I have now recovered from last weekend, and what a wonderful weekend it was, celebrating with all the family together. Thank you all for your lovely messages. Back to normal now though, watering, deadheading and weeding! The weather has been so hot since the wind changed from the east to the west, too hot to work in the afternoon so I have to start early, before breakfast , to get all done that needs doing that day. My six for this week are a bit of a mixed bag………….
No 1
Stars of the moment are the peonies. I have a few in the corner between the dining room and sitting room, it is a sun trap and the perfume in that corner is divine! This is Bowl of Beauty.
Peony Sarah Bernhardt has a lovely perfume and pale pink petals with rasberry ripple running through them!
Single peony Jan van Leeuwen, again with a lovely perfume, is very smart, pristine white with an amazing golden centre.
Here we have Festiva Maxima, a fully ruffled and frilly white peony with flecks of blackcurrant mixed in, all this and a lovely perfume too!
I know they don’t last very long, so far I have had 2 good weeks from them, hope they stand up to the rain forecast for today, we had a shower last night but it was just a trickle!
No 2
It is also Oriental poppy time, can’t remember this ones name, but it is a pleasing pink.
No 3.
There are lots of roses clamouring for attention, but having gone to town on the peonies, I will make do with Rosa Liverpool Hope which looks so beautiful surrounded by Geranium magnificum.
No 4
My new little clematis, which I have planted in the new area at the top of the garden. This is a Raymond Evison clematis for small areas or pots and will only grow to 3 or 4ft.
No 5
I have a new friend, Mrs Blackbird, she is feeding babies and gathers mealworms in her beak that I put out for her each morning. She is getting quite demanding, whenever I appear in the garden. I suppose with the weather being so hot and the clay soil so dry, it must make finding food more difficult. I take pity on her at lunch time and dinner time, but she has come to sit between my feet or on the bench beside me or on the table in front of me, looking me in the eye as if to say, “don’t just sit there, go and get me some food”! I don’t want her to rely on me totally, so she will just have to make do with food appearing just 3 times a day for now!
No 6
A lot of work has been going on for the past few months at the top of the garden, some work done by me but I have to admit that most of it has been done by Joseph, my young handyman. The far bed had some wood that had rotted so it was replaced the other day and I then painted it along with other things that needed sprucing up.
This bench was dragged from the undergrowth by my son, who told me it was only fir for firewood, but I had other ideas. It originally belonged to my mother and was used here beside the pond but eventually got overgrown with brambles. Joseph to the rescue! He fixed it all and I painted it, it is now nice and sturdy and makes a nice spot in dappled shade for morning coffee!
You get a view of this carving as you are walking up through the pergola to what was the old fruit and veg area where work is still in progress. I don’t think I’ll do any more planting here until the autumn, otherwise I’ll be having to water all summer. The carving is of my mother as a child, her maiden name was Moon and I remember she was always wagging that finger at me whenever I was naughty! Joseph said he was worried that he would knock the finger off when he was fixing the carving in place. Job done successfully! The clematis will eventually cover the support behind, I have chosen one that should only grow to 3 or 4ft.
The area round the pond was in need of urgent attention, it was as bad as the old fruit and veg area, I’m ashamed to say, totally overgrown with brambles and tree seedlings! Joseph worked hard for 2 days and has cleared the lot! I’ll wait and see how many roots sprout up once we have some decent rain, before even thinking about re-planting.
Those are my six for this week, thanks once more to Jim at Garden Ruminations for hosting, do pay him a visit to see what other gardeners have been up to round the world.
I’m pleased last weekend went so well for you. Joseph sounds like an absolute treasure! What a special carving, no wonder he was nervous.
Yes, Helen, Joseph is a treasure, able to turn his hand to lots of jobs, thank goodness, he did well.
Very nice choice of peonies. I only have a pinkish one ( and a yellow tree peony) and yours are beautiful.
My love of peonies Fred, started when my daughter sent me some beautiful ones in a bouquet, with such an amazing perfume, I have loved them ever since.
I have a couple of unnamed peonies that looked similar to your pinky ones, I shall go and give them a sniff.
Mrs Blackbird is a delight, over winter we had a Robin who was equally demanding. And finally what a lovely bench and wood carving. Such a fine thing to remind you of family.
Some have more perfume than others Amber, hope you find yours have! I think the birds have us well trained, I know I always increase the feeding at this time of year when we are inundated with all the babies! It’s nice to be reminded of the family when wandering or sitting in the garden, memories come flooding back.
Glad to hear you enjoyyed your birthday wekend. You have all my favourite peonies, they are fabulous. I love your blacbird friend.
The weekend was wonderful Chloris, I was thoroughly spoilt! Peonies are a favourite with me and my daughter, she always sends them for my birthday, lucky me. Mrs Blackbird has me well trained!
So kind of you to feed mother blackbird! I do the sane each year these black ravens come for some food when nesting their babies, so I throw them some bread. Then I found out two other neighbours were doing the same! They were getting a great feed! 🌸⚘
I think we are programmed to feed the wildlife in our gardens Sarah, especially at this time of year when they are all producing lots of babies, they have us well trained!
That rose/geranium combination is wonderful.
Thanks Graeme, I think I will have to buy a couple of Geranium Rozanne to carry on the blue/peach combination when G. magnificum and the campanula have finished flowering.
So glad you had such a wonderful time last weekend Pauline. That’s a lovely selection of peonies, I will have to check mine for perfume. Last year I bought some of the Itoh peonies (Eurohosta have very reasonable prices) so I am hoping they will produce a few flowers this years. The carving is just beautiful.
It was a wonderful weekend Denise, then on the Monday, the actual day, my fellow members of the village WI came for tea and cakes, although not much tea was drunk, more elderflower cordial! I have just bought 3 Itoh peonies, one is going to flower this year, the other two are biding their time. Glad you like the carving, I carved it in 2004 just after she died and it brings back lots of memories of my mother.
Congratulations Pauline – I remember you are almost exactly a year behind the Golfer! When it was my Mum’s ** birthday I did in fact add ** candles to the cake, which won’t ever be repeated, as even lighting them all was impossible! You have struck so lucky with Joseph, who is proving to be an all-round handyman and is no doubt invaluable. YOur peonies must be looking wonderful in the garden and one advantage of the dry weather is that they won’t have been spoilt by the rain. Did you get any new plants for your birthday?
Thank you for your good wishes Cathy. The peonies have done remarkably well and are lasting beautifully in the hot sunshine. No new plants for my birthday but lots of flowers instead, except for the 3 Itoh peonies that I bought myself, one of which has just started to flower.
Joseph sounds very handy! Some beauties here, especially those peonies. Just loving your blackbird friend! Good to see the bench restored. That is a beautiful carving.xxx
Joseph certainly is handy Dina, I don’t know what I would do without him now, he does all the things the undergardener used to do. Mrs Blackbird still has me feeding her and her babies at regular intervals, I feel the ground is so hard with all the heat and no rain, so worms etc have burrowed down and can’t be found, hopefully we will have rain this weekend. Glad you like the carving!x