My Under Gardener tasks this cooler, more cloudy, morning consisted of a little clearing to compost and a lot of rose decapitation.
Among the regular bloomers like the White Winchester Cathedral,
the prolific bright yellow Absolutely Fabulous, and the fulsome Lady Emma Hamilton a number of repeat performers are taking the stage.
Just Joey has risen from
the red carpet that continues to attract bustling bees.
The peachy velvet Schoolgirl graces the arbour
beneath which Gertrude Jekyll stretches from sleep, while
budding Deep Secret is currently keeping us in the dark.
This afternoon we drove to the less touristy east of the forest.
We had been promised a 30% chance of rain today. The nearest we got to that was a distant fall when driving along St Leonards Road.
The skies on the opposite side, across The Solent over the Isle of Wight, had no rain to drop.
The roof of the ancient St Leonard’s granary, which, as explained in https://derrickjknight.com/2016/08/04/salt-marshes/ once served Beaulieu Abbey, glows a rich rusty orange;
a pigeon surveys the scene from a ruined arch bearing similarly hued highlights.
Our mighty oaks do suffer in the heavy winds. Here, one huge limb has recently been wrenched off. The stump in the fourth picture has been a more distant casualty.
Further along a covey of juvenile pheasants were possibly discussing the approaching 1st of October when their shooting season starts.
This evening we dined on a rack of pork ribs in a rich barbecue sauce, mini spring rolls, Jackie’s tasty egg fried rice, and tender green beans, with which the Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank Trapiche Pure unoaked Argentinian Malbec 2019 – a birthday present from Helen and Bill.