Tag: tulips

Plants Carry On Regardless

Ian from Cleansing Services Group emptied our septic tank this morning. As always, he got on with it without our interference.

This afternoon I ventured into the garden to discover what had been occurring whilst I have been holed up indoors.

Very brisk north east winds sped fluffy clouds along helping the sun to put in periodic appearances; and hurried me around my colder than expected trip.

Japanese maples and shrubs like spirea bent this way and that.

Although tulips and violas in the iron urn, and some of those potted in the Rose Garden stood firm, others remain windblown, like the covers ripped from wooden benches they were protecting.

Martin progressed with his work on the Back Drive yesterday, and

Flo has continued chopping back dead stems, opening views of such as the Pond Bed.

At the front the spring flowering cherry shares honours with its winter relative.

Cyclamens, fritillaries, bluebells, and honesty have burgeoned everywhere.

Despite the cold there is much promise of next week’s warmer weather.

A New Zealand flax has suffered a broken stem, but other beds look comfortable enough.

This evening the three of us dined on more of Jackie’s tasty cottage pie with fresh vegetables, including the fried potato topping; followed by the last of the rice pudding.

A Garden Walk

This warm and sunny afternoon I took a walk around the garden with my camera.

Two days ago Martin had returned to work in the garden after a three week Covid isolation period following a positive test. He began work on the west side of the Back Drive, then

cut the long overdue grass.

I also photographed the still blooming winter flowering cherry; a golden euphorbia; glowing hellebores and daffodils; an upright hyacinth and muscari; two of our many camellias; clumps of tulips and primroses, and

the Brick and Gazebo Paths.

This evening, after snacking on pasties, Becky, Ian, and I will set off to Christchurch’s Regent Theatre to watch https://www.themanfreds.com

Should anyone wish to follow this link, my old friend Tom is in the centre of the header picture.

I will report on the event tomorrow.

Blooming Today

On another bright, cold, morning I nipped upstairs to photograph from above

Florence continuing her general clearing of the garden beds.

After lunch I focussed on a few flowers, including Amanogawa cherry; varieties of cyclamen, of daffodils, of camellias, of tulips; smiling pansies; a sunlit hellebore; a hanging fritillary; and a sweetly scented Daphne Odorata Marginata.

A number of seemingly drowsy bumble bees seem to need a rest on leaves between blooms.

Ian had returned home last night because he had work to do today, so he was unable to join us for this evening’s dinner which consisted of Jackie’s wholesome cottage pie; crunchy carrots and cauliflower; tender cabbage, and meaty gravy, with which The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden, Becky drank Mavrodaphni of Patra Kourtaki, and I drank Bold Vine Zinfandel 2019.

Definitely Spring

On this warm and sunny day Jackie unwrapped the wooden patio chairs and

we set them in place;

Flo continued her work in the garden, clearing twigs and leaves of cordyline

Australis and setting about burning them;

I wandered around with a camera.

Jackie and I took a forest drive after lunch while the others dealt with banking.

I photographed wild woodland daffodils along the banks of the rippling, reflecting Lin Brook, where bent a broken tree trunk.

We continued along Highwood Road, with shadows

falling across last autumn’s fallen leaves and the trunks of trees.

A field horse churned up a mud bath and splashed around in it before joining

its companions in a run,

while others grazed in a field opposite.

A drift of daffodils enhanced a neighbouring piece of land.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome chicken and vegetable stewp, with which she, Becky, and Ian drank Portuguese Rosé, while I drank Patrick Chodot Fleurie 2019.

Water Feature In Situ

This morning I scanned the next half dozen of Charles Keeping’s illustrations to Charles Dickens’s ‘Martin Chuzzlewit’.

In ‘Even her weeping and her sobs were stifled by her clinging round him’ her dress flows like her tears.

Dickens’s description of the attendant, complete with whiskers, is faithfully depicted by Keeping in ‘Mrs Prig began to rasp his unhappy head with a hair-brush’

‘ ‘Pray, pray, release me, Mr Pecksniff’ ‘

The identifiable Mr Pecksniff, ‘Looking like the small end of a guillotined man, he listened’, as the artist runs with the writer’s image of the eavesdropper’s head above a pew.

In ‘ ‘He comes and sits alone with me’ ‘ Keeping demonstrates the unfortunate desperation of the couple skirting around engagement.

As hollow-cheeked as the writer describes the man, the artist captures him as ‘He sat down on the chest with his hat on’

This morning I transported the larger water feature from the patio to its permanent place in the Rose Garden, then photographed a few of our current blooms.

We still have a range of daffodils; numerous tulips; various wallflowers; forget-me-nots, primroses, lamium, wood anemones, honesty, and euphorbia.

This afternoon I watched the funeral service for the Duke of Edinburgh.

(Yvonne, you may skip the next paragraph.)

This evening we dined on Jackie’s most flavoursome liver, bacon, and onion casserole; creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots and tender cabbage, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the red blend.

The Hunt Is On

Before the family arrived, Jackie planted eggs, and I swept the paths.

Soon after Danni, Andy, and Ella arrived this morning we were joined by Elizabeth.

As an indication of how long it has been since they were last able to visit, our niece and nephew-in-law brought their Christmas present to us –

a stained glass kingfisher which was immediately pinned to the patio kitchen wall.

Soon afterwards, armed with a little basket Jackie had made, Ella gleefully ordered her parents and grandmother around the garden on an Easter egg foray.

Danni carried the photographic clues I had produced yesterday. Apart from the last, each find sported a clue to the next one.

The last package was tucked inside my waistcoat and bore a little white lamb which then accompanied Ella on her travels. The first three of these photographs were Jackie’s; the next one, Danni’s.

Our visitors stayed for a buffet lunch. Ella had her own little table photographed by me and by her mother.

We have not yet finalised the positions for the new water features which fascinated our great-niece.

With the two images featured above, Danni e-mailed this last picture upon their arrival at home. Part of the message read:  ‘Ella did not stop chatting all the way home about the owls, the dragon, the ladies [sculptures], Uncle Derrick, Aunty Jacquie and CHOCOLATE!’.

Elizabeth left after lunch with the others, and returned for this evening’s roast lamb (not Ella’s) dinner, including crisp roast potatoes, parsnips, and Yorkshire pudding; crunchy carrots; tender cabbage; firm broccoli, and meaty gravy with which Jackie drank Peroni and my sister and I drank more of the Dao.

Preparing For The Hunt

Ella is bringing her family for a garden visit tomorrow, Easter Sunday.

An Easter egg hunt will, of course, be in order. We prepared the clues for this today. Jackie determined the nine different locations and photographed them.

I printed each one, in which a prominent feature will bear the trophy. They will be numbered in an order which will promote the maximum running from one end to another. Parental assistance is encouraged, but preliminary peeks are not permitted. Naturally the spoils will not be put in place until tomorrow.

Later this afternoon, Jackie clipped a few plants and hung some decorations; I gathered up clippings, fallen twigs, and other likely impediments, including a fossilised rodent of small size.

This evening we dined on tasty pork chops; crisp roast potatoes; and firm carrots and Brussels sprouts, with meaty gravy. I drank Ribeiro Santo Dao red wine 2019 and Jackie abstained.

The Garden As April Begins

On a warm day with sunny intervals it was time to record the garden as it comes alive.

The Brick Path and the Back Drive borders each hold some of the plants I am about to show, like the euphorbia fronting one of the dead stumps on the Back Drive.

We have many tulips in pots and in the beds.

Varieties of daffodils proliferate.

Camellias have been blooming since last November, and are now accompanied by magnolia Vulcan.

Hellebores hang about everywhere.

Japanese maples are coming into leaf.

Spring snowflakes are spreading nicely; forget-me-nots; primroses; pulmonaria; white fritillary; epimedium, wood anemones; cowslips; chionodoxa; and mahonia are further delights.

Unfortunately, on my rounds I found the body of the ailing dove, which had suffered no further damage.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s delicious chicken and vegetable stewp and fresh crusty bread, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Red Blend.

A Garden Snapshot

On an albeit cool day of sunny interludes on which

winter flowering and amanogawa cherry blossoms flourished alongside each other, I produced

a snapshot of the garden. As usual titles of the individual pictures will be found when accessing the gallery with a click on any one image.

This evening Elizabeth came to dinner which consisted of succulent roast pork, with cracking crackling; crisp Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and parsnips; crunchy carrots; firm broccoli and cauliflower; and meaty gravy. Dessert was cherry pie and custard. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden while my sister and I drank Pinha Ribiero Santo Dao 2019.

Two Dawns

In the early morning chill I girded my loins with a thick cotton dressing gown and stepped into the garden to photograph the pink-streaked dawn.

Keen arboriculturists may be interested in the sylvan skeletons of copper beech, larch, weeping birch, and lopped bay tree.

Our great-niece, Ella, was two years old in January. She and her parents have been unable to visit since before Christmas. We haven’t heard her form clear sentences. Danni texted me this morning to say that her daughter has been shouting out of the window: “Where has Uncle Derrick gone?”

My late son, Michael, was not much older when I had to try to answer his question: “Why did my Mummy die?”. So my feelings prompted by the very welcome text were somewhat ambivalent. It was very pleasing to know that Ella, who will be able to visit at the end of the month, could remember and missed us, yet that memory of Michael, who would never see Vivien again, has always been most poignant.

For much of the day Jackie occupied herself trimming dead material from plants with which she filled a succession of trugs. I operated a relay service transporting the contents to the compost bins and returning the containers to the Head Gardener for refills.

Of course I did not undertake my Under Gardener duties without carrying my camera. Featured here are euphorbia, mahonia, leucojum Spring Snowflakes, primulas, pulmonaria, tulips, daffodils, camellias, hellebores, hyacinths, cyclamen, and viburnum bodnantensis Dawn. The first camellia shrub shows blooms browned by an earlier frost.

I was calm and contented when I produced the Dawn skies gallery. That was before WordPress had chosen to apply another simplifying process to operate from the sidebar. Until I got my head around this system to construct the plants gallery culminating in another Dawn, it was only reasonable to inform Jackie that it wasn’t her I was shouting at.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s flavoursome savoury rice served with plentiful green salad and three prawn preparations, namely tempura, hot and spicy, and salt and pepper. The Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden while I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2020.