Clematis thoughts

(on Carrie's pruning)
if i'd wanted a buzz-cut i'd have joined the Marines...................

the daily round, the common task.......................

at this time of year the garden is so active that it's time for a daily inspection. it goes like this.
1. Wake up. Prise felines off bed, make drinks, serve feline breakfast.
2. Get up, prise felines off bed again; personal grooming activities
3. Toast in greenhouse. Inspect and praise tomato plants and tender herbs.
4. Inspect containers. Admire courgette flowers and patio salads, praise and encourage geraniums, busy lizzies, morning glories etc.
5. Progress down garden. Note splooshing noises of frogs leaping from pondside sunbathing stone back into pond; wonder again why they don't get sunburn and why they haven't noticed they would be a lot safer under the water where the Kitski can't eat them. Admire planter bench and containers, praise and encourage California poppies, diascia, honeysuckle, lavender and jasmine. Read little soppy poem again. * Marvel at height of runner beans, admire flowers, do witch-in-Hansel-and-Gretel thing again over tiny beans too small to eat yet.
6. Crouch beside pond and observe frogs. Frogs crouch on stones and observe humans. Kitski sits in undergrowth tinkling slightly** and radiating hopeless longing, wondering why hunting skills seem to have gone off all of a sudden.
7. Admire beds. Dead-head roses, cornflowers etc, smell sweet peas. Note new flowers on day lilies, roses, godetias, crocosmias, rudbeckias and anything else just out or about to be out.
8. Worship veggie bed. Test temperature of compost heap (this year's record so far: 48 degrees!) Coo over veg and salads, eat bits of leaf, pick fruit.
9. Return to greenhouse and do it all again...................

*The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth

........sweet, eh?

** now wearing a lovely new collar, with bells..............

first sunflower. the ones we grew from seed have not done so well this year.............probably because we waited too long to plant them out and they got all spindly. some are in a pot at the front...................but we think these are self-seeders from last year. i suppose the advantage of that is that the ones which most like the conditions will be the ones most likely to self-seed and reappear, so selecting out the best varieties for our particular soil............the sweet rocket hasn't been nearly so long-lived this year, i think it's really meant to be a biennial so maybe we should plant some now for next year.....................

Crocosmia "Lucifer" !!

meadowsweet

the first sweet pea

giant teasel...............it's the one on the right..................

runner beans doing their stuff...............

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!