It made me realise what a contrast the Lake District can offer as we had had a picnic by Wast Water earlier.
Today I have put in some calendulas and it is hot - as it was yesterday - 25.5C.
Of course last year's marigolds are still flowering!
This is an honesty given to us by S and the colour is fairly accurate - perhaps a bit pink. I have the white but this is intense, not like the usual rather pale version.
I rather like having unusual colour varieties of plants - still looking for a true blue rose. Our friends brought us a super floribunda called Supertrooper which I have now planted near the other roses.
There was always a problem with the rose bed in that it was bordered by a large area of paving but the difficulty was resolved when we were given some forgetmenotsby another friend of R. They are wonderful at the moment but they do go a bit scraggy later in the year and have to be pulled up. Then there is an interval whilst we await the growth of self sown seedlings. One snag is that the forgetmenots sow themselves in the other beds, in the wood, everywhere.
One of the weeding jobs is pull up errant plants.
The last picture is of a flower
arrangement R has done from the garden, sitting on the woodburner which I hope is redundant for the summer.The grass on the banking and in the wood is knee high but I cannot cut (or strim - hooray!) it because of the daffodils still in leaf - they need to build up their bulbs for next year.
Our friends have just prized themselves away from the view from the house over Morecambe Bay and headed home. He is a magician but not all magic is sleight of hand?
The house martins are building, no they are not, yes they are, no they are not but the swallows, which were not, possible are, I think?
If you are now confused then you seem to share this with the birds. Perhaps this is where the phrase - away with the birds - comes from?
Mildew and self setting is worth it for the blue haze along the path and glad to hear the Hirundinidae are now settling in to domestic bliss.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, you and R have a beautiful garden personified in that arrangement. Like the idea of letting it become more wild as you age and just mowing your way through.