The Plant Pulley

Today was very hot and sunny. Until fatigue forced me inside I put in

more work on the stones of the Weeping Birch Bed footpath.

It is now possible once more to sit on the chair beneath the tree and look across to the Rose Garden. A raised stone sits in the foreground of this picture. I picked it out of the undergrowth with the intention of using it on the path. When the Head Gardener informed me that it was part of another path leading in the direction of the crow’s flight from the chair, I was somewhat disappointed. Ah, well.

In the Rose Garden we have, among others, Altissimo, foxgloves, Gloriana, Madame Alfred Carriere, and For your Eyes Only.

Red and white mimuluses are blooming in a hanging basket over the Heligan Path; yellow ones in a tub beside the decking.

White petunias share a pot with angels wings, and blue pansies in a hanging basket beside the greenhouse are almost fluorescent.

Planting was again Jackie’s main occupation today. Here she displays a tomato grown from seed.

She has also installed one of Shelly’s Christmas presents, namely a retractable plant hanger which, when attached to the top of the Gazebo can be applied to a hanging basket and retracted to a position giving the required headroom for passing husbands. This one certainly appreciates it.

We have a number of clumps of Erigeron and various peonies.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s flavoursome savoury rice topped with an omelette and served with two preparations of prawns – one tempura with sweet chilli sauce, the other hot and spicy. We both drank Concha y Toro Reserva Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc 2020.

69 comments

  1. Look at your garden coming back to life and looking great! It is cold and raining here and all of my perennial plants like the roses and dianthus have buds but haven’t bloomed yet. It’s so cold I’m thinking of starting up the furnace again…

  2. What a super invention the Plant Pulley is!
    Jackie has done so much better than me with her tomatoes, which look so healthy and bushy – I got too enthusiastic too early, and my poor seedlings all shrivelled up and died of cold!
    Foxgloves & Bellis must be 2 of my favourite flowers. Lovely to know the name of Angel’s Wings, too 🙂
    Your garden is so beautiful. A real achievement.

  3. I love all the potted flowers spread between those planted in the ground. They add to the color so nicely, and can be replaced as needed when they die back. And you will soon have tomatoes ready for harvest!

    1. That is why I like them too, I have far too many of them, but I love the ongoing colours of annuals. Some folk are a bit sniffy re annuals but Alan Titchmarsh said once that he would not be without his annuals and that’s good enough for me !

  4. After a busy day of planting, Jackie prepares a dinner fit for a king – you’ve got a keeper there, Derrick!

  5. The plant pulley sounds like a fabulous invention. LOVE the pictures of happy Jackie in her element.

    I do have an affinity for foxgloves, yet I have never planted them. Your pictures make me want to remedy that.

    Your garden is always a joy to visit, Derrick and Jackie.

  6. I like those fluorescent pansies and the natural stones in the footpath which seem like working a puzzle together. Of course it’s always a pleasure to see Jackie’s smile.

  7. There must be an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for moving stones in the garden and for good reason too! Jackie appears focused mostly on the hanging baskets today.

  8. Jackie has a lovely smile to go with her green thumb.Your garden reflects all the time and energy that you both put into it. As a tall person myself, appreciate anything that reduces the number of thumps to the head.

  9. It is so colorful and beautiful there, Derrick and Jackie! I love the idea of a retractable plant hanger, having hit my head on one today. 🙂

    1. Thanks very much, John. Jackie bought them last autumn from a ‘pity’ bench, in need of much nurturing. She thought she had lost them over winter, but this is the result.

  10. I always love seeing the pansy faces!
    Love the pulley idea!
    And so wonderful to see all of the potted and basket-ed plants/flowers! They and their “holders” add even more artistic beauty to the garden!
    Homegrown tomatoes are the bestest! I even grew some on a small apartment’s small balcony in San Francisco!
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  11. Your hard work is now reaping rewards. I think these pictures of Jackie, smiling broadly, are some of the best I’ve seen of her so far.

  12. Jackie is shining in all these shots, Derrick. That is a very healthy tomato plant. Most gorgeous bloom photos that are a joy to look at!

  13. I love the bright flowers–your garden is gorgeous! The photos of Jackie are wonderful. She’s a bright bloom, as well, and she looks so joyous.
    The retractable plant hanger is a great idea.

  14. I love Foxgloves and yours look great. Whenever two people are let loose in a garden there will always be an occasion when the head gardener says ‘You can’t use that rock! It’s for over there!!!’
    So you have to put it back. I know Derrick. I know.

  15. Has she considered that a shorter husband would also provide the required clearance? Or digging the path down. My experience with those plant pullies has not always been good. 🙂

    1. I passed on the suggestion. 🙂 Jackie’s experience in the past hasn’t been good either – she is hoping they have been improved. Thanks very much

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