Sunshine and Showers.

Once again it was a typical gardening day ..... first the sunshine ....

... and then the showers.

Wherever you are I hope you have a great wildlife watching weekend.   FAB.

Final Garden Flourish?

For some reason or other I have got way behind with posting images I have saved over the past few weeks. To start things off here is an update from the garden. With the recent drop in temperatures, increasing winds and rainfall I guess these will probably be the last of the summer blooms. 

The roses have continued to flourish but the blooms are not lasting very long now.

The main colour is from the Japanese Anemones and I'm delighted that the pink variety has decided to spread at long last. Still a few berries on the ailing Sorbus and a lot of healthy fruit on the ornamental Quince.

Some leaves are starting to change colour and a final flush from a Geranium that was cut back. Plenty of seed heads on the Clematis and no doubt I'll be hunting down the unwanted seedlings from the wind blown grasses very soon!

A few bugs were located amoungst the various foliage.

The last flush of colour from the Heleniums with food for the birds.   FAB. 

Garden Tour (Part 2)

Continuing on from the Garden Tour (Part 1)...  I cut a curved pathway into the main border some years ago in order to create a  new bed on the left for grasses but the evergreen growth on the contorted Hazel and Euonymous elatus now overpower everthing in the summer!  

This area is now more densely shaded with the widening canopy of the Hawthorn but the path leads past another evergreen Euonymous, an ever expanding carpet of blue Campanula, more Geraniums, a Deutzia, Escallonia 'Apple Blossom' (severely in need of some sunshine!) to the Buddleia 'Nanho Blue' and then

the fragrant white blooms on the Philadelphus 'Innocence'. I had planned to buy a rustic iron chair so that I could sit at the end of the path but I'm not sure there is actually enough room even to stand any more!

Behind the greenery is the 'grass bed' with Stipa arundinacea and Calamagrostis 'Overdam' interplanted with Alliums (long since gone to seed), a self seeded Verbena bonariensis (not doing too well at the moment) and the colourful Heleniums that attract all manner of flying insects during the summer. 

Next is the former 'fruit cage' now used to store various pots, some with spring bulbs and the larger containers used for growing Tomatoes plus the compost bins. Another job on the 'to do list' is to build a raised bed in the centre, so that we can start producing some food for the table, as the ever extending roots from the nearby Betula 'Hergest' (birch) run close to the surface and makes planting nearly impossible.

A few of the more recent plants to bloom; (clockwise) Lilium henryi, Tritelia laxa (probably Queen Fabiola) peeps out from behind a white Lavender, a pink Phlox and Lilium 'Golden Slendour'. There are a few more Lillies in pots alongside the path which will hopefully produce some other colours very soon. 

Beyond the fruit cage is another garden shed and then two matching Whichford Pots (a retirement present from the pottery) either side of the steps that lead up onto the more recently paved patio area at the far end of our 75 x 20 foot garden. 

As the garden faces north-west this area is shady for most of the morning due to the high canopy of the birch and  I can often find Anita relaxing and reading in the shade. As the sun moves around we can enjoy its rays later in the day while scanning the sky for any passing avian species and on cloudless nights even a bit of star gazing. The floor space seems to get smaller year by year as the surrounding plants expand and more pots of Sempervivums find there way up here.

The bottom boundary fence is planted up with Itea ilicifolia that produces long green-white pendant catkins, Actinidia kolomikta with its two-tone foliage, Clematis 'Lemon Bells' (a late flowerer), Rose 'Gloire De Dijon' whose buff-yellow blooms have disappeared into outer space hunting for sunlight and in the corner  Indigofera himalayensis 'Silk Road' - one puff of wind and the floor is covered with its delicate purple-pink pea like flowers.

I hope you enjoyed this long awaited two part tour of our small suburban garden ... so different from the spaces on either side of us......FAB.

Garden Visitor

A Speckled Wood feeding on Helenium.

Have a great weekend everyone. FAB