Saturday, May 12, 2018

In the Garden

I thought I'd keep a photographic record of things appearing in and around the garden over the last few days.

 Bright orange/yellow tulips, we bought and planted the bulbs in autumn last year.  

 The cat from across the road.  He knew he looked good posing near the Forget-me-nots which exactly matched the colour of his collar.

A swarm of bees!  They were heard coming up the street such a loud noise!  Running inside,  doors were shut and windows closed.  I took this photo through the landing window they stayed a while around next door and then moved away.  I've no idea where they came from or where they went toThere are some allotments not too far away perhaps someone has hives on one of those?

The morning after the bees had visited I heard a loud hissing noise and was just in time to see a balloon drop behind the trees at the top of the garden.  I grabbed my camera to capture it as it came up again but it stayed where it was and then moved away.  I never saw it  up over the trees again.  Perhaps it went the same way as the bees?

Foxy is a regular visitor to the garden.  She appears early morning and early evening when she seems to take a break from caring for her cubs.  I guess her cubs must be getting larger as she is looking a little careworn and dishevelled at the moment.

Next door's cat is also a regular visitor to the garden.  She would dearly love to catch up with a wood pigeon but even though they aren't very smart birds they have the measure of her.

The Clematis Montana is absolutely covered in buds and some are just beginning to open.  It's going to look wonderful this year.

The wild garlic is in flower next to the pathway near the shed.  The aroma as you pass by to the compost bins behind the shed is wonderful.  Each year we say we will try making soup or pesto from the leaves, perhaps we might manage it this year.

Rhododendron 'Dreamland' at the top of the garden.

The Aquilegia plants have spread so much this year and seem to have taken over various parts of the garden. You can see some London Pride growing by the Aquilegia another plant that spreads quite a bit.  I remember my grandmother's garden borders were full of it.


We may have to lose a few to stop them strangling the other plants but for the moment they remain.  I love their little bonnet shaped flowers.


Geums too are spreading and probably need splitting at some point.  Geums, Aquilegia and Hardy Geraniums seem to have taken over most of the beds at the moment.

The peony looks ready to burst forth in colour any time now.

The Pieris we moved from the back garden, where is was being overtaken by hardy geraniums, to the front garden is picking up and seems to be doing well in  its new home.

Wallflowers have seeded themselves against the wall of the house.  Below the Azalea we bought last year is in full colour after the warm bank holiday weekend.


34 comments:

  1. From my experience, looking after my mother's garden for 10 years, Aquilegia seemed to have occasional good years when they were everywhere but then were less numerous in other years. My mother's plants also cross-pollinated and all ended up a dirty shade of purple, though still quite attractive. I was thinking the same about Foxy; she appears to have lost a lot of weight and condition.

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    1. We've given foxy cat food as she was starving and our old cat wastes such a lot of food. The Aquilegias in our garden used to be far more colourful now we seem to have the pink and purple only:)

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  2. What a beautiful garden you have. We use to have a Fox who visited, now it's an armadillo who digs up everything.

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    1. Thank you, Janet. How wonderful to have an armadillo visit your garden:)

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  3. Your garden is well ahead of mine and is looking gorgeous. At least you caught a glimpse of the balloon for us before it dashed off, we had one do just the same thing, so close, so huge but gone too quickly. 😊

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    1. Thank you, it seems to have taken ages but now everything is flowering at once. I don't know who the balloon belonged to it vertainly wasn't the Trentham one as that is green and gold:)

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  4. Ohhhh what beautiful flowers you have, in May!!!!!!! We don't even plant, until the weekend around the 31st.

    Gorgeous kitty visitors!

    A swarm of beeeees! Oh mercy! I do hope they knew, how to go home.

    The balloon, too. :-)

    Repeat, how lovely your flowers look. -happy sigh-

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    1. We do have lots of visitors to the garden at least four other cats as well as those two. I did feel a bit nervous of the bees, I'm glad they went in the opposite direction:)

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  5. The latest Ellie Griffiths book, should arrive in the US, on May 15th!!!!

    And I will be the first, to borrow it!!! Because I am the one, who had it ordered, for our library. :-) Other libraries in our System, ordered it. But those NEW books, will not go on general Loan, for a while.

    "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." I inquired, and lo and behold, the nice librarian ordered it, for our library. :-)))))))))

    Needless to say, I am over-the-moon excited. The ending of the last one, was......... Full of promise! ,-))) I have "written" the possibilities. Now to see, how I did. ,-))))))

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    1. Not long to wait now, hope you enjoy the book as much as I did:)

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  6. A lovely selection from your garden Rosie. I have been enjoying the wild garlic while we are on our travels as we only have the three cornered leek at home. Love Mr Foxy, how wonderful to have him visiting. Enjoy your weekend. B x

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    1. There is a lot of wild garlic about this year, I must look up three cornered leek! This is Mrs Foxy but yesterday we had Mr Foxy too, he has a white tip to his tail whilst the female has more of a black tinged tail:)

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  7. Your garden looks so very beautiful Rosie - the top tulip is just stunning :) Lovely to see all your Granny's bonnets - ours don't seem to have done so well this year - just the purple variety has appeared and no sign of the pink ones.

    We had a swarm of bees in our garden last year (a few days after we had seen a swarm at Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens!). The first time I have ever seen one here. They moved into next door but one's garden and eventually moved on. I stayed indoors and couldn't believe the man next door but one was letting his children play on swings just yards from the swarm!

    So envious of your wild garlic - I think I have said it before but I must try and buy some for here. Love the smell and the starry flowers :)

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    1. Thank you RR as usual we've mislaid the card which came with the bulb pack so no idea what variety the tulips are. I must admit I was nervous of the bees and hoped they would move on from next door's garden. We have loads of wild garlic, we could let you have some if you would like it:)

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  8. Crikey, it’s all go at your place. I love the geums and aquilegias, not so sure about quite so many bees!

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    1. Thanks Jessica, yes it did seem a busy week in the garden, I was quite nervous of the bees and glad when they moved on:)

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  9. Wow, that all looks so gorgeous. You must have a lovely garden, unlike our poor parched gardens of this year. We've had some good rain this month so far, more than the first 4 months put together & I do have bulbs just peeking through & other bits are perking up nicely. Thanks for sharing & take care.

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    1. Thank you Susan, it has taken a long time this year for the garden to get going but now everything seems to be flowering at once. I bet your garden was glad of the rain:)

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  10. Your garden is giving you lots of joy at the moment and how splendid to have mrs fox visit! Xxx

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    1. Thanks Lyn, the garden does look okay at the moment, lots of weeding to do though now everything is growing so quickly. We love to see Mrs Fox:)

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  11. It all looks so beautiful. The gorgeous orange tulips are a joy and are a wonderful addition. Mrs fox is looking a little forlorn, the joys of motherhood.

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    1. I remember Foxy's mother last year looking quite fraught at this time and in June when her little cubs were following her around, once they were older she seemed to relax and look a lot healthier:)

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  12. So many lovely flowers :) how nice to see the fox too!

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    1. Thanks, Pam - yes we always enjoy seeing Mrs Fox:)

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  13. Such glorious flowers, Rosie. Spring is not very far advanced here - still cold and windy and nothing flowering in our garden - most of the bulbs which I planted last autumn haven’t come up yet. Great photo of your foxy visitor. Marie x

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    1. Thanks, Marie. It's always a pleasure when Mrs Fox sits for a while so I can take her photo. Hope Spring comes your way soon:)

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  14. Some lovely flowers in your garden, Rosie. Mrs Fox must feel comfortable there too. I would certainly run indoors if I knew a swarm of bees was coming by!

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    1. Thank you Linda, the bees were so loud as they came up the street. It is pleasing that Mrs Fox feels safe enough to relax in the garden:)

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  15. Lots of lovely colour in your garden, Rosie. I cleared a lot of hardy geranium out of a bed last year and the aquilegias have really multiplied. I do love them, yours and mine. x

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    1. Thank you Mrs T. They are very pretty but spread so much, almost as much as the geraniums both have taken over in parts of the garden at the moment:)

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  16. There's plenty to see in your garden. I love those frilly edges tulips and what a treat to have the bees visit too.

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    1. The tulips have faded in colour now but still pretty. I don't think we'll ever find out where the bees came from:)

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