Ferns Unfurling

This afternoon Jackie drove me to Sears Barbers at Milford on Sea, where Peter cut my hair. We continued into the forest.

This lane is one we traversed at North Ripley.

From high ground near Linford we admired landscapes over farmland. Horses may be seen in some, and a stretch of hawthorn in another.

The Modus is still managing to cope with the narrow, winding, crumbling Holmsley Passage, on the verges of which bracken is unfolding.

Back at home I dead-headed clusters of the diurnal poppies. On the way round the garden I paused to take a few photographs. Blue solanum scales several arches, and the large wisteria drapes its arbour outside the stable door. Sculptural euphorbias tower in the beds, and clumps of erigeron carpet paving stones and walls. Geraniums macrorrhizum are sweetly scented and make good ground cover. Another rhododendron is blooming in the Palm Bed. A wasp makes a beeline for the open flower in the close-up image of this. The last of these photographs is of Libertia.

A number of our own ferns are unfurling.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s deliciously spicy pork paprika, boiled potatoes, crisp carrots, and tender runner beans, with which I drank more of the Garnacha Syrah.

59 comments

    1. Road maintenance is one of the tasks that has fallen by the wayside since the crash. They do what they can here, though, because it is such a tourist area. We’ll have to see what happens. Thanks very much, Pauline

  1. You can almost see the ferns unfurling!
    Such lovely photos–and it looks like you had such a beautiful drive down that lane (newly shorn). πŸ˜‰

  2. Beautiful Roll on Summer. -However I did see a photograph of some Gorse. In Australia it is known as Spanish Gorse and was introduced as a hedging plant. It escaped, as many imports have, and now can be found covering acres of land. One of our top ten noxious weeds and very difficult to eradicate.

      1. There are regular ‘controlled burnings’ of the Gorse in the forest. warning signs are put up, (to stop folks from reporting a forest fire I think), We often drive past large areas of blackened remains of burnt gorse.

  3. We don’t have such bracken ferns here, but I made a recent trip to a place a little over two hours away where there are ferns, and it was a delight to see them. I always enjoy it when I find similar species in quite different settings — I like that Texas and England can share some things in common.

  4. Very lovely. Ferns are a very special plant. Of course, we do not have them in Arizona. I’m sure they couldn’t survive here.

  5. Good morning Derrick!!

    Imagine the world without any feathers
    Without an angelβ€”wing in tether
    What would be the calling of a thing?
    Like a Turtledove, without a ring.

    Imagine this world without a marriage
    What needs, then us, of a horse and carriage?
    The Hurst has been forever busy, as a bee
    Who’d want to buttonhole a flower upon me?

    Imagine the world without any magic spells
    What child would throw pennies downs the well?
    Love is but a ripple on a mill pond
    And time a green unfurling fern-frond.

    Mark Heathcote

  6. From barbershop to forest to farmland to garden…I can’t imagine a better outing and photography jaunt! πŸ™‚
    I love ferns! When we lived in the redwoods in Northern California there were lots of ferns growing everywhere! Then when we moved, I grew ferns for myself at my next home. πŸ™‚
    All the plants you shared photos of are beautiful, Derrick! And some of the plants have such perfect symmetry! πŸ™‚
    Ha! I typed “pants” instead of “plants” and had to correct it! πŸ˜€
    Oh, and yay for a haircut, too! πŸ™‚
    HUGS!!! for you and Jackie!!! πŸ™‚

  7. Simply superlative photos today Derrick! Your garden seems to provide unending variety! πŸ™‚

    Curiously, i also photographed some Solarnum in my garden today that has revived and flowered after almost drying out and dying in our loong Summer . I’ll post some pics later and you can see how mine differ. Yours have many more flowers in a single bunch!

    I was also treated to a very rare visitor of the avian kind which i might have to post tomorrow, as i took so many photos it will take ages to select which ones to put online. πŸ™‚

  8. Living in NW Montana where spring is barely visible and we had anther gray rainy day, these photos and your apt descriptions were a breath of fresh air. Thank you, Derrick.

  9. I had a haircut today too. πŸ˜€ … short back-n-sides for the summer season, but my ears are sure feeling all those Spring drafts. πŸ˜€

  10. We had a large bed of ferns at our previous house, one of my favourite things. I used to wonder how things were growing out there. But we drove by once, only to see they’d dug out the perennial beds and put down gravel to make the whole back yard a parking area. Ugg! Talk about paved paradise…thug life :/

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