clematises – derrickjknight

A Birthday Bunch

It being Jackie’s birthday today I collected a few photographs In the cool, diffused, early light.

At 5 a.m. the direct sun only reached the front garden.

For diffusion I chose a random walk around the back. Each image bears a title in the gallery.

This afternoon Helen visited bearing gifts; she was soon joined by Becky and Ian on the same errand, who accompanied Jackie and me later to dine at Rokali’s where they were as impressed as we are. My main meal was Naga Chilli lamb and special rice. We shared onion bahjis, and puris. Ian and I drank Kingfisher; Becky and Jackie drank Diet Coke.

Before going out we enjoyed a Messenger Video chat with Flo and Ellie, which was great fun.

Humming Bees

We were very fortunate to escape one of today’s heavy showers when we transported another car load of garden refuse to the Efford Recycling Centre. Rain hammered on the car as we drove home’

I use the cut glass pattern on a small wine container to measure my intake at each evening meal in order not to overdo the consumption and regret it. If she can help it the next morning, Jackie never leaves the renamed local council dump without making a purchase from the Reuse Shop. Today she bought a larger glass

which she placed on the kitchen table between yesterday’s bottle of Malbec and the measuring glass so that I could use the smaller glass as such to gauge a point on the larger for a change. I sampled it while drafting this post. Definitely more pleasing.

Although the sun produced warmth between fierce showers, Martin had to move on from weeding paths which became too wet, and carry

out more general tidying.

I took advantage of the sunny periods to photograph

bees entering a white foxglove, alighting on a geranium palmatum,

and those whose massed hum emanated from the Chilean Lantern tree to which they are inevitably drawn. Accessing the gallery should help spot one in each of these pictures.

This pink budding rose in the Patio Bed will be the colour of Peach Abundance in the Oval Bed when it fills out.

Other roses include the white rambler Félicité Perpétue; pale pink New Dawn; white climbing The Generous Gardener; pink Festive Jewel; white Winchester Cathedral: and a red climber.

The first of these clematises is on the front garden trellis; the next two pictures on the patio fence include Doctor Ruppel, another example of which decorates the Brick Path.

Fuchsia Delta’s Sarah, of which we have a number, is hardy enough to survive our winters; this allium is now in full bloom, as are the heucheras.

Here are two more shots of the Rose Garden.

and one from alongside the Cryptomeria Bed.

This evening we dined on spicy marinaded chicken; boiled baby new potatoes; and al dente carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli stems, with which I drank more of the Malbec.

Doctor Ruppel’s Cricket

This morning I continued my dead heading race with the plants and some gentle weeding, while Jackie concentrated on clearing out spent compost from hanging baskets, planting up more, and redistributing the compost.

These baskets are some of last year’s which will receive her attention.

Here are two of the clematises that border on the patio, the second of which is a Doctor Ruppel;

ascending the Gothic arch is another one such, today providing a resting place for a minuscule cricket.

The climber, Paul’s Scarlet occupies the Wisteria arbour from where similar coloured poppies can now be seen half way along the Gazebo Path.

We have lost the label for this white rose in the Dragon Bed, but

I remember this one is Winchester Cathedral, situated in

The Rose Garden, where we will also find

Rhapsody in Blue and this pale pink climber.

The rhododendron in the Cryptomeria Bed is now in full bloom,

as are a number of aquilegias and a few day lilies.

Finally, Erigeron festoons corners of the patio.

This afternoon we shopped at Tesco and I read more of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain begun yesterday evening.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome chicken and vegetable stewp with fresh crusty bread; I drank Almocreve vinho regional Alentejano tinto reserva 2020.

Unlikely Bedfellows

Early this morning I watched a recording of last night’s rugby World Cup match between France and Italy, and before my afternoon’s viewing of the games between Wales and Georgia and England v. Samoa, walked around our warm, sun-filled, plot to photograph

another selection of unlikely garden bedfellows, each of which bears a title in the gallery.

This evening we all enjoyed Jackie’s meal of her well filled mound of beef and onions stacked beneath short crust decorated pastry; crisp roast red potatoes; Brussels sprouts, carrots, and broccoli al dente; and thick, meaty gravy, with which she finished the Blush and I finished the Bordeaux.

Where Can She Put Them?

Early this morning I watched a recording of last night’s rugby World Cup match between New Zealand and Namibia.

When I walked round the garden afterwards the temperature was hot; the air humid; the skies overcast.

This, and the amount of colourful blooms (all identified in the gallery) demonstrate that summer has no intention of being pushed aside by autumn.

Jackie has been quietly collecting bulbs to bury for next spring. As I noticed her most recent purchases I could not help wondering

where on earth was she going to put them? As usual these locations are identified in their gallery.

This afternoon I watched the live matches between Samoa and Chile, and between Wales and Portugal.

For dinner this evening we all enjoyed a third sitting of Jackie’s chicken jalfrezi meal, without the samosas. She drank Hoegaarden and I Drank François Dubessy GSM 2021.

War Cry Or Serenade?

Accompanied by a shrill avian chorus that, apart from the occasional baleful wood pigeon, could have done with a bass tenor from Langholm, our division of labour in the garden this morning continued apace. It hadn’t been good idea for me to wear a sun-absorbing black T-shirt.

Perched in the Weeping Birch high above the eponymous flower bed

a pair of chaffinches kept up an incessant two note whistle lending a discordant jarring to the harmony. Was this a war cry or a serenade, I wondered?

To the left of Jackie, who was continuing her work on the Brick Path,

an owl roosted on a branched stand sporting a clematis fascinator in readiness for

Wedding Day festooning the Agriframes Arch with a certain amount of Compassion shown.

Another clematis adorns the Palm Bed, while two more owls are draped in ferns in the Pond Bed,

which also contains blue lobelia, pastel petunias, and rose campion.

Golden Day lilies star in the Dragon Bed.

Roses are represented by the red climber ascending the opposite side of the lopped cypress to The Generous Gardener; lofty Altissimo; and Rosa Gallica, being entered by a working bee.

This evening we dined on spicy lemon piri-piri chicken and various rices with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Selone Puglia Rosso Appassimento 2021.

General Gardening

After lunch I converted the following posts from Classic to Block edits, using the normal, untiled Gallery:

Jattie’s Sculpture

Walls

Jackie spent the early part of the day completing her weeding of the Brick Circle and continuing along the Brick Path. I began my later stint of dead heading and pulling up weeds by gathering up her refuse and adding it to the compost bins.

Before eventually settling down at my computer I staggered around with my camera.

I photographed a variety of our clematises – on the patio, in the Rose Garden, and on the kitchen wall.

Wallflowers and miniature kniphofias blend well in the Pond Bed.

Roses include New Dawn on the Palm Bed;

in the Rose Garden Madame Alfred Carrière, Lady Emma Hamilton; the third picture containing the red Love Knot, pansies, Alan Titchmarsh, and Just Joey;

and finally the red climber along the Shady Path.

Day lilies appear on the corner of Margery’s Bed and in the Dragon Bed.

This evening we all dined on oven fish, chips, and onion rings; garden peas, pickled onions and gherkins, with with Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Waters Edge Moldovan Pinot Grigio, part of Becky and Ian’s Father’s Day selection.

Flo’s Fairy Garden

As the temperature continued to rise and no rain fell on yet another very hot day, Jackie and I were relieved that we managed our gardening tasks in the earlier part of the day. While she occupied herself watering and planting, I, inhaling the glorious scents of the roses, weeded and dead-headed.

This peony, clearly self-seeded and flowering for the first time, without the strength to lift its head from the Brick Path, stretched out from the weeded area of the Dead End Path Bed. Gave it a lift with a green tie.

On the opposite side of the lawn, suspended from the peeling eucalyptus, Jackie has planted a cluster of mesembryanthemums in a basket.

Clematises and a day lily claimed their own gallery,

while roses, Paul’s Scarlet, Ballerina, The Generous Gardener, Mum in a Million, Summer Wine, Rosa Glauca, Special Anniversary, Winchester Cathedral, Félicité Perpétue, and Compassion (all entitled in the gallery) warranted their own;

it was appropriate for Hot Chocolate to reach her peak on such a day.

Later, Flo put some finishing touches to her delightful Fairy Garden, which will reward enlargement by clicking on one of the pictures.

This evening we dined on roast chicken thighs seasoned with garlic; sautéed new potatoes with onions; crunchy carrots; firm cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts and flavoursome gravy, with which I drank Collin-Bourisset Fleurie 2021 and no-one else did.

A New Visitor

Having already drafted yesterday’s post I joined the family on the patio chairs being entertained by Ellie in her bath, during which time I wandered off to have a look at Jackie’s planting from earlier in the day.

A creature that none of us recognised flew silently past my left ear and came to rest on a dry stem not yet removed from, appropriately enough, the Dragon Bed. Unusually, it remained long enough for me to return inside to collect my camera and to photograph it. In fact it remained in situ for much of the rest of the afternoon, circling those who disturbed it and returning to its chosen perch. Later research revealed our visitor to be a broad bodied female chaser – a dragonfly native to our New Forest.

Now I was grasping the camera I photographed a few flowers, each of which bears a title in the gallery.

This morning Jackie unclogged the Waterboy Fountain, and this

afternoon transferred the astrantia photographed yesterday in its pot to the soil in the Pond Bed.

Agriframes Destructions

After lunch I converted this post from Classic to Blocks edit and changed the category to Garden. I needed the assistance of Wayback Machine to identify missing photographs which I then traced in my iMac Photos, omitting rugby photos taken from the TV screen because they were not crucial to the post and I had had enough,

My gardening tasks today, partly this morning, partly this afternoon, involved dead heading and weeding.

I then photographed a batch of scenes which should put yesterday’s images into context. Again titles are with the galleries.

This set pictures the Rose Garden.

This evening we all dined on Hordle Chinese Take Away’s excellent fare, with which Jackie, Dillon, and I shared Asahi beer.

New Heights

Before lunch Jackie and I swung gently into our matutinal garden

tasks – planting in her case; weeding and dead-heading in mine.

The yellow Welsh poppies are in regular need of decapitation.

When I ventured out with my camera this afternoon I made sure to neglect neither the

clematis Montana cascading over the front wall nor the established pink climbing rose festooning the trellis.

One of the owls I righted a couple of days ago was returned to its perch alongside the Shady Path while another peeps round a clump of campanula alongside the daisy-like Erigeron.

Some peonies remain at their best while others bear sculptural seed heads.

Other clematises include the close-up Doctor Ruppel and the one I cannot name sharing its arch with a blue solanum. Magenta valerian is a focus of the Cryptomeria Bed; Leather leaf viburnum stands in shade beneath the copper beech; irises thrive in the West Bed; and these aquilegias are found in the Rose Garden, of which

these are further views, the last of which contains

both Gloriana and For Your Eyes Only.

Meanwhile Arthur Bell has reached new heights this year.

This evening we all dined on tender roast lamb; crisp Yorkshire pudding; boiled new potatoes; carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli al dente, and meaty gravy, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Moerbei.