His Favourite Suet Pellets

More sunshine periodically penetrated the clouds today.

Jackie spent much of the morning on general garden maintenance while I wandered around with a camera. Apart from the rhododendrons in the two pictures above

I focussed on two more flanking the Gazebo Path.

Bees were very busy. One filled its yellow sacs while flitting from one bristly borage plant to another.

The wisteria is really past its best, yet still interested a larger apian specimen.

Was it an attempt at camouflage that caused another to colour coordinate with its target orange poppy? On the left of this picture stands a spent seed head which will need decapitation in order to promote a new flower.

Clematises are today represented by Marie Boisselot scaling her obelisk above her Erigeron carpet;

by Niobe, seen against the kitchen wall alongside

Star of India scaling the wisteria arbour;

by Dr Ruppel (see doesitevenmatter3 comment below)

climbing above the Brick Path;

and by one of the Montanas supported by the now fading lilac.

Iris reticulates are quite prolific.

Offerings from the Rose Garden include

For Your Eyes Only,

Gloriana,

and Festive Jewel.

From the Pond Bed towards the copper beech the eye is taken back to the Rose Garden.

While I stood before the wisteria arbour horizontal rockets zoomed over my shoulder aiming for the bird feeders beneath it.

One of these was a wing-flailing Nugget

intent on giving his offspring a taste for his favourite suet pellets.

Now, “Where’s Nugget?” (75)

This evening we dined on spicy pepperoni pizza with plentiful fresh salad, with which Jackie drank Heineken and I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2018

 

 

87 comments

  1. People talk much at the moment about ‘a new normal’ and there is much trepidation about how we might adapt. Looking at all these glorious pictures and reading your commentary brings home to me how I have adapted to a new normal of somewhat different seasons here on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The lilac is only just beginning to bud, irises will not flower until June, Clematis similarly and we are still enjoying vibrant displays of daffodil and narcissi (sadly tulips don’t thrive here but one or two clumps are valiantly standing their turban-tops to attention. Hyacinth are still in bloom. The leaves on the birches are finally apparent and the willow is beginning to transform from bare to barely-there leaves – it will be another week before the sweeping swathes are once more rippling in the breeze. The first Spring I spent here I really struggled with the lateness of it all, winter like a tiresome guest just wouldn’t take it’s leave. Now it is simply my normal. I have adapted – rather than witter on about what I was used to for all those decades, I take delight in the speed with which the Springing forth takes place here. A new normal. In the end it is just the normal. Those shots of Nugget are astonishing.

    1. Like you, I am in a place where spring comes late – and I was used to an early and extended spring when I lived in California. It’s such fun to experience a longer, sooner spring with Derrick’s pictures and descriptions, isn’t it?

  2. I also found Nugget on the watering can. He is quite the character, isn’t he? Today Sher and I saw a Downy Woodpecker on a branch of the tree where our new flower plantings are located. We have heard the staccato but just today were treated to his appearance.

      1. I biggified on my computer and lo! There nugget was, as big as life. I could smell the wisteria this time, too. Your garden is truly an earthly delight, Derrick.

  3. Hello Nugget, there perched on the watering cans….. and thank you for all the violet/mauve & purple colours this morning Derrick…..

  4. I am always enamored with your photos and the descriptions of the various flowers. You are doing a great job learning from Jackie about the names of them all. I appreciate learning them, too. Jackie has done such a good job of organizing the garden into various zones, putting together plants of beautiful compatibility. It’s so inspiring! Thank yo for sharing, Darrick. Hugs to yo and Jackie. <3

  5. Your roses are splendid. Derrick! So are all the other flowers, but I am partial to roses.
    Mr Nugget is sitting on a watering can (I assume that’s what it is, but I am not sure) which stands on a bench under the feeder.

  6. I see Nugget by the yellow hose this time! What a lucky bird to have made a home in such a beautiful garden tended by caring humans!

  7. Jackie is busy as a bee for whom the entire garden is a flower. Those photographs present a wonderful vista. Nugget is on one of the black pots to the left of the door.

  8. Jackie is of course invited to the Elf house. No need to bring a bottle, just a pair of secateurs. Garden looks magnificent.
    I put some suet out for the friendly blackbird but got a magpie, a crow and a mouse. I have cleared it away now. Birds are welcome, pests not!

  9. Derrick, let me be the very last to say, “Less, Less”. There is just so much that the lover of gardens can take. But I’m glad you took that shot of the Niobe Clematis. I would have delighted in a post where you just showed me that one flower and that nuggety little red robin.

  10. Your bee photos bee bee-utiful, Derrick!
    ???
    So good to see Mr. Nugget! You clicked at THE exact right time to catch him with a pellet in his beak! Love that shot! 🙂
    I wonder how that Clematis got the name Doctor Ruppel. ???
    Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to name flowers…or crayons…or paint colors…Ha! I think so! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

    1. While I haven’t been able to confirm, based on the dates it is highly likely that Dr Ruppel was one of the few thousand Germans & their allies from across Europe who were able to escape to Argentina after WW2.

  11. That little Nugget is great at blending in with his surroundings, but I found him! It’s a good thing we are able to enlarge your pictures!!

  12. Nugget’s a gem, and your photo of him with the suet pellet is so fine. Still, I’ll admit to being caught by the comment about Jackie doing “general garden maintenance.” The more I look at your photos of that beautiful place, the more I realize just how much work has to be involved in keeping things (1) under control, and (2) beautiful. It’s always a pleasure to have a new view to enjoy.

  13. I like the way Jackie’s flowered shirt blended in with the garden flowers. Nugget is quite a character. I like the shot of him with the pellet in his mouth, and found him once I biggified.

    1. Jackie liked that blending, too. I had planned a “Where’s Jackie?” until I got the Nugget one, which well spotted. Thanks very much, Merril.

  14. Just beautiful, that stunning iris, the intense colour. I love the way your wife’s blouse makes her look like some of the garden flowers.

  15. The garden is really shaping up! And I love to see Nugget! We have a lot of bees around our new house and I’ve been trying to capture them, but so far they are either moving a little too fast for me or my small lens doesn’t want to cooperate. I’ll try again this week – in between the expected rain we are supposed to get.

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