Friday, June 12, 2015

Five on Friday

Joining in this week with  Amy at Love Made my Home and Five on Friday.  Click on the link at the bottom of this post to find others who are joining in too.

Just a simple post this week with photos of some of the flowers I've seen both at home and out and about.

On Wednesday we went to visit my sister and from there drove the short distance to Clumber Park which is a place we used to visit regularly as children.  We sat outside with sandwiches from the cafe and then walked by the lake and up to the walled kitchen garden.  I wanted to see an exhibition which I will write about in a few days time.  The poppies above were in the walled garden.  Californian poppies according to one of the gardeners.  They were very pretty, I looked in vain for them in the plant sales outside the garden.  I'm not a huge lover of orange flowers leaning more towards, blues, mauves and pinks but these were so bright and cheerful.

Growing at the side of our house is Valerian.  A few years ago we bought a seed pod home that we picked up from the roadside down a lane near Abersoch on the Llyn Peninsular in Wales and to start with planted it in a pot. It self seeds everywhere and grows in the strangest of places. Paul calls it 'the Welsh weed' but has planted some up near the pond anyway.  I like it though.

Delicate pale pink peonies a bargain from the supermarket reduced to £2.39. I just couldn't resist them.

The peony bush in our front garden was getting top heavy and flopping about so on our way to Nottingham last Friday we stopped at a garden centre and I saw a pack of two plant supports which now they are in place have lifted the heavy blooms and leaves but we really could have done with three supports in there.


Lastly, from our visit to Moseley Old Hall a photo of another of my favourites the Philadelphus or Mock Orange, I think this one is Belle Etoile.  The scent from the two bushes towards the front of the house was amazing and the bees were buzzing all over them.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and for those of you in the UK stay safe in the heavy rain and thunder storms that are forecast for later today.
Right, after gadding about a bit earlier in the week I'm off to spend as much of the day in the garden as I can before that rain sets in.


40 comments:

  1. Californian poppies are usually grown from seed. Try just scattering some where you want them to grow in autumn and they should pop up next year. After the first flowering they should self seed as well.

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    1. Thanks, Jessica I must try to find some seeds - I loved the way they closed when out of the sunlight:)

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  2. Fabulous peonies, you must have a good supermarket near you. Crazy weather, boiling yesterday, soaking today whatever next! Enjoy your garden :-)

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    1. It wasn't our nearest supermarket but we'd popped in to a Morrison's - the weather is fairly inconsistent at the moment isn't it?:)

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  3. Stunning peonies, what a bargain.

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    1. They were weren't they - half price and still with a good date on them and they have lasted quite a few days now:)

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  4. Really like the valerian, think I'll have to find some seeds.

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    1. I can always send seeds, Janet but I'm not sure if it is allowed to send them out of the country, do you know? I've a feeling there are rules about it:)

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  5. Eschscholzia come in a range of colours but all at the red, orange, yellow end of the spectrum, I'm afraid. They are very pretty. You've got some lovely flowers in this selection.

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    1. Thanks, the poppies were called Mikado - I must look out for some seeds:)

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  6. You know that I love flowers, and I love peonies, so this was a perfect post for me to enjoy!!!!! It couldn't have been better!!!! Your peonies in the garden are beautiful, just the sort of dark red that I remember peonies being when I was a child. Thank you so much for joining in. I hope that you have a great weekend! xx

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    1. Oh, Amy I thought of you when I took photos of the peonies. the red ones remind me of my childhood home too - we had a huge bush of them in one corner of the garden and I loved them then:)

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  7. Those peony "holders" work really well. My peonies bushes are covered with heavy blooms right now but everything is still upright thanks to the metal basket around them.

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    1. Yes, they do work well don't they? We had a support around the peonies in the back garden but not the one at the front. I'm afraid the poppies in the photo have lost a lot of their petals this morning because of the heavy rain yesterday:)

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  8. I loved seeing theses photos of your lovely flowers. I hoping to find a peony to plant in my garden. They have such beautiful flowers. Happy Friday :)

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    1. I think flowers cheer everyone up don't they. I hope you find a lovely peony for your garden:)

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  9. The California poppies are lovely but my favourite is the Philadelphus. It grew in our garden when I was a little girl and the scent always takes me back to my childhood. We called it orange blossom. I have one here as well but it's not in flower yet.

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    1. There used to be a philadelphus just outside the back door of a place I worked in a few years ago and the smell was wonderful - I've always loved it since then. The red peonies take me back to my childhood:)

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  10. Lovely selection of flowers I love the cheeriness of California Poppies but my Philadelphus is nowhere near out yet it's fragrance is very powerful

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    1. I love the fragrance of the philadelphus, I have one here but it is a white one and not scented like the mock orange one:)

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  11. Beautiful flowers Rosie. I love the Poppies and I'm not drawn to orange flowers either, the peonies are beautiful too. Such a lovely post. Have a lovely weekend and let's hope the rain doesn't stay the whole time xx

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    1. Thanks, Lisa - the garden does need the rain I suppose. The ideal is dry days and rain through the nights - hope you have a lovely weekend too:)

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  12. Oh what gorgeous flowers! I especially love the peony...one of my favorite flowers, and one of my favorite colors!

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    1. The peonies are pretty special aren't they? The red ones are favourites of mine as they remind me of my childhood home:)

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  13. The peonies are going over in our garden. Now I'm waiting for the oriental poppies and the mock orange flowers to open. The supports sound like a good idea for the peonies and the poppies. I think we might be in for some rain this weekend. Anyway, have a good one!

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    1. The peonies in the photo have been dashed by last night's rain and the petals are all over the front lawn - such a shame - next thing will be the poppies, have a lovely weekend rain or no:)

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  14. Beautiful flowers. I have not been able to get in our garden this week because it hasn't stopped raining. Have a good weekend. Beckie

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    1. What a shame about the rain, we have rain now too and the garden is flooded after such a lovely day yesterday:)

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  15. It's so nice in the late spring, early summer with everything in bloom or about to be. My peony has yet to bloom but here in New Hampshire we are way behind what seems like most of the world! :D Oh well, sooner or later they will bloom. My patch of wild daisies has just burst forth so there are white flowers everywhere at the moment.
    Hope you enjoy your weekend,
    Hugs for now,
    Beth P
    #23 Five on Friday

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    1. White flowers everywhere sounds lovely and you will still have your peonies to look forward to when ours are gone. Happy weekend:)

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  16. Oh wow clumber park! We used to go there for family days out and play amongst the rhododendrons for hours! You have brought back some fond memories :)

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    1. Yes, we did too - we used to walk, play ball games, picnic and watch the cricket - well the Dads did:)

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  17. I've always associated poppies with the color red and yet lately I've seen a very pretty pink and now the orange here. I think it's rather ironic that what's labeled a weed happens to grow prolifically and yet we are always trying to tame our gardens into perfectly manicured areas with plants that possibly don't want to grow. We live in very hot desert country so anything that's green and wants to grow, I water and let it flourish. :) Have a great weekend.

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    1. Oh, yes I would imagine that anything that wants to grow in that kind of cliamte should be left to flourish. We struggle to grow the plants I would like to grow because we are on heavy clay so cottage garden type flowers just will not grow here:)

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  18. Lovely flowers I love Californian poppies and have some yellow ones in my garden that come up every year they look so cheerful, Clumber park looks like a great place to visit what a pity it's so far away. Enjoy your weekend. :)

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    1. Clumber is a lovely place, I don't visit very often now we live away from that area so it was nice to go back, the poppies are very cheerful aren't they?:)

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  19. Wonderful flowers Rosie. My peony is teasing me with its green ball hiding the colour inside. Hopefully it will burst out soon! Have a wonderful weekend xx

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  20. Lovely 'Welsh weed' Rosie! I have always rather liked orange flowers but funnily do not favour red roses or red flowers in general - I have no idea why! x

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