A week of flowers : Day 5

Tags

a week of flowers, Bees, butterflies

Cathy of Words and Herbs has presented a challenge to cheer us all up:

From Sunday the 22nd through to Saturday the 28th let’s share a photo a day (or more than one if you like) of our flowers and gardens and brighten up this dreary time.”

Aster with Comma

Leucanthemella and Red Admiral

Buddlea and Red Admiral

Bee and echinacea

Day 5 flowers with butterflies and bees. A super cheerful sight.

Click the link above to see more cheerful floral photos. 🌞D.

Wordless Wednesday : E&B

Tags

Bees, echinops ritro veitchs blue, wordless wednesday

Echinops & Bees

Six on Saturday: stunning September

Tags

apple juice, Bees, Calamagrostis brachytricha, Cosmos, dried alliums, Echinacea Delicious Candy, sanguisorba canadensis, September, six on saturday

The weather the last few days has been glorious, warm, with highs of around 20c, blue skies and long shadows. Yet for gardeners it is a struggle to keep a garden looking fresh as it is so very dry.

Dry Alliums, hanging in the summer house. These are to my mind too pretty to compost and are almost as lovely as the Spring forms when they appear in shades of purple. These dried out skeleton alliums act as a reminder to pop a few more in this autumn. The first of my Six on Saturday

2. To quench the dry

These are my bottles of apple juice collected from Mr Nutkin, Tring’s Own Apple Juice. For £1.50 a bottle he can convert your apples and pears into juice. It prolongs shelf life of the fruit for up-to about 18months and is delicious too. Worth every penny.

3.

Bees are happily doing their thing on the Cosmos. No bees no fruit. Very welcome here I say.

4.Sanguisorba candanensis

I love these and they grow well on my nasty hard clay ground.

5.

These are the lovely tails of Calamagrostis brachytricha. They come into their own late in summer. Tactile.

6.Something sweet

This is Echinacea Delicious Candy. That colour is not enhanced in any way. Glorious in yer face pink.

These are my 6. Please join us and refer to the Propagator above to find out how.

Have a great weekend wherever you are. D.

Six on Saturday

Tags

Aster, Bees, Borage officinalis, Cosmos, Dahlia Bishop of Auckland, garden opening for charity, National Garden Scheme, six on saturday, stipa tenuissima, Verbena macdougalii Lavender Spires

I am under (self imposed) pressure to get the garden ready for its NGS opening on 29/9. Yesterday I made good progress chopping back, weeding and mulching and today a car full went to the tip. My Six today are some of the sights that I enjoyed this morning before the next round begins.

1.

The Bishop of Auckland. Dahlia. Finally throwing some flowers. Hope Brother Dorris and family like this one.

2.

Hairy bees and borage

3. Stipa tenuissima looking better for a comb to remove its sticky seeds.

4.

Rudbeckia maxima looking more upright than yesterday thanks to a bit of late staking. The wind yesterday had all but flattened them.

5.

Verbena macdougalii Lavender Spires. I especially like this variation for its curious fingers.

6.

The foliage of the Cosmos looks vibrant against the dark backdrop of Aster lateriflorus Lady in Black.

That’s it. Back to the weeding. Hoping you get chance to join in or read The Propagator post.

Have a good weekend, wherever you are. D.

In a vase on Monday: inspirational Kew

Tags

Allium christophii Astrantia major, Bees, Dale Chihuly, garden visit, in a vase on Monday, royal Botanic gardens Kew, the Hive, Wolfgang Buttress

Good morning. I spent a very enjoyable day at Kew Gardens yesterday. The weather held and the gardens looked as ever, glorious. The spectacular grounds are currently hosting an extraordinary selection of glassworks by Dale Chihuly .

As an idea of scale this orange piece is in front of the iconic glass house

‘Summer Sun’ Dale Chihuly

Rather like a mad medusa each single piece of blown glass twists and turns.

There are twelve pieces on display, all equally incredible.

‘Turquoise marlins’ Dale Chihuly

I love how the organic shape mimics the twisting trunk and branches of the tree.

Another great sight is The Hive an incredible 17m installation by Wolfgang Buttress. Built as a visual tribute to British bees. Read all about it on the link above.

The aluminium structure is a thing of beauty and made me think of the structure of Allium christophii which are in flower right now.

The shadows of Allium christophii in my Monday vase.

Allium christophii even the colour is slightly metallic. Joining our lovely host Cathy with my Monday vase.

Added to my Allium are Cerinthe, Astrantias, Geum Totally Tangerine and blue cornflowers.

Take a look at some of the other vases on Cathys blog, link above. If you haven’t been to Kew recently, or ever, I suggest you go, it will not disappoint.

Have a good week, wherever you are and thank you for reading. D.

Chelsea flower show

Tags

alliums, Andy Sturgeon, Bees, Chelsea flower show. 2019, d-day75, garden visit, green switch, John Everiss Design, Tom Stuart-Smith

Sloane Square, ready. Sun shining, tick. May 21st, it must be the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Alliums may not be top of the pops at the show this year but they are still number one for the bees.

Artisan gardens are hugely popular. Green Switch by Kazuyuji Ishihara rightly achieved an eleventh gold and drew the crowds.

Glorious acers and moss and room to park the motorcycle. A natural combination. Perhaps. The planting is exquisite.

The garden created by Tom Stuart Smith for RHS Bridgwater Garden, Salford Greater Manchester was full of wonderful planting combinations. Supposedly highlights of the 154 acre garden to be completed in 2020 this will most certainly be worth a visit.

Cornus kousa

The show gardens are covered in great detail by the BBC. I found their coverage somewhat obtrusive today.

Sure the film crews have a job to do but actually they were in the way on several gardens we were trying to view. RHS you seem to have forgotten that the paying public want to see the gardens not the back of the camera man and his equipment.

The D-Day 75 garden was a poignant tribute to the last surviving Normandy veterans. I am not sure if it has had any coverage. Designed by John Everiss it is hoped that the garden can be rebuilt on a site above Arromanches by 6/6/19 as a tribute to the veterans who now are approaching 100 years of age. DDay 75 is the link to the crowdfunding page.

M&G investments are once again sponsors of this years Show. Their garden by designer Andy Sturgeon was masterful. Described as green planting, I rather liked some of these planting combinations.

A brief roundup of my visit. Lots of glorious sights.

To finish

Ah.

Good night. D.

Wordless Wednesday: cardoon, crazy busy

Tags

Ascott house, Bees, Cardoon, Cynara cardunculous, July, National Trust, purple, Rothschild, wordless wednesday

52 Week Photo Challenge: hunt

Tags

52 Week Photo Challenge, Bees, blue, busy bees, hunt, Salvia nemorosa

Bees on the hunt for nectar, helping me fulfil this weeks photo challenge.  Sandra at https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com is one of the hosts for this meme.There will be lots of people out on the hunt.

I should not mind a bit of that sunshine, right now, or those bees or those blue salvia nemorosa.  No point hunting, we will have to wait until about May.

Wordless Wednesday: buzzing at Broughton Grange

Tags

Bees, broughton grange, echinacea, garden visit, wordless wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: pulling in the bees

Tags

Bees, blue, Salvia nemorosa, wordless Wednesdsy

Salvia nemorosa