Summer Wine – derrickjknight

A Sinuous Brick Path

The last section of the Oval Path refurbishment, albeit short, has been the most difficult of those curving round both the Oval Bed and the corner it shares with the Weeping Birch Bed.

The uneven bricks were deeply embedded with the usual weeds peering between them; some crumbled so as to need replacement; the recent dry spell meant that the soil bore the consistency of concrete; wide gaps opened between them, requiring the solution of filling the crevices with cobbles and kiln dried paving sand.

While the Head Gardener was thus occupied, the recent storm having necessitated a great deal of dead-heading, I carried out two lengthy sessions of that procedure, with weeding along the way, and afterwards rambled round with my camera. Each of the above images bears its title in the gallery.

This evening we dined at Britannia Thai in Milford on Sea. The service was as efficient and friendly as always. We both enjoyed starters: Jackie’s tempura vegetables and mine vegetable spring rolls; our mains were respectively tamarind duck and noodles; and jungle curry (duck) with special fried rice. We both drank Singha beer.

In The Rose Garden

This morning we transported another full car load to Efford Recycling Centre and came home empty handed.

Later this afternoon I inspected the Rose Garden. Each of these images, roses or not, bears an image in the gallery.

Next I tried a little culling of my iPhotos, including all but two of those featuring in

Cricket In The Street

and all but one of those in

Meandering Through Soho

This evening as we sat on the patio enjoying pre-dinner drinks to the lilt of sweet birdsong, tinkling wind chimes and trickling water, a whirring overhead revealed itself to be a drone. This was very brief, but I may have to investigate and raise an objection at the intrusion.

Our dinner consisted of fuseli Bolognese and green beans with which Jackie drank Zesty and I drank Reserva Privada Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon 2023.

Spade Sceptre

Today the air remained stock-still until late afternoon, with the result

that the crab apples hung in portrait format.

There was very little damage from yesterday’s storm.

Jackie righted a heavy pot which had been blown over and straightened the Nerine which had bowed under pressure.

The white begonia remained lowered to the ground; dahlias and hydrangeas were undisturbed.

Jackie has removed a large cluster of mushrooms that threatened to choke Rosa Siluetta Lavender encircling the Weeping Birch trunk, and began clearing the footpath to the tree beside which the chair has lost a leg and will be converted to a plant stand elsewhere.

We jointly transferred more spare paving to bear a temporary throne to replace the rusted chair for The Garden Queen to strike a regal figure clutching her spade sceptre.

Afterwards she began planting up the large pot positioned beside it.

The Summer Wine rose continues to cling to Martin’s Arch.

Just as Jackie finished her planting a heavy shower watered it in.

This evening we dined on flavoursome baked gammon; succulent ratatouille; boiled baby potatoes; firm carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, and tender runner beans with which I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2022.

Can You Tell The Difference?

Before bed last night I watched the highlights of the third day of the third test between England and Sri Lanka.

After lunch, restricting myself to the Rose Garden, I carried out my first session of dead heading since my last cystoscopy.

After a considerable rest I took my camera round the garden.

These images all bear their titles in the gallery.

Bees, Small White butterflies, and even a tiny hoverfly in the last of these pictures enjoyed the day’s warm sunshine.

A smaller bird had a word in the ear of an owl.

Summer Wine (the first) and For Your Eyes Only are two of the roses I dead headed. Can you tell the difference between them?

This evening we dined on maple pork belly slices; Jackie’s fried savoury rice, and cauliflower.

Angela’s Photoshoot

Beneath oppressively leaden skies on an unseasonably warm morning we carried out some tidying of the garden.

Enjoying the sounds of gentle birdsong in the trees; raucous geese honking overhead, and the

clinking and scraping of Jackie’s tools as she trimmed the grass and weeded brickwork, I concentrated on sweeping fallen beach leaves and dead heading in the rose garden and elsewhere.

The bonus of the weather conditions was the diffused light in which to photograph

Summer Wine (too high to reach with secateurs); crisp, pink, Just Joey; constantly blooming white Winchester Cathedral; and the seemingly everlasting Crown Princess Margareta.

Early this afternoon Joseph and Angela visited. Our sister-in-law, a superb Chinese cook, came laden with authentic cooking including some ingredients not available in this country. She brought paper plates so washing up would be negligible; non-alcoholic beers and rosé wine. By the evening she had finished the preparation and served starters of prawn crackers, spring rolls of flavours never experienced here, prawns in garlic, and runner beans with an intriguing taste. Later, came a complex curry and steamed rice to which more prawns could be added to taste. Lemon cheesecake and strawberries were to follow. I finished the Fleurie, while the others drank non-alcoholic beers or rosé wine.

Before settling down to the cooking, Jackie and I accompanied Angela on a

photo tour of the garden.

In addition to her favourites from this collection, I printed her copies of a number of my photographs including this one of

Joe and me from about 1963, and another of

Mum and her five children from 2011.

Elizabeth joined us later.

We have plenty of left overs for another day.

Logistical Problems

Garden maintenance – mostly clearing up and dead heading – began early this morning for us both.

No doubt attracted by the redolent scent of roses released by the warm sunshine, bees buzzed and butterflies flittered around me as I wielded the secateurs.

Bees and Red Admirals both tried the fading Festive Jewel;

both also favoured verbena bonariensis,

as did Comma and Small White butterflies.

Worker bees were mostly partial to Summer Wine.

A little later we drove to Milford Pharmacy for a repeat prescription; to Tesco for E10 unleaded petrol; to Ferndene Farm shop for three bags of compost and various vegetables; and to the forest for a preprandial drive.

Heather beamed bright on the verges of Burley Road, while

a group of ponies were already sheltering under the trees at the corner of Burley Lawn, doing their best to switch off each other’s flies, by the head to tail method.

This presented some logistical problems arising from a certain size difference.

Later this afternoon I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/09/03/a-knights-tale-26-town-halls-trams-and-trolley-buses/

This evening we dined on oven fish and chips, onion rings, and peas, with which Jackie finished the Pinot Grigio and I drank more of the Comte Tolosan Rouge.

Happy Planting

Jackie spent most of this pleasantly sunny day on general garden maintenance, including spraying about half of the

Back Drive weeds with herbicide.

My contribution was dead heading, hand weeding, and clearing debris, in one long and one short bursts.

Here are some blooms of For Your Eyes Only, before and after dead heading.

I managed to disturb hoverflies like these on Summer Wine and bees like this on a white climber, but they didn’t take it personally.

I was serenaded by the trickling of the water fountain in the Rose Garden, and by small birds

like this tiny goldfinch perched atop the Weeping Birch. You may need enlargement of this image.

Happy plantings include these different yellow/orang dahlias; the juxtaposition of clematis, petunias, and verbena bonariensis against the kitchen wall; and the sprays of gaura (no, not Laura, WP) bursting from the Ali Baba pot.

This final set of images each bears a title in the gallery.

This afternoon I posted ‘A Knight’s Tale (8: From The Good Life To Refugee Status)’

Elizabeth came to dinner and we received a Red Chilli takeaway meal. My main choice was Tiger Prawn Vindaloo; Elizabeth’s was Bengal Chilli Chicken; and Jackie’s Saag Chicken. We shared special fried rice, a plain paratha, chana masala, saag bhaji, saag dal, and a mixed vegetable curry. Jackie drank more of the Carricante; Elizabeth and I drank more of the Fleurie.

Early Morning Light

We began work in the garden early, because we knew it would be a hot day. In addition to all her general labours, Jackie spent much time scrubbing surfaces, such as the slippery decking, and pigeon poo on chairs and benches. My task was a certain amount of dead heading and feeding of the compost bin, but mostly, taking advantage of the diffused light before the sun had risen too high.

This deep red climbing rose was inherited from our predecessors in a sorry, straggly, state, yet now thrives under the Head Gardener’s loving care.

This New Dawn, a present from Poppy and Tess, is now beginning to scale the gazebo.

This recent purchase is a climber called Brownie, which was bred by Nola M. Simpson in New Zealand before 2009.

The first of these clematises is accompanied by a bottle brush plant and a Chilean lantern tree; the second by a Rosa Glauca.

The bottle brush plant glimpsed above is the red one now coming into bloom; the climber Wedding Day spans the Brick Path.

Most hanging baskets have now been planted up.

Several hebes are flourishing. Jackie is very pleased with this sculptural eryngium.

A variety of day lilies abound.

Readers will be aware that we have one honey-scented cordyline Australis. We didn’t know ourselves that we have three more on the west side of the garden which we have not noticed flowering before.

Pale pink Penny Lane and bright red Super Elfin have happily settled on the Gothic Arch.

Peach Abundance flowers in the Oval Bed just outside the Rose Garden, among whose residents are

an unknown deep pink climber; red Roserie de l’Hay; red and white striped Rosa Gallica and yellow Laura Ford; poppies and foxgloves; pink and yellow Summer Wine; bright red Gloriana; and golden Crown Princess Margareta.

This afternoon we spent an hour with Mum, who was in good spirits, in the garden of Woodpeckers.

Afterwards I watched a memorable Wimbledon tennis match between Angelique Kerber and Sara Sorribes Tomo.

This evening we dined on more of Jackie’s delicious beef and onion pie with flavoursome Jersey Royal potatoes; crunchy carrots; tender runner beans, and meaty gravy, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Cotes du Rhone.

Still Going Strong

This morning I cut the grass and produced a few photographs.

Individual titles appear on the galleries.

This afternoon I almost finished reading Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley which I will feature tomorrow.

Tonight’s dinner consisted of sag bhaji and mild prawn curry starter from Forest Tandoori followed by the main event in the form of Jackie’s spicy lamb jalfrezi and aromatic pilau rice, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Shiraz.

Is It Really Autumn?

We began early this morning watering, dead heading, clearing debris and adding to the compost bins before attending Milford on Sea GP Surgery for flu jab appointments. A large number of patients were vaccinated smoothly at one minute intervals. We queued 2 metres apart for no time at all and were directed to our colour-coded injection chamber. All was extremely efficient except for the jam of jabbed individuals swapping details of their experience and other age-related ailments causing something of a bottle-neck at the rear exit. This was a bit of a slalom with no opportunity for the correct social distancing; however, everyone wore masks, and we were back in the car after five minutes, giving us time for a brief drive in our rather Saturday-crowded environment.

Seasonal confusion was first evidenced in our own garden with windburn to Japanese maples and Summer Wine pouring down the entrance arch to the Rose Garden. More was displayed in

Sandy Down with pink roses,

rhododendrons,

and cyclamen lining the verges; and

the leaves of a silver birch beginning to display the Midas touch.

This afternoon after some more chopping and composting of refuse I wandered around the garden with my camera.

Dahlias and begonias, some sharing beds, are in no doubt that it is their season.

Nasturtiums, gauras, and diascias are still going strong.

Small White butterflies and hard working bees are not conceding that their time is over.

Clematises, like this lost label purple one and Dr Ruppel, sharing the Gothic arch with red Super Elfin and pale pink Penny Lane roses, linger on,

as does a rather ragged Shropshire Lad, swaying in the Rose Garden to

a white symphony of begonias, nicotiana sylvestris, and Hawkshead fuchsias.

The eucalyptus still suspends filled hanging baskets flanked by pelargoniums and rudbeckias. Is it really autumn?

This evening we dined on poached smoked haddock; Jackie’s piquant cauliflower cheese; creamy mashed potatoes; firm carrots; and tender runner beans, with which we both drank Awatere Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2019 – a crisp, aromatic, white wine from New Zealand.