A Lost Shadow

IMAGES CAN BE ENLARGED BY CLICKING ON THEM – TWICE IF NECESSARY

Ronan the Boilerman fitted a new thermostat to our hot water cylinder tank this morning. That means we no longer scald our hands and have to turn on the cold tap every time we want to wash them.

Jackie spent much of the day weeding and planting.

Elizabeth's bed

Once The Head Gardener had prepared it, I covered Elizabeth’s bed with compost. It took eight bags.

Brick path

The gradual burgeoning throughout the garden can be seen, for example, along the Brick Path – and, yes, Jackie has smuggled in another owl since this was las displayed –

Margery's Bed

and along Margery’s Bed, in the foreground of which a geranium palmatum has pushed its way into the light.

Tulips and pansiesTulips

We have varieties of tulip,

tulipa saxatilis lilac wonder

including tulipa saxatilis lilac wonder;

Daffodils

daffodil;

Aquilegia

and aquilegia.

Japanese maple

elegant leaves stretch their fingers out from this Japanese maple.

Pulmonaria and heuchera

Pulmonaria crops up everywhere,

Bee on pulmonaria

attracting equally hirsute bees clutching petals as they suck the nectar.

Butterfly Small White and honesty

Butterflies, like this Small White flitting from honesty to honesty, are also back,

Poppy and shadow

as are poppies, one of which, like Peter Pan, has lost its shadow.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s choice Ferndene Farm Shop chilli pork sausage casserole, mashed potato, carrots and Brussels sprouts, followed by chocolate eclairs. The Cook drank Hoegaarden, whilst I consumed more of the madiran.

68 comments

  1. It looks to have been a bright sunny day. I especially like the red and white striped tulips and the pale daffodils. And I finally looked up Madiran to find out what it is. Apparently it’s a healthy and delicious choice!

  2. Jackie can be a sly fox when comes to those owls, but I suppose her cooking makes it all worth while!! Have a great evening you two!

  3. I saw a lot of varieties of tulip, but your tulipa saxatilis lilac I never saw it, Derrick. It’s fabulous. I also liked very much your aquilegia. It is beautiful in 2 colors.

  4. Butterflies hate me, probably because I refuse to chase after those prima donnas. I have found a few poppies around my new home, which was a pleasant surprise. But my poppies don’t look like your poppies. In fact, the flowers in your English garden look a little lazy, pampered, and spoiled. All the flowers in New Mexico work hard every day, so they’re not as pretty. 🙂

  5. Oh it is all just so beautiful. Nothing like White Cliffs, hey! I missed commenting on an earlier post, but I wanted to send you commiserations about the show. It would have been nice to have a bigger attendance and of course to sell a couple of shots. Perhaps an open garden day, with photos available on the day might go over well later in Spring?

  6. What a beautiful day to take garden photos. Oh my! I think the aquilegia is my new favorite flower, Derrick. I’ve never seen one before, but your photo is spectacular.

  7. Wow! The extraordinary variety of plants surpasses my memories if your beautiful garden last year, Derrick! Tell Jackie any and all owls or birds are fine with me. 🙂
    The one tulipa (and other large complicated additions) saxatilus lilac wonder, the poppy were so great while the Japanese maples leaves reaching skyward were stunning. 🙂

  8. Great series. Our yard and garden are still in very early stages of winter recovery. purple crocuses bloomed, but the much else looks like someone is preparing an area for shooting a WWI movie .

  9. What a beautiful garden. Really impressive, is this something you’ve done for a while? We at Gastradamus love gardeners, we really do and we need people like you to review our stories. We are looking for everyone’s opinion, and are trying to branch out to the plant people, we love them. We love the earth, we love the great poets out there and we love this planet. Please when you have the chance, check out my blog at Gastradamus, we love the green people and the environmentalist.

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