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.
Later I joined Jackie continuing watering and planting in the garden; my task was weeding and dead heading – she has provided me with a Helping Hand which enables me to reach sticky willies otherwise beyond my span.
I photographed a few roses to demonstrate that dead heading is worth the effort;
and a peony because I felt like it.
Hopefully the edit conversions are also worth the effort.
I am familiar with neither the sight nor sound of a hornet, so when Flo, at the first buzzing drone, dived under the dining table apparently shielding her daughter from an air raid, and Jackie cleared all food off the table as we began our meal of the mild curry leftovers, and went on the rampage with an insecticide spray, I didn’t react any more than I would at the sight of a bee or a wasp – on the premise that if you leave it alone, it will leave you alone – and our granddaughter, while the creature was sticking itself to the skylight above, and Mrs Knight was squirting toxic particles up at it, warned that it would land in my glass of Calvet Prestige Bordeaux 2020; suddenly, like a body thrown over a balcony onto a car below in a thriller movie, the writhing menace thumped onto the table beside the wine, to be scooped up by Jackie and tossed onto the patio – now named Rasputin, the creature refused to die and wriggles still as I draft this post.
This was an attempt to tidy up the series. For the first 3 episodes of the tale I had incorporated sections like this first one into my daily diary posts. I wanted to take them out and keep them apart from what I had been doing this century. Now I’ve got myself into a muddle because I don’t know how to get the revised ones in the right order and retain the earlier complete posts under another category. I guess I’ll figure it out. I hope that at least is clear.
This evening we all enjoyed further helpings of yesterday’s Chinese takeaway with which Jackie drank Tsing Tao beer and I drank more of the Shiraz.
Today was even hotter than yesterday, so we began gardening early once more.
The sweet smelling rose Summer Wine shares the entrance arch to the Rose Garden with the white Madame Alfred Carriere.
One of the casualties of the recent gales was that a number of stems of the sturdy climber were ripped from their ties, and fell across the bed beneath it, seeming to form part of Festive Jewel. Although it then enhanced the bed, our task today was to prise it from its resting place and encourage it to rejoin its thornless French partner.
I was, of course, definitely the under-gardener in this project, essentially employed to hold the ladder and keep stems in place until secured. Not only that – someone had to record the event.
This is the final result. The Head Gardener assures me that all will soon fall into the proper place.
Naturally I took the opportunity to photograph other blooms such as Mum in a Million, gladioli Byzantium, feverfew, foxgloves, and Erigeron in the first of these images; bright red Love Knot and more muted Alan Titchmarsh in the second. The rose named for our popular gardening expert also appears in the final picture in the gallery.
Here is another foxglove for which species it has been a good year. Lidl name their plants quite simply – the second picture is called a white climber.
Special Anniversary appears in the background behind Absolutely Fabulous and a few aquilegias.
Other white roses include Jacqueline du Pré and Winchester Cathedral.
We inherited this pink climber towering above the Rose Garden Arbour, and Paul’s Scarlet which shares the Wisteria Arbour. Jackie planted the blue solanum.
Peach Abundance is in the Oval Bed just outside the Rose Garden.
A wood pigeon silently lurked in the shadows,
while the buzzing bee’s activities somewhat impeded the pruning operation.
The healthy buds of stems either broken or sacrificed to the secateurs found their way to the accident pot.
I had intended to continue weeding the brick paving later, but decided it was too hot and watch England’s football match against Croatia instead.
This evening we dined on oven fish and chips with onion rings and peas, to which Jackie added a pickled onion and I, cornichons with chillis. We both drank Salento Rosato 2019.
