Sunflowers

Sunflowers at Barlow, Derbyshire.  

On Wednesday we drove through Derbyshire to visit a friend who lives in Holmesfield and spent a lovely hour wandering around the sunflower fields in the nearby village of Barlow.

The bright colour of the flowers contrasted with the dull grey skies above.  Amongst the flowers, which at times towered over us, we felt a protective warmth and peacefulness.  The heat and scent was amazing. The bees were buzzing around the flowers but we didn't see many butterflies.  Although later, after lunch, we saw quite a few as we walked around the woods in Holmesfield.

The farmer was busy in an adjacent field bailing hay.

 

(Paul's photo of the wild flowers)

 

The wild flower field was still looking lovely although by this time of year not at its best.  It must have looked wonderful a few weeks ago.

 

(Paul's photo)

All for now.  Take care and have a lovely weekend.

Into October

The first day of October found us picking up the pieces of yesterday's damage caused by wind and rain.  All the sunflowers were dashed to the ground.  Some over the grass but the others fell in the opposite direction and ended up in the pond on top of the waterlillies.   

The sunflower heads that had become too soggy have had to be put in the garden wheelie bin, others not so damp have been left to dry out to see if we can salvage the seeds.

Some of the stems have also found their way into the house and were put into a vase on the kitchen table, they make me smile each time I walk past them.

This is day one of Blogtober.  Will I manage to write a post every day?  I've no idea but will give it a try.

Sunflowers in September

 The sunflowers in the garden have grown quite tall.

They  are reaching for the sky

We've never grown any as tall as these. 

 

We took the seeds from last year's sunflowers which were a darker chocolate brown colour.

There are three plants and each has flowers of a different hue.

They are popular with the bees.

Yesterday we saw a little group of young goldfinches checking them out as they flew into the nearby Tamarisk tree.  We've been putting sunflower seeds in the feeders for ages as the goldfinches seem to prefer them to niger seed and the ground feeding birds benefit from the seeds dropped as the finches crack them in half.

 

The colours are Autumnal and as the plants sway in the breeze today there is a definite change in the air.

All for now.  Next post Harper Street and the 1950s house at Middleport Pottery.

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

The sunflowers bring a little bit of sushine on a day that is more like Autumn than Summer.

The laundry is drying inside, warmer clothes have been fished out of drawers and warming onion soup has been made for lunch; this evening the heating has been switched on. It seems ages, although only a few days, since we were walking on Crosby Beach in the sunshine.
Where has Summer gone?

(Edit 20/7/09 - I've just realised that I made it sound as if our heating had been switched on indefinitely when it was really just for an hour to take off the chill caused by the rain and to dry out wet clothes etc. This morning the sun is shining again with only the wet garden to give any clues as to yesterday's deluge.)