Tough Day at the Office.

No Walk this weekend. To-day we had big thunderstorms all afternoon, with very heavy rain.

Yesterday I had a tough day at the “office”

I was working in a beautiful garden - which has this wooded area - with bluebells.

I had my lunch on the terrace looking at this ….

(Please click on the images for a larger view)

Oh OK I admit it - it was not really tough - as it is an idyllic place.

This is a wonderful garden, with fabulous, established planting and terrific views. It is a joy to work in it - even if some times I have to be a bit of a mountain goat, as there are steep banks to weed.

Sorry about the lack of bluebells - Here is a …

Sorry about the lack of bluebells - I spent an hour or so in the woods yesterday - but I was not happy with the photos I took. Me and my camera were just not working in harmony - goes like that sometimes.

Today it was raining - the bluebells were all closed up and sad looking.

So now for something completely different.

In my garden I have a small Medlar Tree, which started flowering today.

Please click on the image for a larger view.

I had never even seen a Medlar before I moved here - and didn’t know much about them.

Medlars are related to the quince family. Apparently they are slow growing and can live to an old age. Medlar fruit was enjoyed only by the gentry in the time of James 1st (aprox 1603).

We had a lot of fruit on this tree last year - but it has to be “bletted” You pick the fruits in October and then leave them to go soft. That sounded really unappealing to me, so I confess to leaving the fruits on the trees for any birds that felt peckish.

I gather that eating Medlar fruit is an acquired taste so if any of you have experience with eating the fruits from this tree - or I presume making it into jam or jelly - do let me know.

However is it a pretty little tree in the garden - and when the fruits develop - they do make in interesting talking point.

I know that a Medlar is just not the same as a blue bell wood.

I am working tomorrow - so maybe Sunday it will be sunny and I can get to the woods again.

Wordless Wednesday 7th May 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Dandelion Clock

A bit of retail therapy.

I found last week physically hard work - all “my” gardens, including my own, involved more digging than usual.

So over the weekend I was determined not to “do digging”. As Monday was a bank holiday here in the UK, I went plant shopping with one of my friends.

She has asked me to advise and help her choose new plants for her garden as she has recently been bitten by the gardening bug and is in the process of creating and extending the borders.

We had a fantastic day out - and below are some of her new “babies”.

Cordyline australis “Torbay Dazzler”

Libertia “Taupo Sunset”

Juncus decipiens “Curly-Wurly”

(I really like this - I picked one up - then put it back -

Now I wish it had stayed “picked up”)

She also bought other plants including:- curry plant, bronze fennel and a lovely hardy Geranium “Cantabrigiense Biokovo”

My friends front garden is slightly challenging. Her house sits above the sea - and the view is wonderful. Looking out over the sea. Watching the sun sink slowly in the West, with a glass of something;- a perfect way to spend a warm summer evening.

However the flip side of this coin - is storm lashing wind. Her house gets the full force of the prevailing south, south westerlies. Carried on these winds is salt spray. You have to be a very particular type of plant to live here - and look good. A lot of planting can turn brown and crispy in these conditions.

However a challenging garden is a small price to pay to look at this.

I think quite soon she is going to have the wonderful view and great planting.

Of course I was very restrained and didn’t buy a single plant.

If you believe that ….

You’ll believe anything

(I went to check on the bluebell woods to-day - I think in a couple of days they should be at their peak - watch this space!)

Weekend Walk - 4th May 2008

To-day we decided to walk through the woods - as the bluebells are out

This is a delightful local walk up through the woods - with the river running on one side

However - guess what - It rained!

So the bluebells were quite closed up, and the woods were rather dark.

The scent from the bluebells was amazing

And the sight of all the bluebells en mass is truly enchanting - there is no way my photos do it justice, and I would like to try and get there sometime over the next few days armed with a tripod, as well as camera to try and capture the amazing quality of these bluebell woods

Which have to be seen to be believed

Despite the rain - we had a good walk, albeit somewhat shorter than normal.

Wordless Wednesday - 30th April 2008

Wordless Wednesday

The cunning plan worked

My cunning plan seems to be working.

We will be eating our first radish from the Kitchen Garden tonight - so far they have not been attacked by flee beetle or slugs.

And the carrots have germinated nicely underneath the radish leaves. Now we just have to keep the carrots covered up with fine mesh to protect them from carrot fly ….

In fact these radish (Cherry Belle) look so good - that it tempted me to buy seeds for two more varieties to-day. Neither of which I have tried before French Breakfast 3 and Long White Icicle.

Everything in the kitchen garden seems to be a few weeks behind this year. Last night I nearly went out to it in the middle of the night - we had such torrential rain that I was convinced my shallots would have floated away - but they were still there this morning - albeit looking a bit rain battered. However - I don’t want to talk about what the rain did to my tulips (sigh).

Weekend Walk - 27/04/08

We picked the best day for our walk this weekend as we went on Saturday - and the weather was good. No wind and no rain.

If you click on the picture - you will see that one member of our group had so much energy she was way ahead of us (The small black dot in the center of the picture!)

Fortunately this week - we managed to have our coffee break, in this wonderful spot, with no rain!

To-day it rained (that wet rain again). So I had a useful day in the Greenhouse, sowing seeds, (Veg and flowers), pricking out and potting on.

Wet Friday and Arte y Pico

Well I was rained off work to-day - it was very “wet” rain. I know that no rain is exactly “dry” - but some rain is definitely wetter than others - this was a very fine wet rain that seeps into my bones and is just - well - wet!

Anyway - it gave me the opportunity to come home and sort out this post for the Art y Pico Award, which Threadspider passed along to me. Thank you Judith - much appreciated.

So here are the details - which I have shamelessly copied and pasted from Threadspiders blog.

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.
4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico
5. To show these rules in your blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

I would like to pass this on to the following blogs that I enjoy very much.

Sandy at Garden Path

I really enjoy Sandys Haiku along with everything else that she photographs and writes.

Frances at Fairegarden

Frances’s garden is amazing - I want it … all. Frances has a beautiful blog, well worth a visit.

Nancy at Soliloquy

Nancy is a great blogger - not only do I enjoy her blog - but she is wonderful at visiting other peoples and leaving comments.

David Perry - A Photographers Garden Blog

Davids photos are wonderful and his Journal Entry for April 23rd will stay with me for a very long time. His is also very generous with information about how to take good photographs.

And Monica - Girl gone thread wild.

Monica has boundless energy and enthusiasm - she has done an amazing thing with her Pink Artists Doll - Love Squared. A huge project - which will raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Tulip Cummins in bud

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

“The big E”

I have been passed on two awards!

First - thank you to VP for giving my blog the big E

I think it is supposed to be passed on to 10 people - however I am passing it on to six. It is a difficult choice because there are so many gardening blogs and textile blogs that I enjoy very much. Also I am sure that many of you have received it once all-ready; but here goes.

I would like to pass this award on to:-

Shirl - Shirls Gardenwatch.

Shirl has some great videos of the birds and her garden. She has also kindly responded to my frantic e-mail on the behavior of blue tits

Easygardener - Greenforks (Gardening with a passion)

I enjoy easygardeners gentle humor and seeing what is happening to her flowers and veg.

Esther - Esther in the Garden

Who can resist reading a blog written by someone who is married to a Martian - when I check her blog - I am never quite sure which way the developments in her life will take her.

Mark - The greefingered photographer

I enjoy his photographs - and he is my nearest neighbor in blogging terms - only a couple of hours away!

Also

Shirley Anne Sherris - A talented textile artist, who I am glad to have met in “blog land”

and Sharon Young - another talented textile artists - who reads my gardening blog as well as my textile one - thank you Sharon.

I will do the second award tomorrow - but I do want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who visit my blog and take time to leave a comment. It is much appreciated.

As you can see from the photo above - my tulips “Angelique” are nearly fully open - so exciting.