendly

Christina A Look at the Little Things …….  goosey

Dorris at Dig with Dorris ………… …… …   admiral

The  denotes a post that is also joining in with Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge – it’s fun to combine the two. Click on the link to see his review of the week’s wonderful haiku collection using the prompt words: FRESH and WIND

Miss E (aged8) asked me what the prompts were this week and wrote this poem

fresh wind

fresh wind

blows in my face

fresh wind

fresh wind

sometimes in disgrace

fresh wind

fresh wind

makes a lovely sound

fresh wind

fresh wind

blows sand around

~

When I asked her to tell me a bit more about the wind being in disgrace she said she that is because the wind does damage and  “You don’t like it when it’s windy Granny”. She’s right, I don’t!

The  denotes a post with a poem or haiku written to go with the photo, but not using  prompt words.

Please let me know if I have missed anyone

Thank you everyone for all the NATIVE entries.

Join in this week the next Photo Prompt is

HEAT

(if only the weather would oblige)

You can join in the Photo Challenge any time, click on the link to find out how to and see all the subjects for the weeks ahead.

~