Did Somebody Say Summer?

Gentle Reader ~~~ Can you feel it? Do you smell it? There ~~~ just a fleeting glimpse and it is gone for a moment, but will be here again shortly ~~~ of course, I am talking about Autumn, for I can barely contain my excitement that my favourite season of them all is nearly with us once more ~~~

Summer has barely appeared in the west, our temperatures struggled to break into the 60's and the wind has blown and the rain has rained ~~~ and most days the heating is on, especially in the late evenings, as the days begin to shorten and jewelled sunset, cloud~filled skies bedeck the horizon, with soft, rose~gold light welcoming the evening, bidding the day a fond farewell, and slipping into the rich, velvety purple of a moonlight night ~~~

I am not complaining! I cannot take the heat so this cooler, more tempered weather has suited me well, although a little less wind and rain would not have gone amiss ~~~

Regrettably, I did not complete the ICAD challenge this year.  I was unwell, then Mum was unwell, and over a week went by, and I fell so far behind in the daily challenge that it suddenly became catchup and a chore. Art is not about being a chore, it is all about pleasure, and that is why I'm not taking part for the remainder, but who knows what I will get up to next?  Thank you all for your very kind comments and encouragement, and maybe next year some of you will take part too?

So, how does my garden grow?  With all the rain it grows rather well, despite the lack of warming sun, it is quite lush and verdant, and as we might expect the weeds are doing exceptionally well ~~~ {insert hysterical laughter here} I even managed to miss one week of putting out the fortnightly garden waste collection, so shame on me!

Nature is quite a miracle, she keeps things ticking over, even during periods of neglect ~~~ here are some pictures of what flowered ~~~

The firey orange of the Crocosmia Lucifer which has done particularly well
this year ~~~

with the purple beauty of the dwarf clematis ~~~

The gentle, innocent, and daisy~like flowers of Feverfew ~~~

and the delicate pink of a cultivated Verbascum ~~~

or the feathery blue of a Nigella ~~~ Love in a Mist ~~~

a patch of borage, perfect to garnish your Pimms or G&T ~~~

Lots of different grasses bring interest, movement, and neutral colour to the garden ~~~

and my favourite, native Mullein {Verbascum}

Now I have a conundrum {yet again!} and we must wait and see ~~~ I discovered a beautiful, peachy pink poppy growing on the side of the drive ~~~ it has all the attributes of the wild field poppies that are strewn over my entire garden, yet it is this pretty, and very unusual colour.

At first, I thought a bloom had bleached out in the sun, but then successive flowers opened in the same colour, so I have tied raffia around the stem to mark it out and will harvest the seed heads separately in the hopes that it will come true again in the future. Fingers Crossed ~~~ I would love to know if you have any suggestions or thoughts on this too ~~~

Here is the sunset that graced our westering skies last evening ~~~

Can you see the animal {be it cat, dog, or maybe even a unicorn?} galloping across the evening sky?  Remember, don't look too hard at my garden, just see all the beautiful blooms, the raindrops, and the sunsets ~~~ and ignore the weeds!

Until next time ~~~
Sincerely yours ~~~ Deborah

Papaver Orientalis "Royal Wedding"

Gentle Reader ~~~

Very little, other than nature allowed free reign, is happening in the garden, but I managed a few quick moments to capture the perfection of poppies that are bursting forth in brightly, blousy, beauty even as I type ~~~

I apologise to those of you who also blog, that I am struggling to read, never mind leave comments, on your lovely online journals, but I am hoping to get a round to doing so very soon. I know there are many lovely words and pictures to look forward to ~~~

Some three years ago, just as the plants in pots were going over at the local independent Plantsman's Garden Centre, I picked up a bargain of two pots of oriental poppies for the knock~down price of just £4.00!!! I could not resist, especially as they were Royal Wedding and Patty's Plum ~ two beautiful poppies, but then, when poppies are in your top five most favourite plants, what poppy isn't beautiful in its papery and transient delicate froth of tissue paper petals ~~~

You may remember, a week or so ago, that I shared photographs of my Coral Sea oriental, and now the Royal Wedding is coming in to rival it in all its majesty.

Royal Wedding is the most pristine white bloom imaginable, and releases from the green bud in a crumpled mass of petals that rival any royal wedding gown ~~~ the centre is deep purple and pink, with dark spots and it is one of my absolute favourites in the orientals that I grow ~~~

This was the first bloom to open, and is perfectly offest with early flowering borage bridesmaids in attendance ~~~ also, the perfect garnish for your royal Gin and Tonic ~~~

Wild foxgloves, too, adorn the garden ~~~

and I think I'm in poppy heaven ~~~

Set against a perfect blue and cloudless sky ~~~

Let us take a closer peek, shall we?

~~~in we go ~~~

Wouldn't this make a perfect hat for Royal Ascot that Gertrude Shilling would be proud of ~~~

I just love the colours and textures, so full of  movement too, in the omnipresent breezes of the Shire ~~~




and now there are two ~~~

So perfectly pristine, so glistening, blisteringly white, in the bright, early morning light as the sun climbs from the east, rising into the pristine and clear blue sky above my cottage in the Shire ~~~

Papaver Orientalis "Coral Sea"

Gentle Reader ~~~

Today, I'm sharing with you one of my favourite stars of my flower borders ~ my Papaver Orientalis "Coral Sea" ~ a beautiful, oriental poppy in the most delicious shade of orangey pink ~~~ {the colour reproduction here does not do it justice}

I bought a small potted plant from a local, independent plantsman's garden that just took my fancy about five years ago, and when I got it home I struggled to find a spot for it. In it went though, with not much thought other than concern to get it into the ground, and it obviously loves its spot, for it flourishes ~~~ the first year it rewarded me with about eight tea cup sized blooms of the most delicate tissue papery flowers I think I have ever seen. The following year, the plant nearly doubled in size and gave me about eighteen blooms, slightly bigger, and staggered in their flowering so that the beauty graced that corner for a few weeks longer than the previous year.

In its third year, the plant was even bigger and there were so many blooms {I lost count after thirty} that I now no longer count them, I just look for their arrival and eagerly await their grand entrance, for, although short lived {only a few brief days each bloom} they are big and blousey now, each bloom around five inches across, but still of the most delicate nature, like tissue paper dresses to adorn a prima ballerina as she sweeps across the stage, delighting all who see ~~~

The buds are gorgeously green and fabulously fat, and quite hairy, resembling a misshapen Kiwi fruit ~~~

For days the slowly appear, pushing upwards from the mass of leaves that form the plant, teasing me as more and more appear in the wings ~~~

Each passing day, they plump and fatten ~~~ until ~~~ one sunny Saturday morning as Spring is slowly turning to Summer ~~~

~~~and then the real magic begins ~~~ on Sunday ~~~ as the bud bursts open ~~~ and the true beauty is revealed ~~~

It is quite unfortunate that, as the buds begin to burst, {and many are ready to do so in the next few days} a band of torrential rain and high fifty to sixty mile an hour winds is set to sweep across us from the wild Atlantic and this is not the first year this has happened ~ oh! Timing is Everything! The first few buds will be sacrificed to the weather, but after that the forecast calls for lighter winds, warmer days, with no rain so the buds~in~waiting have a better chance of showing off their splendour.

As each year turns the seasons, the plant just goes from strength to strength, and now I am watching as it spreads around a nearby rose shrub and now covers several square feet in my border! I maybe should consider seeing if I can divide the root and make more plants to spread around the borders, increasing the beauty even more ~~~ there are more Papaver Orientalis too ~ a Royal Wedding {white petals and darkest navy blue centre} and a perfectly plumptiously plummy Patty's Plum and they sit in my 'holding bed' where they, too, are multiplying madly! Hurrah for Free Plants!

~~~A Gardener's Work is Never Done ~~~

The Weather is Changeable

Gentle Reader ~~~ the weather is very changeable.  Another year brings the same question: "What has happened to Spring?" for here we are in early June and yesterday I kept the heating on for most of the day!

~~~They say it is the wettest Spring on record {with more rain to follow} but we haven't had that much rain here, or so it seems. 
~~~They say it is the third warmest Spring since records began {I love that "since records began" ~~~ I often wonder when did 'records begin' ~~~ it makes me smile} but where?  Certainly not here, for I am still wearing winter layers and the heating is on every evening. 

Well, there isn't much we can do about it, but it gives us something to talk about ~~~ as if we need encouraging?

Last night, a band of thunderstorms swept up from the south across most of Britain.  We were in the earlier barrage, so by morning the worst of it was gone and I awoke to sparkling clean windows ~~~ one more job off the list then ~~~ for nature sometimes has a way of helping with the housework.  The day was grey, then it brightened up a tad, greyed over again and played with us, teasing us with sunshine from time to time, but now the sun is definitely here to play.  The garden is glorious, freshly washed from the rain, all bright and beautiful in the brilliant sunshine, dancing gaily in the slightly too stiff a breeze which is cooling things down maybe a little too much for such bright sunshine.  Long sleeves still needed, too cold for shorts.  Not that I wear shorts, but if I did it would not be warm enough today.

I never fail to be amazed at how quickly weed seeds grow, certainly the appear to sprout out of nowhere overnight into nearly full grown plants, and so much more quickly than things I want to be growing ~~ like my vegetables!  Why, it is less than two weeks since I cleared a patch for my courgettes {when they are ready for transplanting} and about the same time I sowed my courgette seeds, on May 26th.  So, here is the patch {which I covered with a scrap of netting to stop cats scratching around in it} and look how green it is already ~~~

These are the Franchi Seeds of Italy courgette/zucchini 'Romanesco' that I particularly like for their deeply ridged skins and buttery yellow flesh that, to me, is quite superior in taste ~~~

Courgette seeds have a pointy end and a rounded end, they say to sow with the pointy end up and the rounded end down for better germination, so this is how I sowed two seeds to each pot {later, the weaker of the two will be pricked out} hoping for 6 plants in all ~~~

As many of you know by now, I love to recycle, re~purpose, and re~use and this is re~purposing of those horrible filmy bags used in so many supermarkets these days, tied on tightly to make a free propagation unit, with a ready meal plastic tray as a saucer ~~~

 Then, today ~~~ Yay! the first tiny seed has pushed through the soil into the world! 

On now to some pretties for you to feast your eyes upon ~~~

I love my Verbascum, also called Mullein, and this is my dwarf verbascum that comes back every year.  I hope one day to be able to divide it, for it is a favourite of mine ~~~

A pink osteospermum with yellow and teal coloured centre ~~~

A gorgeous, tight rosebud ~~~

that opened into this beauty ~~~

The Oriental lilies are slowly opening to reveal their bright orange vibrancy ~~~

Oh, and one of my favourites, the rambler Frances E Lester, starting to open ~~~ I gave it a very hard pruning earlier and thought there would not be many blooms, but, oh! my! there are hundreds of clusters this year, I cannot count them, and there are thousands upon thousands of blooms like this to open!  I wait, with eager anticipation to see them later in the Summer ~~~

Rosa Rugosa, another fragrant favourite ~~~

 Laburnum, golden and dancing, overhangs from a neighbour's garden, I get the benefit for free! ~~~

and finally, a real hairy beast!  Would you just look at this poppy bud? ~~~

 So, Gentle Reader, my words are done, my images today are shared ~~~ more will follow soon, for remember that ~~~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~