On the whole, not a bad week weatherwise, apart from Monday, and the promise of more good weather to come, I shall look forward to that. Everything is growing at such a fast rate, I can’t keep up with it all, especially the weeds. Once again so many flowers to photograph, then the question of which 6 to use, here are mine for this week.
I’ll start with the first of the Great Spotted woodpecker’s youngsters. For a couple of days I saw the father feeding his youngster down on the lawn, they were finding plenty to eat, I think they must have found some ants. However it hasn’t taken the youngster long to work out how to use the peanut feeder, don’t worry I have filled it up!
I think this is my last rhododendron to flower, this was here when we moved in 34 yrs ago, it hasn’t grown much taller but has certainly spread sideways! I planted the cotinus next to it and think they go nicely together.
The flowers start out lilac/pink and then open white with a few little spots on one of the petals.
I think I must have forfotten to prune this clematis in Feb/March as it has taken off up the dead oak tree in the centre of the lawn. This is C. Etoile Violette.
The first flower on my Rosa Liverpool Hope. It starts out like a hybrid tea rose but ends up fully double like a David Austin rose, nice oerfume too.
The pignut, or Conorpodium majus in my circular meadow, has gone mad this year, so much more of it than last year, it is looking quite amazing.
My special candelabra seedling has now started flowering. It has sat in water for a good 6 months, I am so pleased it has survived. I must increase it and spread it around in all the other flooded places! It has now split into 3 so will move it when it has finished flowering.
I just had to show you this last one, my wild Common Spotted Orchid or I think that is what it is. At last the flowers are opening, I think it will be a while before they are all open.
I will be saving seed from it, if there is any with it being the only one, and will try to grow it in the other half of the meadow which is in more sunshine and drier, which I think it might prefer. I thought it might be a marsh orchid with it being in the wettest part of the meadow when I first spotted it, but then according to my book they don’t have spotted leaves, so I’m not too sure which variety it is, just so glad it has decided to grow with me!
That’s it for this week. Thanks to Jim at Garden Ruminations for hosting, do pop over to see what other gardeners are getting up to, hopefully we will all have good weather for a good gardening weekend. I’m not sure how much I’ll get done as my son is visiting for a couple of days.
How wonderful to have wild orchids in the garden. That must be so exciting. I had to look up pignut – never heard of it. Another delight. Do you ever eat the tuber?
It was a lovely surprise when it popped up, I would love to know where it came from! Sorry, should have put pignut’s proper name – Conopodium majus, fascinating when you read back in history and find out that our forebears used to est the tuber before they had the potato! So far no, I’ve not been tempted to try them!
What a stunning photo of the great spotted woodpecker! The same goes for the very pretty rhododendron ; here they are all faded, and I have even started to remove the flowers to make room for the new shoots of the year ( only on small bushes…)
I was talking to Jim in my comment about this spotted orchid because I have a similar one in my garden that is self-growing and comes back every year. A real pleasure.
Thanks Fred, the young woodpecker never seems to be away from the peanuts, but I suppose with a side dish of ants it is getting a well balanced diet! I too dead head my rhododendrons, they look so much better for it don’t they? Does your orchid increase by itself or do you have to give it a helping hand, I’m hoping mine will increase.
Wow love your wildflower meadow! 🌸🌼 That Rhododendron is superb! Cute woodpecker!
Thanks Sarah, I have done this part of the lawn like this for about 10 yrs now, originally it was a summer meadow, but this year has been so wet that The grass wasn’t able to be cut from January, so this year it will be a spring and summer meadow! To think that we have been cutting down the orchid each year without realising it!
How lovely it must be to have a baby woodpecker – and an orchid! I’m rather jealous.
The baby woodpecker is boss of the peanuts, it won’t let any other birds near it! I don’t know where the orchid came from or how long it has been here, with changing the mowing regime, thanks to all the rain, it has been saved from the mower because the ground was so soggy!
That’s very exciting regarding the young great spotted woodpecker. Much nicer than the rat (possibly rats) we’ve spotted in our garden this week. The orchid is a beauty.
The young woodpecker is the boss of the peanuts now, everything flies away as soon as it arrives! We do have the occasional rat too, but not too often thank goodness! The orchid gets better day by day, I’m sure you will see it next week.
Your meadow is lovely, Pauline – how big an area does it cover? We used to get the Greater Spotted woodpeckers frequently here too, but haven’t seen them for a few years, which is a shame. Is your Etoile de Violette flowering at its usual time? Mine isn’t even in bud yet
My son, who is with me at the moment, says the meadow is approx 20 ft in diameter, I am thrilled that I’m getting new plants each year and some are doing so well, just hope the orchid does too! I’m sure I forgot to prune my C. Etoile Violette in March, it isn’t with all my other group 3 clematis on the pergola, so is easily forgotten.
What a thrill to have a wild orchid appearing. It looks like Dactylorhiza fuchsii. I have one but it never seems to seed around. A great shot of your woodpecker. Your meadow is so pretty.
It was wonderful when it appeared Chloris. People who know a lot more than I do about orchids say that it could be a hybrid with a Marsh Orchid, considering that it is growing in the wetter half of the meadow, it could be. The young woodpecker eating all the nuts very quickly, I will be having to top up the feeder more often now that it is around!
I’ll scan the pages in my orchid book with the descriptions of Common Spotted and Heath Spotted orchids and the notes on similar species. My reading would be that it is not Common spotted because the lobes of the flower lip are very different in size, the middle one being much smaller. I would suspect a hybrid.
Thanks Jim for looking into it for me, more flowers have opened overnight so you will definitely see it next week! I don’t really mind what it is, just grateful that it has chosen to grow in my garden!
Lovely photos Pauline. I always like to see R. Liverpool Hope in your posts, it reminds me of home. The orchid is just beautiful. I hope you succeed with the primula!
Thanks Denise, I love my little rose too! More flowers have opened on the orchid so you will see it next week!