tending the veggie bed................look at those beautiful sugar snap peas!

cornflowers "tall mixed" and "polka dot". this time we actually kept the packets so it's interesting to compare the pictures on the packet with what really comes up. i can't honestly say that the flower varieties look hugely different...........the main difference is the height. one Shirley poppy is still hanging in there too..............

i think this might be one of the new lilies i planted....................only it doesn't look like any of the pictures, so maybe it's one that was moved from a container...............no idea, pretty anyway, though..............

each day a new beginning...............

or rather a new flower. the first sweet peas...........................the first sunflower.............the first godetia...............the first crocosmia.............the first California poppy (in the bed)..................rose "Curiosity" now putting up flowers, and meadowsweet fully out and giving great wafts of scent. we have a glut of salad.................lettuces bolting slightly, bulls' blood now ready to eat; the Greek cress turns out to be quite nippy so best used as an addition rather than on its own. dill and chervil sprouting, and the banana mint and mystery herb (?golden marjoram) doing OK in the greenhouse..................we also have beautiful home grown basil "Genovese", and the Thai and lemon basils are loving the warm weather. the blue morning glory is flowering indoors, and the multicoloured one "Kiss Me Quick" has just moved outside, only as far as the doorstep. runner beans now flowering, raspberries cropping heavily, and we've eaten the first gooseberry and the first blackcurrant. the day lilies have flower spikes.............we have no idea where the day lily in the perennial bed came from, or what kind it is, so that will be a nice surprise when the flowers appear......................
Carrie has tidied the pondside in an attempt to stop the Kitski from hunting the frogs, we have also put a bell on her, to which she takes great exception.............she's put in some salvias and a penstemon rescued from Morrison's to fill the gaps.................
we never say much about the front garden, but actually it looks fab...............the patio clematis "Arabella" is now racing away up the front wall and looking very well. Nigella "Persian Jewels" are on their way in a pot and in the ground...............i'v bought a climbing frame for the jaggy rose, and it would be nice to see some flowers from it.................the totally neglected rose under the tree is flowering profusely on what seems to be almost no light. a bit of tidying is needed..............the aquilegia are finished and need to be cut down, ditto Sheila's geranium...........that yellow thing i thought was a weed turns out to be "corydalis lutea" apparently..............however we do have one very large, very strong and very determined dandelion right in the middle of the bed, it is indeed a weed and it will be leaving soon............

Stir-fried greenfly

warm weather continues so more things to eat developing, we have eaten the first raspberries, sugar snap peas are on the way along with spinach, lettuce, Greek cress, borage flowers (for the drinks), radishes and chard. first cornflower now out and the meadowsweet, the yellow rose not of Texas and also a beautiful orange rose next to it. hebes in full bloom and flower spikes now appearing on the day lily. and most exciting, the passiflora is not dead after all! just a little slow to get going obviously. at the front i've put in some busy Lizzies to fill the gaps and self-seeded nasturtiums..............the aquilegia are pretty well finished so some areas look a bit bare. the pot clematis looked extremely unhappy and dead for a few days after re-potting but has now begun to put up shoots, not dead after all, hooray! have moved the pansies and put in some marigolds "Gay Ladies"...........couldn't resist that one really......................

Summertime................

..........and the livin' is easy............or at least the sun is shining and there isn't much to do except admire everything, the warm weather has really brought stuff on so all the roses are out, the Shirley poppies have started to bloom and all the hebes have flowers................raspberries beginning to ripen and lots of lovely salad and spinach to eat............hours of harmless fun frog-watching, they are getting visibly bigger but will not have much chance to do so if not careful..........i guess the frog brain is not very large so thinking it's a good idea to climb out of the pond and sit in the undergrowth quickly selects out the ones that have failed to notice a large furry presence with claws and fangs also sitting in the undergrowth with frogicidal intent..............Carrie has been working hard on the compost and is most excited to discover that it's warming up like it's supposed to................43 degrees!! a proper "hot heap"...............it looks absolutely beautiful and she has just added some Hill House cow poo, these roses and rhubarb don't know how lucky they are.............

Delphinium

First Shirley poppy, with catmint

Oriental poppy

California poppies

June is bustin' out all over.............

amazing what a difference a wee bit sunshine makes, although the cold North wind is not very summery...............back from idyllic week on Iona to find everything burgeoning, no other word for it. organic rose absolutely covered in flowers...........the paeonies have taken a bit of a beating but some still aren't out yet. two California poppies out beside the patio rose. all the seedlings seem to have survived, the cerinthe, sunflowers and sweet peas.......... salads looking lovely and little onions and bulls' blood emerging in the veggie bed. many raspberries appearing.............. Chinese cabbage are bolting so we need to eat them.............the patio veg still a bit shocked from being moved but i'm sure they'll soon start growing away..................French tarragon to which i spoke severely has got a grip and looks much healthier, and so does the lemon basil...................

Oriental poppies out at last!

this is my best side.............

so besides photographing the frogs i have actually done some gardening............most of the stuff in the greenhouse is now out. the French tarragon and i are having a bit of a battle of wills, it doesn't seem entirely happy and i'm not sure what to do to cheer it up, it certainly didn't like being outside so it's in the greenhouse and seems a bit better, but not doubt spends the night along with the Thai basil lamenting how bloody cold it is in Scotland and why can't it go back to France.................
chinese forget-me-not out in the annual bed, no doubt to be forgotten and stood on accidentally or dug up by the cats. busy Lizzies into pots, sweet peas in the ground, sunflowers at the back of the perennial bed. tomato plants into tubs, climbing French beans by the door, although if they take the same attitude as the tarragon we can forget eating any beans i think...........one courgette in a container, just to see. canna lilies outside...............i don't think it's warm enough for them here but they've never flowered in the greenhouse so we'll see how they get on.............have thrown some coreopsis seeds in the ground, we tried them in the greenhouse last year and they were abysmally slow, no point in saving them i don't think so they might as well be in the ground and take their chances, Cosmos ditto..........everything watered, and hoping for some more of this good weather.................

the Welsh poppies and Lysimachia "Firecracker", the poppies are volunteers but have placed themselves very nicely to show off their contrasting colours...........

the organic rose, just as beautiful this year as last..........

diascia, so pretty.............

Norma's rose

ths s the same view of the annual bed as last month..........the catmint much bigger, the rose now out and all the cornflowers and sweet peas coming up..............note patio apple in its pot, just finished flowering.........

wildlife photographer of the year..........not..........

finding the frogs has of course been terribly exciting, and we are as determined to take their pictures as they are not to have them taken. i have put in a nice bit of dead wood for them as a posing platform, but they prefer to lurk in the undergrowth or under the water with just their noses showing. Kitski also likes to lurk in the undergrowth, but possibly for a different reason.............today is very hot, and Katisha is out cold in the sun and not doing any type of lurking at all. the lawn is growing very fast, and the first paeony is out. so is the organic rose, and Norma's rose is flowering for the first time, beating the orange patio rose by some distance. the Greek cress has started to come up already..............no idea what Greek cress is but i gather it's something to eat so will be joining the salad party...............
the Oriental poppies are way behind this year, usually they've flowered and finished by this time, however they have loads of flower buds so the slower start doesn't seem to have done them any harm. i've put the Cerinthe seedlings in the perennial bed, after moving the potentilla, which has already started to produce its very pretty blood-red flowers. the sweet rocket took extreme umbrage at my attempts to tie it up and quite a lot of it died, but the lower clump is still thriving, so i've trimmed the dead bits off the upper clump, it clearly wants to do its own thing and lie along the ground so i've let it, and it looks very pretty, pure white against mum's yellow spirea and the purple dragon-wing plant............. i also moved a little clump of something growing at the front, may be weeds but did look a bit intentional, although i have no idea what it might be. anyway it's now at the back beside the lilies...............a few self-seeded sunflowers have appeared too, and their greenhouse friends will soon be coming to join them.........

right in front of the coconut shell is a little pair of bulgy eyes...........