Beneath a constantly percolating cloud colander parky temperatures prevailed throughout the day.
I stayed at the computer while the Assistant Photographer produced the
precipitation photoshoot. Click on any image to access the gallery where each picture bears it own title.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy mango and lime piri-piri chicken served with chilli-potent savoury rice topped with omelette, followed by apricot jam tart and custard, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Fleurie.
General garden maintenance this morning included Jackie’s replanting of the
Iron Urn consisting of pansies underplanted with purple tulips, having replaced the root-bound soil; and much more clipping, chopping, and bagging of wayward shrubs.
The winter pansies now blend well with the pale purple colchicums or autumn crocuses, phlox, and Japanese anemones while contrasting with Puerto Rico dahlias.
Pelargoniums and lobelias hang happily over the Pond Bed with its Japanese maples, neighbours to
red and white dahlias.
Japanese anemones,
many attracting hoverflies. continue to proliferate.
The hoverflies enjoy other flowers such as this rain-freckled pale pink rose; you will probably need to access the gallery and bigify the ginger lily to spot its fly, but perhaps not the bluebottle on the tiny diascia.
Numerous happy plantings like pelargoniums and sweet peas; eucalyptus with suspended petunias and cascading bidens; and fuchsia Delta’s Sarah with more pelargoniums continue to produce.
Further fuchsias include the red and purple Mrs Popple and the delicate white Hawkshead;
most petunias also hang from baskets.
Yellow antirrhinums have bloomed non-stop since early spring; many sweet peas persist; pieris produces red leaves.
The sun spotlights mossy stones at the edge of the Gazebo Path.
We now have so many full garden refuse bags that Jackie tried to book the one permitted half hour slot at the recycling centre. This, of course, can only be done on line. There are none available for the rest of the month; more distant appointments will be ‘posted soon’.
Later in the afternoon we carried out extensive watering.
Unfortunately I submitted yesterday’s post without realising that I had omitted the virgin beef pie picture, with the result that those who viewed it first will not have seen the complete rudbeckia bas relief. That has now been rectified by the inclusion of the original, and here is an image of today’s second serving. We have consumed the stem and most of the leaves, and despite the small shark emerging from the right of the crust, no marine animals were harmed in the making of this production.
With this delicious pie we enjoyed boiled new potatoes, crunchy carrots and, cauliflower, tender green beans, and tasty gravy; Jackie drank Hoegaarden while I started on another bottle of the Bordeaux.
Knowing that we were to expect another leaden afternoon of rain Jackie spent a couple of hours in the garden setting gale damage to rights. I joined her and transported some refuse to the compost while chronicling the event. This was before we visited Mum in Woodpeckers.
Our mother, sporting another of her best outfits was on good form. She got the joke when, after the carer came to warn us that we had another four minutes, I said that would be enough for her to run a mile. This puzzled the carer, so I added “like Roger Bannister”. She was still puzzled but laughed anyway. Of course, the first four minute miler was Derek Ibbotson, but I wasn’t sure Mum would know that.
After lunch I set about drafting the garden report.
Although I focussed on some of damage, like this pot and its contents blown of its brick plinth,
there were plenty of undamaged plants like these two varieties of dahlia.
Although a few gladioli had succumbed, others had stood firm.
Lilies, including the ginger variety in the second of these images, have survived.
The Brick Path won’t even need sweeping.
I picked up a fallen owl and replaced it on its perch beside another toppled pot.
The owl above was perched at one end of the Pond Bed, the rest of which was undamaged.
The Rose Garden didn’t fare quite so well.
Here Jackie indicates the damage to the top of one of the twin planters, which also lost its pot of petunias. The other stand was not damaged but its blooms were battered a bit.
The sweet peas were dragged down and the blooms shredded; some rose stems were bent over, so Jackie decided to give them their autumn hair-cut. Mamma Mia in the second picture here is quite intact.
Here is one of the trugloads I emptied.
The gauras and some clematis clung to life;
although one obelisk slipped a bit. Many pelargoniums remained reasonably intact.
Some views like these of the lawn bed, from the Dragon Bed towards Mistletoe Cottage;
and down the Gazebo Path are unimpaired.
This pot slipped off its plinth in the front garden, but its pelargoniums,
like other plants, such as Japanese anemones were unbroken.
Once again our garden has largely resisted the elements.
I have struggled with an intermittent internet connection throughout the drafting of this post, and we are on our way to our first lockdown-easing meal at Lal Quilla. If I find we have no internet when we return I may descend into a rant, so the restaurant meal will feature tomorrow.
On another sweltering, humid day we made short trips into the garden largely for the purposes of watering, mainly plants in hanging baskets.
Speaking for myself, I needed to wait until I had stopped soaking my T-shirt and recovered from my efforts before I was almost fit enough to wander around to admire our work and produce a few photographs.
As usual the images are titled in the gallery which can be accessed by clicking on any one. They include various petunias; a golden sunflower; a variety of dahlias; a bee on a geranium Rozanne; a bunch of begonias; mauve Japanese anemones purple and red fuchsia Mrs Popple; roses Margaret Merrill, Special Anniversary, For Your Eyes Only, Lady Emma Hamilton, Mamma Mia; and pelargoniums.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s luscious liver and bacon casserole; boiled potatoes; and crunchy carrots and cauliflower, with which the Culinary Queen drank Hop House Lager and I drank more of the Carles.
This drizzle-wet morning gave way to the hot, humid-wet afternoon on which I carried out a dead-heading exercise.
For those worried about our robin family, Jackie’s internet research has revealed that in summer the missing small birds abandon gardens for woods where a plethora of readily attainable food abounds. They can be expected to return when it takes less effort to follow gardeners around than to forage the fields and forest.
In the meantime we have butterflies like the Small Whites that sup from the verbena bonariensis.
The still bejewelled Deep Secret; the apricot Mamma Mia; and red Love Knot are examples of the Rose Garden Roses, while
along the Shady Path the red climber also retains raindrops.
Yellow rudbeckia Goldsturm and rich red crocosmia Lucifer grace the Palm Bed;
an intriguing gladiolus whose label has been eaten by slugs is propped up in the Oval Bed;
Yellow kniphofias need no support in the Cryptomeria Bed;
in other locations we have more lilies;
bronze fennel and sweet peas,
Japanese anemones and pelargoniums,
and dazzling dahlias.
Later this afternoon I made a minor contribution to Jackie’s extensive watering project. One lesson I have had to learn is that water from the skies does not reach plants in pots.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s cheese-topped classic cottage pie, carrots, and mange touts with tasty beef gravy. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Rioja.
This morning my gardening occupations combined dead heading and making photographs.
These roses Summer Wine and Altissimo, both coming again, were too high for me to reach with hand secateurs, and I couldn’t be bothered to fetch the steps.
Bigifying will probably be necessary to appreciate these bees on bidens, on Japanese anemones, and coming to land on crocosmia. Just click on any image to access the gallery and enlarge further with clicks on the ‘view full size’ box underneath and again if required. The bees swarming the Japanese anemones must be welcoming the plants’ early blooming.
Crocosmia blend well with other plants such as these bell-like alliums and the Japanese maple with its fingers singed by recent violent winds.
From beside this latter crocosmia I was able, through the maple, to view the petunias and pelargoniums featured alongside the kitchen wall.
We haven’t identified all the clematises in the garden. The first of this triptych above, for example, is a Lidl unnamed purchase; we do know that it is Niobe who shares the arch with the fuchsia, Chequerboard; the Head Gardener was determined to track down ‘clematis viticella purpurea plena elegans’, which took her some time, because when we arrived seven years ago this then weakly specimen was ailing in the rubble jungle that we eventually turned into the Rose Garden – it was fostered out in another bed until we returned it to its native soil, and has taken three years to reach the top of its supporting beam.
One of these yellow evening primrose blooms has survived the night well; this phantom hydrangea is also a survivor – it is the plant after which the eponymous path is named – first planted on one side of the Phantom Path it was really rather poorly for its first two years, until Aaron moved it into Margery’s Bed where it has enjoyed more light. We hope it will soon be in the shape in which we bought it.
Hemerocallis still thrive and we also have stargazer lilies in the main garden.
Four hours later, in mid afternoon I set out once more with my camera, giving me shifted lighting conditions.
A bee did its best to weigh down a verbena bonariensis.
Niobe could now sunbathe, and the clematis at the barrier between the garden and the back drive enjoyed light and shade;
the freckled lilies kept out of the direct sunlight;
sweet peas and hollyhocks could take it stronger.
My lens found the white flowers the best beneficiaries: sweet scented petunias, powerfully aromatic phlox, a clutch of dahlias, different Japanese anemones and the phantom hydrangea sheltered in shade this morning.
This evening we dined on prawn fish cakes, peas, and fresh crispy bread and butter with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Carles from a second bottle.
The wind and rain returned with a vengeance today and beset us until late afternoon.
Knowing what we were in for last night we lay down the patio chairs and furled the three garden parasols.
During a slight lull in the deluge I photographed raindrops on agapanthus, sweet peas, gladiolus, pelargoniums, fuchsia Garden News, dahlias, hostas, lilies, begonia, rose Festive Jewel. As usual each of these is individually named in its gallery which can be accessed by clicking on any one. Each can be viewed full size by clicking the box beneath it and further bigified with another click.
I was born 7 weeks premature in Leicester General Hospital in 1942, which must surely mean that I am lucky to be here. That is the same length of time that these Japanese anemones have sprung early into life.
We have four little toy ladybirds whose wings swivel in the wind. The top one of this pair among the Erigeron, pelargoniums, and fuchsias outside the kitchen door has reached the end of its clockwise rotation after which it turns anticlockwise; its companion has just begun.
The sidalcea in the Oval Bed simply bowed before the blustery blasts.
This lily in the West Bed was protected by a shrubbery canopy.
An iron urn at the entrance to the Gazebo and Brick Paths, and a chimney pot on the lawn are two planters benefiting from the recent rain.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s sublime sausages in red wine; creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots and broccoli; and tender runner beans with which the Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Pinot Noir.
While I was drafting yesterday’s post Jackie nipped into the garden for a matter of minutes to take photographic advantage of
the last rays of the setting sun. From this end of the Back Drive (take note of the larch beyond the compost bins on the right) she focussed on
the Virginia creeper and accompanying Japanese anemones.
She also caught a pink rose with which I hadn’t been successful earlier on.
The golden light in the background picked up the the tips of the cypress tree;
the weeping birch,
Japanese maples,
and more.
Today, while the Head Gardener continued with her bed clearance, taking occasional trips to make sure she was safe, Nugget kept the enemy from the gate.
He perched on a tree midway,
puffed himself up,
had a good shake,
and a preen;
until he decided he looked hard enough to take on
his rival who was switching between the hawthorn and the larch on the Back Drive.
So, for a little variety “Where’s Nugget’s Rival?”
This evening we dined on Jackie’s nicely matured liver and bacon casserole; crisp Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, parsnips, mushrooms, and butternut squash; crunchy carrots; firm Brussels sprouts and green beans, with which the Culinary Queen drank Blue Moon and I drank more of the Saint-Chinian.
So often when Jackie pops out for a spell of planting she spends all day, first diverting herself with bed clearance and soil replenishment. This is what happened today, especially as the weather was mild and sunny.
The New Bed has become rather full lately, so to plant new bulbs required the process outlined above. Self-seeded and too prolific plants are removed, others heavily pruned, then the area is topped with compost. Naturally it has to pass the inspection of Nugget. It was kind of him to take a break from his sentry duty to perform this task.
“Where’s Nugget?” (37)
My contribution to the proceedings was to gather up the refuse and transport it to the compost bins.
Doris Tysterman continues to shine in the borders of the back drive,
where clusters of chrysanthemums crowd
alongside pursed hot lips.
Begonias continue to thrive, although some
along with fuchsias and others, including dahlias, shed their petals.
Fuchsias, including a number of Delta’s Sarah and Mrs Popple, drape many of the beds. This mauve and white Delta’s Sarah shares a corner of the Rose Garden.
This small pink rose nestles in
the Wisteria Bed outside the stable door, hidden in this picture by another Delta’s Sarah.
The red climber, Super Elfin continues long after the runner beans on the Gothic arch
which also supports Doctor Ruppel clematis having another flush.
Nearby, the wicker chair, fronted by Japanese anemones, bears another fuchsia.
Alongside the Kitchen Path we have a deep purple double petunia,
burnished red sedum and lighter pelargoniums.Â
Later I printed copies of the Doris Tysterman and the chrysanthemums for the Back Drive album update.
This evening we dined on mini spring rolls and tempura prawns with sweet chilli sauce as starters followed by a rack of pork spare ribs and Jackie’s savoury vegetable rice with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Fleurie.
Last night I watched the recorded rugby World Cup match between Japan and Samoa; this morning those between New Zealand and Namibia, and between France and Tonga.
I then photographed some examples of our
nasturtiums, blooming until the first frost;
our generous begonias;
our varied dahlias;
our honesty seed pod medallions;
our hardier clematises such as this Polish Spirit;
and our roving Japanese anemones.
Nugget busied himself with his war cries up aloft
Early this evening we drove to Mudeford to catch the sunset.
While the sun was still well above the horizon, the meeting of the two currents between the quay and the Isle of Wight through up violent spray;
gulls glided overhead,
or perched on gravel.
A trio of elegant swans slaked their thirst in the
rippling water of the harbour.
A silhouetted couple left their bench and paused to study their photographs.
Another gentleman stood alongside another seat as the skies glowed gold
then dipped into a pastel palette when a bank of low cloud screened the sun
from silhouetted flying seabirds.
Later this evening we dined on Jackie’s luscious lamb jalfrezi and savoury rice topped with an omelette. She drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Brouilly.
