CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE. REPEAT IF REQUIRED.
This morning, Jackie went hunting for pond liner to mend a leak in the Waterboy fountain
whilst Aaron cleared wind-battered plants and cut back others encroaching on the paths,
and I dead-headed in the rose garden and beyond. In the first of the above two pictures, the paler Alan Titchmarsh stands beside Love Knot; in the second, Little Rambler’s label stands out.
The bright pink Rosa Gallica is beautifully striated;
Winchester Cathedral bears new buds ready to take over from the mature bloom;
and a bee lingered on Absolutely Fabulous long enough for me to get two shots in.
In fact bees busy themselves everywhere. This one takes itself into a pink foxglove;
another boards an aquilegia;
another a heuchera;
and, is that a shield bug sharing a berth with one in a Bottle Brush plant?
Elsewhere we have suspended petunias;
ascending clematises like this Star of India;
soaring Rosa Glauca;
white campanulas;
delicate rose campion;
tiny sisyrinchium striatum;
luscious lilies;
hardy fuchsias;
two different philadelphuses;
another pink rose Dearest;
and Wedding Day
joining the clematis on the Agriframes Arch.
After lunch we motored to Stewart’s Garden Centre just outside Christchurch where, at Maidenhead Aquatics, we found the liner.
Outside this outlet there is a large pool around which koi carp, some looking prehistoric, glide, fins flapping, or swoop, tails flipping, fins tucked into their sides, whirling interminably.
We also noticed that Broomhill Garden Buildings had a Spring Sale, where a rather good greenhouse was available at half price. Back home we sped to take measurements of the place where it would go. It fitted. Back we sped and ordered it.
This evening we dined on haddock fishcakes topped with Cheddar cheese; spinach (for the forearms); boiled potatoes, carrots, and green beans.with which I drank Louis Chamandiet Cairanne 2015.