Tag: clematis

Where Had I Put Them?

On another very hot day, after spraying the Back Drive path with

herbicide, Jackie patrolled the garden taking care of whatever caught her eye, while I carried out a considerable amount of dead heading, and in the process managed to mislay my favourite secateurs, given to me a couple of years ago by Flo and Dillon. Normally they sit on the side of my desk, but could not be returned to their normal perch until I found them. I was fairly sure they were

somewhere in the the Weeping Birch Bed where I had sat for a while after picking off spent day lilies, but had to go inside for a heat break before finding them.

Some time after lunch I returned with my camera and rested eyes.

Here are the photographs I produced, each, as usual, bearing a title in the gallery.

And I did find the secateurs. Can You?

This afternoon I watched the Ladies’ Wimbledon Tennis final between Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova; and, later, the highlights of the third day of the third men’s cricket Test match between England and India before dinner, which consisted of roast lamb, mashed potato, cauliflower cheese, carrots, cauliflower and its chopped leaves, mushrooms, onions with which Jackie drank more of her Weissbier and I drank Paarl Shiraz 2024.

In The Rose Garden

This morning we transported another full car load to Efford Recycling Centre and came home empty handed.

Later this afternoon I inspected the Rose Garden. Each of these images, roses or not, bears an image in the gallery.

Next I tried a little culling of my iPhotos, including all but two of those featuring in

Cricket In The Street

and all but one of those in

Meandering Through Soho

This evening as we sat on the patio enjoying pre-dinner drinks to the lilt of sweet birdsong, tinkling wind chimes and trickling water, a whirring overhead revealed itself to be a drone. This was very brief, but I may have to investigate and raise an objection at the intrusion.

Our dinner consisted of fuseli Bolognese and green beans with which Jackie drank Zesty and I drank Reserva Privada Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon 2023.

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.

Another Warm Sunny Day

Because we had been dilatory in dumping the garden refuse, Martin, while waiting for the spent compost bags, has been piling the green waste wherever he can until today, when he began

collecting up some rather rich smelling material.

In the meantime, I wandered around the garden on another fine, sunny, day and photographed this gallery.

Later, despite having a plethora of plants seeking permanent positions into which to be squeezed, Jackie, to quote her, had been “allowed out unsupervised to escape to Otter Nurseries and come back with three more” for which Martin managed to find room in the already packed Palm Bed.

At the end of the afternoon Max from Peacock Computers visited to make some adjustments to the settings of our telephone system. We ended up having a most convivial conversation.

This evening we dined on our usual three prawn preparations and Jackie’s mushroom and onion rice with the addition of leftover sweet and sour chicken and pancake roll from our last Royal Chinese Takeaway with which I drank more of The Reprobates.

A Growth Spurt

Today was warmer than yesterday, but largely overcast until after lunch when I wandered around the garden with my camera taking advantage of the diffused light.

Before then I made considerable further progress with “Kristin Lavransdatter”.

The very hardy Erigeron plants are popping up everywhere, as are the yellow Welsh poppies now in need of my deadheading duties.

Clusters of libertia, like these beneath the wisteria, are quite prolific.

Our bright red varieties of rhododendron thrust themselves into view whichever way we look.

Fine blue irises stand proud.

Jackie’s greenhouse cuttings are burgeoning.

Peonies are becoming massive.

Shrubs such as spirea, vibernum plicata, weigela, and the last, now identified by Martin with the aid of an App on his phone, as a deutzia, are in full bloom.

Ferns, including those acting as backdrop for the orange tip butterfly, are fully unfurled.

Bees also visited such as the vinca.

This antirrhinum sat well in front of a red maple fading from view.

The Rose Garden is beginning to prosper.

The copper beech is in good leaf after its recent trimming,

and the clematis against the fence between us and North Breeze is bursting into stellar shape.

After such a wet April the current warmth has made for a sudden growth spurt.

This evening we dined on spicy beef burgers, chunky chips, chestnut mushrooms, baked beans and onion rings, with which I drank a Reserva Privado Chilean Merlot 2022.

Investigation By Spiders

After lunch, tempted into the garden by the sunshine, still keeping ice

in containers like this pot saucer, fingers tingling, I took a brief walk around with my camera.

Many of the camellias were either in bloom or bud,

while the Japanese anemones bore seed pods apparently investigated by spiders.

Backlit cordyline Australis bore drips of precipitation.

The Gazebo bore the clematis Cirrhosa “Freckles”.

The dead stumps along the Back Drive and sculpture Florence were picked up in sidelight.

Later, I dozed through the first two episodes of Lucy Worsley’s Russian Romanovs.

This evening we all dined on tempura, and hot and spicy, prawns; tempura vegetables and spring rolls on Jackie’s colourful vegetable rice, with which I drank more of the shiraz and the Culinary Queen drank Mezquiriz Rosado 2023

Footpaths Today

Jackie and I undertook a Tesco’s shopping trip today, after she had made purchases at Ferndene Farm Shop.

After lunch I conducted a long dead heading session with my new Wilkinson’s secateurs given to me on my birthday by Flo and Dillon. Later, I produced a few garden photographs.

On the near corner of Flo’s Fairy Garden stand a little patio seating set waiting for a permanent place when some healthy plants have been thinned out and the elfin gravel paths have been cleared a bit.

One cluster of day lilies stands beside the Shady Path

Gazebo and Brick Paths all now cleared,

attention has now been given to footpaths across the beds like these to the Orange Shed and through the West Bed;

and to the decking area cleaned and potted up.

Tall lilies tower over even climbers like Shropshire Lad in the Rose Garden.

We have ubiquitous varieties of day lilies and hot lips throughout the beds.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in pleasant conversation with the ladies of all ages in the household.

This evening we all dined on superb pork and chive sausages with creamy mash and fried onions, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Sierra Los Andes Mendoza Malbec 2022.

Continuing Maintenance

On a much brighter morning Jackie trimmed the lower limbs of myrtle while I bagged up the clippings and added them to the row awaiting the local recycling centre.

This, and further tidying, work has improved the views from the patio and down the Dead End Path.

Also in receipt of attention has been the Westbrook Arbour and that beside the clematis on the Wisteria Arbour. It was Mark and Steve of A.P. Maintenance who tidied up the Westbrook clippings this afternoon. They also dug out the roots of unsatisfactory un-flowering forsythia and thorny berberis; took away the garden refuse,

mowed the lawn; and continued weeding the Back Drive.

Meantime, I transferred the compost in the wheelbarrow beside the Oval Bed, shovelled the last of that in the centre bin into the barrow and started to fill the space again.

Later, I read a rather beautiful Anton Chekhov story, namely “The Lady with the Little Dog”.

The spare, subtle, descriptions of place, scene and situation contribute their own appeal to the tale of illicit lovers who struggle with living two lives – one conventional and stifling, the other secretive and stressful. As translator Elisaveta Fen observes ‘The story has indeed a rare delicacy and poignancy in its portrayal of the first genuine love between an innocent young married woman and a middle-aged married man with many love affairs in the past. They see no way out of the impossible situation, yet go on hoping against hope that a solution somehow will emerge’, even if it takes a very long time.

This evening we dined on succulent roast lamb; new potatoes; firm carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli; and meaty gravy with which Jackie drank Blue Moon and I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2020.

From Garden To Woodland

Jackie spent much of the morning working in the greenhouse, alongside which this is the

view to the yellowing weeping birch.

Pansies are blooming in the iron urn and in hanging baskets;

others of which contain such as petunias and calendulas.

It is still the season for dahlias of varying hues.

A variety of fuchsias continue to thrive, as do

clematises, calendulas, nicotiana sylvestris, Chilean Lantern tree, heucheras, Compassion rose, nasturtiums, geranium Rozanne, sweet peas, and hot lips.

These final views are of the Gothic arch and the Shady Path with its owls.

Drops from the early morning rain may be seen on a number of the individual images which may need bigifying (a word which the internet owes to the late Pauline King).

Late this afternoon we shopped for toiletries in Old Milton before driving into the forest where

I rambled among the ponies foraging in the woodland alongside Bisterne Close.

Clouds loured over the Holmlsey skyline as we returned along the eponymous Passage.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s golden smoked haddock; piquant cauliflower cheese; creamy mashed potatoes; green peas; and bright orange carrots, with which we both drank Valle de Leyda gran reserva Suvignon Blanc 2019.

More Rain

Today was dank, gloomy, and oppressed by leaden skies so lethargic as to lack energy for anything more than a slow, steady, seeping of limpid liquid.

Indeed the drizzle was so thin that it was only by observing the bejewelled plants that, from indoors, at times we could not be sure that it was still raining. I became quite damp photographing liquid pearls on gladiolus, hibiscus, Japanese anemone, clematis, fuchsia Delta’s Sarah, roses, spider’s webs, begonia, Angel’s wings, and pelargonium, each of which is separately identified in the gallery.

Indoors I also began work on the draft of a special future post.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s flavoursome sausages in red wine; tasty boiled new potatoes; toothsome kale; and crunchy carrots, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Montepulciano.