On an even hotter day than yesterday I took my camera on a walk around the garden this morning.
We are not always sure how some of our plants arrive. This poppy is certainly a self seeded volunteer, but we don’t know about the red hollyhock. It could have been from a seed scattering exercise by either Flo or Jackie last year.
The colourful little lysimachia Firecracker is a plant bought by Jackie after she had seen one in Elizabeth’s garden given by Frances.
Pollies Day Lilies, very nearby, is the home of the National hemerocallis Collection. Some of ours have been bought there.
Delta’s Sarah and Mrs Popple are two of the many fuchsias planted by Jackie that have proved to be hardy in our garden.
This small white hydrangea will grow bigger. It is a cutting from a larger plant Jackie bought from Lidl some time ago.
Years ago our Head Gardener bought phlox plants from pity benches in centres like Everton. They all now thrive under her nurture, as do
various clematis, some of which we inherited,
as we did numerous moon daisies and several hostas.
When we converted a heap of rubble and rubbish including a buried bath complete with taps into the Rose Garden we had a free run to select roses like Roserie de l’Hay, For Your Eyes Only, and Créme de la créme largely for their scent;
low lying lavender, rambling bee-attracting sweet peas, and tall lilies provide variety in that plot.
Some dahlias we have planted, other flowers were in situ when we arrived ten years ago; examples of these are
red and yellow Bottle Brush plants.
Crocosmias red Lucifer and golden George Davison and their neighbouring penstemon are all part of our replanting of the Palm Bed.
This evening we dined at Rokali’s where I chose Jaipur special prawn; and Jackie, Poneer Shashlik. We shared a plain paratha, special fried rice, and Tarka Dhal. I drank Kingfisher and Jackie drank Diet Cola. A truly serendipitous event gave us rather more than we bargained for. As the waiter served us he tipped the rice bowl over so that much of it ended up on the table cloth and my serviette. He took a clean cloth and began scooping it up to dispose of it. The table and everything else was unsoiled. I encouraged him to sweep it onto my plate, saying I was more than happy to eat it rather than have it wasted. It seemed to me quite a result in that any mess I made of the cloth could be blamed on this event. Even better – he did this and gave us a new bowl of rice. Ultimately we couldn’t eat it all and were given a doggy bag to take home. Another good outcome. Also, great fun was enjoyed by all, including other customers.
Needless to say the food was all very well prepared and otherwise efficiently served. The waiter, a family member we had not met before, finished by helping me to my feet.