Monday snippets!

Last year, I was given ‘The Poet’s Wife’ by Nich and Lizzie. You might well ask, ‘Did the poet not want her any more?!’ 😂 😂😂

However, as most of you probably know, ‘The Poet’s Wife’ is a rose and this particular rose came from David Austin Roses; it was planted in a lovely pot, so all I had to do was nurture it throughout the winter and spring. Easy as that! 

I almost always do well with plants; green fingers run in the family and my grandma was especially good at gardening. (Actually, she was good at everything, the more I think about it. Her cooking was superb; she could knit and sew; she could do beautiful smocking on dresses; she was an avid reader and she loved books. And if that’s not enough, she even laid down and had 9 children!!!)

I digress… let’s get back to The Poet’s Wife!

Throughout the winter and the spring, I watched this rose, frequently; something wasn’t right. It was spindley and puny!  We don’t do puny in my garden! 🤣 It certainly wasn’t doing well and when May arrived and with no improvement, short of throwing it away, I thought, ‘This calls for action before it’s too late!’ 

I removed it from its pot, I took away much of the original compost,I pruned it hard and then I repotted it into a smaller pot!

And now…In July, it has just produced this, below…it’s beautiful…and I should jolly well think so…it ought to be grateful! 😂 I’m very pleased. I hope that the poet doesn’t want her back as if he does…tough !

Meanwhile, this is where I spend much of my time…

A couple of months ago, I did something that I’ve never done. I’ve sown a lot of wild flower seeds, in fibre pots, in readiness to plant in and around the lawn. There is a Wild flower mixture, Birds Foot Trefoil, Ragged Robin and Ox Eye Daisies. I’ve already passed half of these to my son in law for his garden, as he too has the bug! As well as this, I’ve sown Foxgloves, Poppies, Honesty, Lupins and Comfrey. The greenhouse is a hive of activity.

Outside, the rain has at last arrived and freshened up everything very nicely, although the Geraniums aren’t quite as keen on the wet weather.

The Geraniums were grown from small plug plants and they will be useful for ‘fillers’ during August and September.

My Sweet Peas are going strong and I’ve had about a dozen good bunches to date; I don’t know what I’d do without Sweet Peas in the garden! I’ve already been buying packs to stash away for next year’s display.

The Hydrangeas are weird, nuts and bonkers! (That sounds like a great name for a firm of solicitors, doesn’t it? ) On one plant, I have these, ( below)…it’s as if the plant can’t make up its mind! I know all about soil ph and how that affects colour so I find it strange that here we have three different shades. When we moved in, last August, all of the Hydrangeas were a very vivid blue and so I’m watching with interest to see if that’s what will happen this August.

Other successes are the Dahlias, which I’ve constantly dead headed in order to encourage further blooms.. and this one, below, is so pretty…it’s not large and showy but just sits, quietly playing its part in what I always think is a grand, stage show at this time of year. 

I think that’s a great metaphor for the garden! The curtain rises in March/ April or sometimes even earlier if it’s a warm February ..and then the show begins! Each day is a joy as you are served up a wonderful ‘performance’. The actors and actresses do their thing, without a producer, without a choreographer and without anyone directing them! 

It’s better than a West End show, isn’t it? Marvellous!

The Penstemons, that I planted last year, have started to bloom. These were a bargain buy! A lucky dip of six plants for £1 !  I wasn’t going to turn that down, was I?

So, all is very good and yesterday, as I was sitting watching the tennis, just outside the door a beautiful Red Admiral landed on the purple, Bowles Mauve Erysimum ( another garden ‘must’ as it blooms constantly throughout the summer months and even beyond.) The butterfly stayed there all afternoon.

We are certainly lacking the number of butterflies in the garden that would’ve once inhabited this neighbourhood; I lived here as a child and remember quite clearly seeing them, in good numbers as well as grasshoppers. However, having said that, I was very heartened to hear, yesterday, that on the bridleway, not too far away, where you can walk from Aller to Coffinswell, there are plenty of butterflies flitting about, enjoying life!

Finally, yesterday, we noticed young blackbirds in the garden, and so it seems apt to finish with this pot stem, bought last year...it sort of fell into my basket when I was buying two others for Christmas presents! 

You can find the pot stems on this lovely site…

here

Meanwhile, I think I need a cuppa after typing all of that. Do have a lovely week, everyone!