Garden – Page 4 – derrickjknight

Rain Reigns

After dinner yesterday I watched the highlights of the second day’s play, shortened by bad light, of the third test match between England and Sri Lanka.

Today the sun briefly pierced the cloud cover which regularly showered the garden with ever increasing crescendos.

After a shopping trip to Lidl where we splashed through puddles to load the dripping car I took advantage of a couple of sunny breaks to

photograph the glistening garden – front

and back.

I finished reading https://derrickjknight.com/2024/09/08/a-traitor-to-his-own-flesh-and-blood/ and published

A Traitor To His Own Flesh And Blood

This evening we dined on succulent chicken Kiev; boiled new potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, and green beans.

Garden Views Today

This morning I published

An Innocent Punished

Martin and Jackie have been working steadily at clearance and planting over the last few weeks. Much of the pot planting visible in the following garden views has been recently accomplished by the Head Gardener while our invaluable Journeyman Gardener has used fork and spade in the beds.

In labelling images in the gallery I have generally named one item; assiduous readers will identify others.

The demise of our Weeping Birch was enforced early in the spring.

The Bed still bears its name, and a rambling, scented, Rosa Silueta Lavender has been planted to clamber over the truncated tree.

This afternoon Elizabeth visited bringing a gift of get well dahlias which she had bought because they reminded her of what I had grown in our parents’ garden when we were young.

We then all dined at Rokali’s where I chose lamb Archery with puris; Jackie enjoyed paneer shashlik; and Elizabeth, sag chicken. My sister and I shared special rice. Jackie drank Diet Coke and Elizabeth and I, sparkling water. Service, cooking, and friendliness were as good as usual.

Still Taking It Easy

Last night before going to bed I watched the highlights of the second day of the second test match between England and Sri Lanka.

On this warm, gloomy-overcast day, to the accompaniment of a few neighbouring tweeting birds, largely silent bees, and an occasional distant barking dog, I toted my camera on two very short trips around the garden.

Along with her general pot refurbishment and general tidying

Jackie has planted up the bulbs bought yesterday;

her equipment bearing evidence of her labours. She suggests that the pig has moved itself towards the gate in readiness for the coming pannage season.

Beyond the recently planted iron urn extends the Gazebo and Brick Paths from Jackie’s weeded old well surround.

She has recently tracked down a replacement Summer Wine to replace one that died in the Rose Garden.

On Wednesday Martin worked hard clearing a space for it and planted it away from the original site because it is inadvisable to reposition one in the same spot.

Pink chrysanthemums; blue convolvuluses; white begonias, cyclamen, and antirrhinums are rivalled by the Nottingham Castle bench lichen.

We have all colours of Japanese anemone;

and dahlias;

other roses include Absolutely Fabulous and Lady Emma Hamilton.

The Rose Garden continues to flourish.

The rudbeckias sit well behind the pinkish peeling eucalyptus bark.

The Weeping Birch Bed leads through the cryptomeria to Florence sculpture on Fiveways.

More Japanese anemones photobomb the Brick Path and blend well with the iron urn’s pink petunias.

This evening we dined on succulent chicken Kiev; boiled new potatoes; firm carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli; and tender chopped cauliflower leaves with which I drank riserva privada Chilean Malbec 2022.

Sweet As Scented Cyclamen

This morning I removed my compression stockings, designed to deter deep vein thrombosis, which have the disadvantage of slipping on smooth floors. This action does not seem to have been premature.

My next plan was to completely de-crust my skin by treating myself to my first shower since the morning of 21st. First I had to be coated in Hibiscrub in order to keep germs at bay.

I delayed this process after lunch by sitting with a camera on a patio chair in the stiffly breezy yet warm sunshine. Of course I stayed on my seat.

The wind had blown down a post supporting a basket of begonias

and gently laid the plants upright on the paving.

The peach rose, the fuchsias, and the verbena bonariensis swayed in the gusts; The more sheltered honesty, hydrangea, busy lizzies, and Erigeron blended well with each other.

When I returned from my shower I fancied I was smelling sweet as the scented cyclamen and its ladybirds casting shadows across the table.

This evening Jackie prepared me the same meal as yesterday with carrots and cauliflower instead of runner beans. She sneaked in twice as much, but I could only eat half and give her the rest back for tomorrow.

Not Just About Plants

Jessie returned to her Primrose Hill home this morning.

A warm breeze swept the garden as I walked around with my camera this afternoon.

Mat and Becky gave us the bigger owl in this picture some years ago. I bought the pedestal from Molly’s Den and the leaden hat from a First Gallery Christmas exhibition. Including the one on the wall these are just three of the

100+ owls which can be found around the garden.

Other birds include ceramic white doves and various examples in coloured glass;

two others join an owl at the feet of Florence sculpture bought at the long gone Molly’s Den.

The Water Boy was found in bits in the undergrowth covering the south end of the garden; the frogs a little nearer the house;

the butler sinks, painted peeling blue by our predecessors, lay full of weeds in the middle of the Dead End gravel path – I moved them to their current position.

We have a number of ladybirds and various dragons.

The curlicue resting on mossy stone is a collapsed plant stand; we inherited the wheels form our predecessors; the tortoise was a present from Shelly and Ron;

Becky gave Jackie the bull head sculpture fixed to the shed wall; I

gave her the pig (galvanised container came from the Efford Recycling Centre when it was simply the Council dump);

Elizabeth gave us the wooden poppy when our granddaughter Poppy was born. It stands in the Rose Garden where

the Summer and Autumn lichen-covered sculptures span one of our reflecting mirrors;

the hanging trowel and wooden mushrooms were presents from me;

the fairy light feature given by Jessie some years ago has lost its original illumination so Jackie has rigged up a solar powered alternative.

Gardening is not just about plants.

This evening we reprised yesterday’s roast lamb meal with fresh vegetables.

Current Condition

Early on this unusually increasingly cloudy morning, clad in my dressing gown, in silence save for the sough of the unusually warm rushing winds, wandered around the garden with the idea of using the diluted light for photography.

When admiring yesterday’s further clearance work by Martin I had

noticed the amount of blooms gracing Lady Emma Hamilton, and determined to come back today with my camera.

More roses, in the Rose Garden

and elsewhere, are clinging on to summer

in this season of dahlias and

Japanese anemones.

I also admired pink petunias, white myrtle and marguerites, pale lilac crinum lilies, yellow St John’s wort, and red/purple fuchsia Magellanica.

Some areas, like the Pond Bed, the entrance to the Back Drive, and the patio, contain their own range of blooms.

As usual, all the images bear titles in the galleries.

When Jackie noticed me pointing in her direction while she was

working on the patio she hid behind an owl.

By lunchtime the Head Gardener had finished clearing the patio and its surroundings, including refurbishing the Butler sinks. The wind, though now much cooler, persisted in blowing down the pot planted on the water fountain – she had already righted it 5 times before I set it on the ground.

I have chosen to display these blooms in location and current condition.

Jackie rarely uses a recipe and is sometimes reluctant to apply a name to a dish she serves for dinner. So it was today; it was certainly a delicious minced beef sauce containing chillies, onions and stuff on a bed of pasta which probably has a name – it was one of those where you can stick the prongs of your fork into the tubes making it easier to manage than spaghetti. I drank more of the Merlot with mine.

Adjusting The Chimes

For one reason or another the patio has been somewhat neglected this year, until the las couple of weeks when Jackie has been able to tackle it. Today has been the hottest so far this year, but she stuck with the task while she could find some shade.

As a work in progress, her implements will be in evidence until the job is completed. Mind you, the next two days are predicted to be even hotter.

Plants are being potted up;

the green one in this image was a Christmas present from Flo, Dillon, and Ellie and has spent 7 months indoors until now.

Troughs have been cleared and refilled;

a collapsed wooden table top leans against the wall beside its pedestal made from a newel post which now holds a lantern that lights up at night, beneath more potted plants.

This trug will collect green refuse.

As she said herself, I made the mistake of letting the Head Gardener out to Otter Nurseries on her own. Among other items she returned with a tray of scented cyclamen.

While we enjoyed our pre-dinner drinks Jackie decided to adjust the broken wind chimes which she had restrung, hung from an old lantern hooked beneath the parasol, and supplemented with two shells. She realised that the wind-catching shell needed to be lowered to help the clapper do its work.

We then dined on pork spare ribs in chipotle sauce, and the Culinary Queen’s colourful vegetable rice, with which I drank more of the Tempranillo.

Garden News

Although still a little unsteady I have largely recovered from yesterday’s swimming head. I was therefore able to help Jackie load more refuse bags into the car and transport them to the Efford Recycling Centre.

I then attended to administration on which I hadn’t been able to concentrate the day before.

After lunch I wandered around the garden which had freshened up after much overnight rain. I have photographed flowers in situ, some still bejewelled by raindrops and two with bees.

The gallery images bear the titles of the main flowers in each picture.

By dinner time I was fully recovered. Our meal consisted of fat-free Ferndene pork and chive sausages; creamy mashed potatoes; carrots, cauliflower, and cabbage all well cooked, with meaty gravy.

88 Degrees Fahrenheit

We began the day leaving Martin in the garden while we shopped at Tesco for general stores.

It was probably hotter than this title today, and, apart from spending the day staggering up and down the garden plying him with drinks I reflected that in my not so distant youth I would have done as Martin did and worked all day. Now I was completely washed out.

This led me to search my archives for a reference to the Bolton marathon. Inserting the temperature in this title I came up with https://derrickjknight.com/2012/08/11/a-welsh-interlude/. The said race is only part of a post inspired by a hot day in France.

The Bolton course is described, the hottest one of my three events at it being the one mentioned in addition to my diversion in honour of my grandmother. On the train down from London I had met a young man of 18 proudly claiming to run a fast race. I warned him, especially in the heat, to take it steady. He wouldn’t listen. I passed him at the 5 mile point. He was walking and wringing wet. I doubt that he finished the course.

Today I have no choice. It wasn’t until 5.30 p.m. that I could face going outside to admire Martin’s work,

some of which was further clearance of the Rose Garden paths. It was no cooler in the evening.

In the meantime I began reading “The Nibelungenlied”, Part One of Book Two of Legends of the Ring.

This evening we dined on pork chops in mustard sauce scattered with almonds; pigs in blankets frozen since Christmas; boiled new potatoes; firm carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli; and meaty gravy, with which I finished the Tempranillo.

Water Fountains

I have never before experienced a sauna, but when I stepped out into our steamy garden to carry out my first dead heading of roses for the last three weeks at 11 a.m. I was greeted with a good idea of what to expect if I ever do. I had returned indoors by midday, and did not emerge again until late afternoon when I wandered around with a camera.

Jackie had achieved her gardening tasks before I came out for the first time.

She had further reduced the pile of pots on the patio awaiting planting out.

Hanging baskets and the iron urn, which she has spent 2 days clearing of a writhing ants’ nest all benefited.

While I was working in the Rose Garden a sharp droning noise alerted me to the fact that its solar powered water fountain was bone dry and screaming out for water.

The Head Gardener fixed that before serving lunch.

Waterboy tips his water into the container on the Pond Bed, where the Wonderful Grandparents rose blooms again.

Red sweet peas appear in the third picture in the Rose Garden gallery,

whereas white ones grace the arch at the corner of the Oval Path and

the Weeping Birch Bed.

Blue agapanthus stretches over the Gazebo Path from the Palm Bed,

seen here from the lawn,

while solanum hangs over the Brick Path.

This evening we watched the Olympic men’s doubles tennis matches between Rafael Nadal partnering Carlos Alcaraz and Tallon Griekspoor with Wesley Koolhof; then Andy Murray and Dan Evans against Sander Gille with Joran Vliegen; the first while dining from tables in front of the TV on roast pork, apple sauce, boiled new potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding, fried onions and mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli stems; the second after our meal was over. I drank more of the Tempranillo.