This post is mainly an update on various recent posts, starting with our family of Great Spotted Woodpeckers. It didn’t take long for the youngster to learn how to feed from the peanut feeder, now there is no stopping him/her, it is there nearly all day long!
Young Gt. Spotted Woodpecker
The female Gt. spotted Woodpecker has now started coming to the feeder, you will notice that she doesn’t have any red colouring on her head.
We now have a baby Robin coming for food each day, such a lovely little speckled bird, it won’t get it’s distinctive red breast until it has moulted.
I found the adult robin half way up the dead oak.
I should have included this rhododendron foliage in the recent Foliage post on the 22nd. Rhododendron Yakushimanum has new growth that is a beautiful silver colour. This wears off over the next few months and shows the familiar dark green.
Another that should have been included in Foliage Day is my little Acer Shindishojo which suffered from the North wind over the winter. I have now put it into a large pot and moved it into the back garden where it is sheltered from any wind that comes.
It’s Oriental Poppy time! They are so beautiful and so fleeting, wonderful when you can catch them!
A lovely white Astilbe flowering in the darkest corner of the woodland.
A double Geranium.
Rosa Snow Goose on the archway into the woodland, is doing really well this year and there are still plenty of buds to open.
Cornus kousa flowering in the border by the field. I don’t remember this shrub flowering so well before, it is covered with flowers.
Allium Globemaster and Darmera peltata growing together?! One likes it dry and the other likes it wet! The Darmera has spread to where I planted the allium, quite a distance away, but seems happy in the soil in its new position.
Mrs. Blackbird now has a brood to feed, she has been nesting in the honeysuckle over the roof of the arbour in the gravel garden at the back. Her babies have now fled the nest and she is feeding them around the garden.
Clematis Lasurstern climbing the downpipe by the conservatory and Campanula poscharskyana is scrambling up the clematis. The rose is flopping over them both!
Clematis Lasurstern
Erigeron karvinskianus has put itself here at the corner of the house. This is a seedling of the one that died where I planted it!
Rogersia flowers, the bronze leaves have turned green, but the interest is now in the flowers.
The following 3 photos are all seedlings that I grew from Primula Postford White, it just shows what happens when you leave it all to the bees!
Another seedling of Postford White.
and yet another seedling of Postford White, the bees have been busy!
My favourite spot in the garden at the moment, my rainbow bog …..
….or is it my boggy rainbow!
Gardening is now being done in short spells, in between watching Wimbledon and dodging the showers. It’s amazing how much I get done early in the morning before breakfast with just the birds for company, I think this is the best part of the day, do you agree or are you sound asleep like any sensible person would be?!
I think you have a boggy rainbow with all the rain we have had! Lovely photos of the primulas, which probably like the wet. I am in the asleep camp.
Yes we have had a lot of rain recently Anne and that border has an underground stream keeping everything nice and damp all the time! The plants there all like the wet so are very happy at the moment.
I feel the early morning is the best time to see wildlife in the garden, they look most surprised to see me out so early!
Pauline, your rhododendron silvery foliage is very interesting. Love the bog garden in any season but especially nice now. I agree the garden is the place to be early in the day.
I don’t know how I missed the rhododendron foliage susie, when it came to take photos for foliage Day, it stands out so clearly. All the plants in the bog garden are looking very healthy at the moment as we have been having quite a lot of rain, the underground stream must be topped up!
It is turning out to be such a soggy summer – the Rodgersias are loving it though and are having their best year ever! I love your ‘Snow Goose’, it looks fantastic. We too are ducking in and out between showers bit they can be so heavy that the garden is too wet and waterlogged to work in ! In June!!
All the plants in the bog garden are loving the rain, I have never known them all to be so tall or to have so many flowers! The rose Snow Goose is a lovely rambler, it doesn’t grow too much and flowers on and off all summer. I’m lucky, where I’m working in the garden at the moment is a gravel area, so dry underfoot, thank goodness!
Your garden looks wonderful. I love the rose/Clematis combination, also that patch of Erigeron looks so unrestrained and lovely.
Thanks Jason! I had planted the original Erigeron in one of the flowerbeds, but obviously the soil was all wrong for it. The seeds preferred the sand under the paving slabs next to the house! This plant grows so much each year so needs a good haircut each spring!
How often do the woodpeckers come to your bird feeder? That makes for a great picture.
Hi Mr. Bill, good to hear from you! The Juvenile spends most of the day, every day, on the peanut feeder and doesn’t give the other birds a chance. Mr and Mrs come at least half a dozen times a day and stay for ages. Glad you like the photos.
Lots of colour in your garden, Pauline. Lots of showers here too. The bird photos on this post and earlier ones are brilliant – looks like you are enjoying the new camera.
I certainly am enjoying the camera Sue, there is always something new to photograph each day when I do my early morning wander round.
Your rainbow bed is looking better than ever, I love the colors! The rhodo foliage is also nice. Mine struggled for years before giving up the ghost, but it was always a favorite even while it looked so unhappy.
Nice to have so many birds around.
Thank you Frank, I’m so glad you like the rainbow bed, it is certainly colourful at the moment and now the iris and astilbes are starting to flower too.
We love having all the wildlife in the garden, the birds bees and butterflies add another dimension to it.
The ‘Postford white’ primulas are lovely, the bees are doing a great job! The pale pink Oriental poppy is gorgeous. I tried growing Erigeron karvinskiansus from seed without success! Definitely agree that early morning is the best time to be out. We are getting some much need rain now so my early morning round was limited to the greenhouse!
I should have known better where Postford White was concerned Denise, I was hoping they would come up white! Obviously if I want more white primulas, I will have to split what I already have. I think the Erigeron is very fussy as to where it lives, it also seeds into some of my containers!
Gardens all need rain to keep them going, plants are so much happier after a lot of showers.
Definitely up and out there with the first sparrows, a wonderful time, and at night when you are tired out there again with a glass of something (possibly alcoholic?), to listen to the evening chorus ’til the owls hoot, paradise is a garden.
Always love your photo’s.
So glad to hear that there is someone else out early in their garden with the birds Jackie, it is a magical time! We do have a Tawny Owl who is a frequent visitor, but usually only hear them in the autumn and winter. In the summer evenings we are usually watching the bats!
I enjoyed the mixed bag of your post, Pauline. Interesting to see your self seeded primulas – I have a tiny seedling from the batch of seeds you sent me but it has taken 12 months to appear as I sowed them straight away! Are your astilbes OK in dry shade? I added some at the end of last year but wasn’t sure if they needed some dampness – although they are coming into flower so they must be OK
Obviously I will have to split any primulas Cathy, if I want to reproduce their colours, the bees mix everything up! I wonder what colour yours will turn out to be?
The white Astilbe is in a damp part of the woodland, near to where the snakeshead fritillaries grow. This area is lower than the rest so all the moisture drains there.
I love all your bird pictures. The blackbird looks like the cat birds that are nesting in our hedge this year. They were very shy at first but now but now they come very close to us when we are weeding on the lookout any tasty bit turning up.
Thank you Alain, what a difference it has made having a new camera! The female blackbird is brown, but the male is black with a very yellow beak and ring round the eye. We gardeners always have company when we are weeding, birds are always ready to pounce on anything we leave uncovered.
I did enjoy seeing your birds, how lucky you are to have woodpeckers, we have them but I only ever see fleeting glimpses of them. That little robin is just adorable. I must look out for a double geranium, how pretty is that? The pic of the rose/campanula/clematis is gorgeous, as is your boggy rainbow.xxx
Thank you for your lovely comments Dina! The woodpeckers seem to live in the garden, it is wonderful to see so much of them, we also have the green ones which come for the ants on the lawn but so far they have managed to only appear when I haven’t got the camera with me! The boggy rainbow just gets better each day as more flowers open, the iris and astilbe are now taking over from the primulas and the zantedeschia is putting up even more flowers, they are all appreciating all our rain!
Oh, I love your rainbow bog! I am also impressed with the silvery new rhododendron foliage. Thanks for the catch-up on the wildlife, too. Your garden is always a delight. Thank you!
I’m so glad Deb, at the moment, the bog is my favourite spot in the garden! I’ve noticed a few more rhododendrons have the same new silvery foliage, it makes such a contrast with the old leaves. We now have large Jackdaws (Crow family) coming to the feeders, just for the fat balls which they devour in seconds!