Not For The Birds

This was a day of wind, rain, colder temperatures, coats, and central heating. A bit like Dunedin’s winter.

During a brief period of lessening rain Jackie continued her work on securing sweet peas and other climbing plants; rehanging baskets; and setting other planters back on their perches.

Here are some of the finished projects. The begonias in the penultimate image lost a few broken stems from which Jackie is attempting to produce roots. She is doing the same with a proliferation of pelargoniums.

These ginger lilies happily survived.

Most flowers were bejewelled with raindrops.

This was not a day for little birds to come out and play.

We dined this evening on a second sitting of Hordle Chinese Take Away’ excellent fare with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Shiraz.

74 comments

  1. Derrick, those tiny droplets on window pane!! Such an awesome photograph 👌👌
    Loved seeing Jackie taking care of garden with so much love and passion. Lots of love and hugs 💞

      1. I am so sorry for the trouble Derrick. I am renovating the site, probably something went wrong. I am not too good with technology. It will take some more time to get it in proper shape.
        You don’t worry about it. I am really happy to go through your blog, your beautiful photography and stories. I am not good with photography, but I really admire good pictures,and specifically if pictures are about gardening,. I guess I am slowly becoming an admirer of you and Jackie!!

  2. Hi D – I love the layout of this post – not mobile today and so I was able to feel the beauty of the large opening photo (droplets and color and mood)
    and then the way the collage of Jackie – (( with gloves and wearing black – seemed like a professional photo shoot and the way you chose the layout gallery made it nice))
    and then down to the next large image (nice lilies) and another closing grid layout –
    oh and fun word choices:
    proliferation of pelargoniums
    ahhhhh

    1. Very much appreciated, Yvette. Struggling with the Gutenberg editor has been a pain. I’m also pleased you liked the proliferation of pelargoniums – trying to get used to the proper word for geraniums 🙂 Thank you.

      1. my pleasure – and did not know the proper name so that is cool – but did know that geranium is good for woman’s hormones – or can be – and also know that is can be a bug deterrent

  3. Indeed! Except for the proliferation of colourful flowers Jackie could be ready to come on our morning walk with us – though she’ll need a hat and warmer gloves……… Great shot of raindrops on windows. Poor Nugget must have been really cold not to come out and play today.

  4. What a horribly wet and cold day it was today! As I type this I am still listening to the rain on the windows. We have another windy weekend ahead I see – I hope Jackie’s lovely garden survives it!
    The raindrops look wonderful on those blooms!

  5. Surprisingly, the sun is starting to shine here in Geelong, and we are in for a few fine days in a row….. Your beautiful flowers are recovering well Derrick…..

  6. I admire Jackie’s hard work on taking care of your Gardens after the harsh weather. I remember doing this with Terry many times in our gardens back at our former home in Dallas. It’s a never heading project for sure and I appreciate all her hard work and of course yours as well assisting her!

  7. I admire Jackie’s hard work on taking care of your Gardens after the harsh weather. I remember doing this with Terry many times in our gardens back at our former home in Dallas. It’s a never heading project for sure and I appreciate all her hard work and of course yours as well assisting her!

  8. I love your garden! My sweet peas hung on valiantly till mid-August and finally succumbed to the onslaught of heat. They usually don’t make it past July. I love them so.

    1. My ‘proper’ sweet peas also went over at the end of July, despite regular dead heading! The ones I am re-tying are everlasting sweet peas, look ok but are unscented sadly. They come out later and last over august and into Sept.( if you dead-head regularly!).

  9. Jackie’s perseverance and hard work will surely pay dividends, if not this year then in the next! 🙂

    I see it was a ‘2 glasses’ day! 😉

    I too hope little Nugget is safe and snug and as dry as possible – everyone is entitled to at least one day of rest. 🙂

    Love the Hibiscus shot, although it is a variety i am unfamiliar with?

    Geraniums and Pelargoniums are quite tricky, for although they are two seperate genera, the Pelargoniums (or storksbills) are frequently called geraniums. The true Geraniums (or cranebills – named because of the birds parts of their flower resemble) are generally symetrically shaped with even sized petals all around, while the Pelargoniums tend to have two distinct ‘upper’ petals and 3 lower ones, sometimes of different size. God bless Wikipedia! 😉

    I am hoping (without very much confidence) that the rain abates today and we get to see/hear something of the scheduled battle between your team and mine on the ‘home’ of cricket’s pitch! 🙂 ☔

  10. That’s a great definition of the differences between P’s andG’s! Over here I tend to simply say that ,one (pelargoniums) are not winter hardy, and geraniums are!

    1. Thanks Jackie! I have an ivy-leaved geranium, but it is a pelargonium!

      It’s still a long way from Spring here but the ‘geranium’ is growing like crazy after almost dying in Summer – go figure?? 😕

  11. Hey, Derrick! Hey, Jackie!
    I love the “raindrop bejeweled” flowers!
    And that first photo is so beautiful! Great shot, Derrick!
    Jackie gives so much tender loving care to all of the plants and flowers! As a way of thankfulness, they show their faces and smile for her!
    Hope Little Nugget (and all of the birds) are safe, dry, and warm. I worry about them are bad weather days.
    HUGS!!! 🙂

  12. I love the photos of the “bejeweled” petals. The bright blooms of your garden light up the dreary day. I also like the photos of Jackie so thoughtfully caring for the plants.

  13. I imagine Nugget is somewhere snug, with her/his little feet up, sipping a insect-mocca hot beverage, after having perused your book collection and selecting something suitable. 🙂

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