Working On The Rose Garden

Today, the hottest day of the year, was fine and sunny.

While Jackie swept, weeded, pruned, and watered the Rose Garden. (This picture is not an official “Where’s Nugget?”, but on reading the blog and doubly enlarging it The Head Gardener identified our familiar robin clearly silhouetted above the central bloom of clematis Warsaw Nike in the right foreground.)

I pruned roses and photographed various scenes there and elsewhere.

The Mum in a Million rose chaperoned by gladioli and foxgloves to the left of the third picture above is now in her prime.

In the first scene Jackie attends the gazebo which hosts Crown Princess Margareta and Zephirine Drouhin each exuding strong sweet scents.

This pink climber scales an obelisk

beside Margaret Merrill.

Ballerina dances elegantly

and another nameless climber, a deeper pink, soars above the arbour.

The views from the Cryptomeria Bed and the Concrete Patio lead on to the Rose Garden. The above picture contains one of the

plethora of poppies we now enjoy.

These stand against a red rhododendron.

 

As these bushes are nearing the end of their flowering, a different colour combination comes into its own.

This can be seen above the bench beside the Heligan Path

Back in the Rose Garden our little goldcrest continued its reflected courtship. He wasn’t fazed by us, but Jackie has now covered the mirror to reduce tantalisation.

Nugget kept us intermittent company. “Where’s Nugget?” (79).

Another view from the Cryptomeria Bed takes us towards the house, passing an unseen

arch sporting this purple clematis.

This stunning non-hardy pelargonium has survived the entire winter in a pot beside the kitchen window.

More small alliums live in the Pond Bed opposite.

The Chilean lantern tree is now quite loaded.

From the patio we have a view along the Dead End Path.

This view looks south from the Gazebo Path.

Looking in the same direction along the Brick Path we see that Wedding Day is burgeoning on the Agriframes Arch.

The roses along the Back Drive borders will also soon cover the stumps.

Irises Reticulata are cropping up everywhere.

A few days ago we visited South Sway Lane

to check on Gimlet, our carrot-loving equine friend. His field was empty, as it remained today when we came back to collect more horse manure from the house opposite. It was all gone, although it had been there on our previous trip.

Undaunted, Jackie continued to Ferndene Farm shop where there was no queue and she was able to buy several items. Still on Sway Lane,

I disembarked to photograph some backlit grey horses. The immediately trotted over to their gate so I had to be satisfied with this shot, which biggifies quite well.

This evening we repeated yesterday’s meal, except that the potatoes were old and sprouting a few roots. Our alcoholic accompaniments were the same.

104 comments

  1. haha, love the description of your dinner, Derrick. I sure would have liked to try the alcoholic beverages!!
    My rose bush seems to be dormant at the moment, does Jackie recommend I trim it? I’d like it to be bushier, but it keeps climbing upward.

    1. Dear G.P., Difficult to know how to advise you without knowing the rose, but I would prune it before it bursts into growth. Are you sure it is not a climbing version?

      1. I have no idea, Jackie. This is actually the first rose plant that I’ve had that has lasted over 2 months – it’s actually over a year old, so you can see my trepidation.
        You’re probably right and it’s suppose to climb.

    2. GP. My wife had about ten rose bushes about six ft high on a stone wall. One day the wall fell and smashed each of the roses to the ground. It took us about three weeks to move all the stone from the roses and we then put them on a fire. We left the stumps alone. A year later they were each about six ft tall. I know what my wife would say. ‘Prune it. It’s hard to kill a rose. If it doesn’t survive it wasn’t meant to’.

  2. Clearly those greys were expecting you to arrive with Gimlet’s carrots. Don’t tell me you disappointed them….. And dear old loyal Nugget. Taking a break from the endless round of providing for his young to see if perhaps either of his people had something for him. Your garden seems to be reaching the height of its glory already and is chocolate box ready. It’s such a treat to meander along with you and your camera! We had our first frost yesterday which was a tad earlier than expected. And Siddy and I are heading off on our walks in the dark at both ends of the day – and still a month to go before mid winter!

      1. Yes I see him. But the layout of the post is different – the photos are much bigger and clearer than previously and I didn’t really need to biggify twice to identify the wee fellow. I don’t know if it’s you or if I have changed the settings on my laptop. But I like it…….

        1. That is the new editor. One thing that has been improved is the scale and accuracy of the header picture – but I didn’t even ask for the new editor to be applied to this post. Thanks for the feedback on this. 🙂

  3. Right in the middle
    Nugget has a plain, clear perch
    Sitting on the fence

    This is a wonderful post in your garden on a hot pring/summer day!

  4. Do you refer to eating the same meal again as leftovers, Derrick? I was just curious. The photos are all gorgeous. I love Chilean lantern tree! Are they hard to take care of?

    1. We do refer to leftovers, but when Jackie cooks enough for several meals and we use fresh veg that seems a bit inaccurate in this case. 🙂 Thanks a lot, Jill.

  5. Oh we love spring! Nearly winter here. In Auckland we have nothing, but back home in Christchurch the roses are fabulous! Katherine Mansfield and Love Ya Mum are my favourites! Rex would chop them all off and ground level so he says!

  6. Have we had a map of the garden in previous posts? If not, one would be helpful for getting the fuller picture of your wonderful garden.

    1. Thanks very much, Liz. I personally think that is one of my best ever. If you have time read the new sentence in parenthesis beneath that very first picture and see what you will see.

    1. Thanks very much, Ivor. If you have time read the new sentence in parenthesis beneath the post’s very first picture and see what you will see.

  7. There’s always something new and wonderful to see in your beautiful garden. I’m glad Jackie covered the mirror. Maybe now goldcrest will go find a different friend.

  8. I saw Nugget! Your goldcrests sounds like they may be raising a family in your garden, too! They know a good location when they find one. 🙂 I wonder where Gimlet is today?

    You gardens look beautiful and inviting in that warm sunshine. It was cool, drizzly and overcast, with a little bite to the wind here today.

  9. Nothing better than a plethora of poppies. I have a wild flower border which Kim calls the weed border which is full of poppies right now.
    What were those stumps? Dreaded Leylandii?
    Have you got a vegetable patch Derrick?

    1. Stumps were here when we arrived 7 years ago. Perhaps Elm? We don’t do veg because there are only two of us and they are so cheap – and we prefer roses 🙂

  10. I think that those backlit grey horses would make a good jigsaw with the complications of the fence and the fact that there is more than one horse. .

    I’m glad you took away the mirror. He would have attacked his rival until he ran out of energy and died. Now he can use that energy for finding a mate and then feeding the hungry brood.

  11. RE – you and Andrew. Only last night I had a similar conversation with my daughter about cheap veg versus growing our own, apparently, a large bag of carrots was only 29p at the supermarket. I have to say the satisfaction of eating potatoes that you have grown yourself beats growing flowers. The only downside is potatoes just aren’t as beautiful as flowers!

  12. What a lovely, sunny, colorful, sweet-smelling day! 🙂

    Good to see Nugget out and about! 🙂

    I hope Gimlet is okay!

    Little goldcrest needs a name. What you said about his “reflected courtship” made me laugh. 😀

    And your description of your re-dinner made me a laugh! 😀 Gotta’ watch what you do in front of old potatoes! Some of them have eyes and like to spy! 😮
    (((HUGS)))
    🙂 ? 🙂

  13. Your garden is looking lush 🙂 Do you name or define each area of your garden? Just curious to know as I do, makes things simpler when chatting to hubs. 🙂 You have so many amazing little paths and nooks to sit in, would you call yours a cottage garden?

    1. We do name each section, Sue. There is a map on my about page. It is not quite up to date at the moment, but should give you an idea. One path is called Heligan because when we arrived here we didn’t know it existed until we cleared the long-standing undergrowth. I’m not sure what I’d call the garden because we inherited quite a number of Antipodean plants. Thank you very much.

  14. I particularly like the first shot of Jackie in the rose garden with the bonus Nugget sighting. You are right though about the biggified version of the last photo. I enjoyed the wandering down the garden paths and beyond with you.

  15. I often have to come back for a second look on my computer rather than my phone to find Nugget. I see him now! I love the picture of the rhodi. 🙂

  16. Oh my! Those roses are spectacular, Derrick. I miss the opportunity to have them in our garden. The deer and antelope get first dibs! I love the Chilean lantern tree… how beautiful! Thank you for sharing your phenomenal photos with us! <3

  17. As always, you’re photographs are beautiful Derrick. It’s refreshing to have the time to look through your garden and your trips out. Returning to normal slowly I hope.

    1. Yes – we are able to get out and people are still largely keeping their distance. Good that you can spare the time again, John. Thanks very much.

  18. Beautiful flowers gorgeous animals, despite the new editor. WordPress did the same to me. I never thought I’d get my post published. They ended up returning me to the classic editor. Given the difficulties, you did very well. I can’t use a smartphone! Congratulations.

    1. On the fence to the left – with a bonus we hadn’t known about just above the centre clematis bloom to the right foreground. Thanks very much, Helen.

  19. Man, man, man … , man … Één ding heb ik wel geleerd, dat je de natuur niet in toom kunt houden, hoe hard jullie er ook voor knokken. Jeetje-minneetje … Gôh … , en Jackie blijft maar door buffelen en heeft iedere keer weer nieuwe stekkies nodig … Nee, jongen! Niet tegen op te schoffelen. Amsterdam, 29 – 8- 2020 * http://www.friedabblog.wordpress.com *

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