We have been told by our local weather forecaster that our day of rain last week only brought us 1.5 cms, nowhere near enough unfortunately, maybe this weekends rain will add to that. Yesterday was so hot, back to scorching temperatures once more, this means of course that everything will grow, grass and weeds as well as the plants! I have a mixed bag for you this week, including more baby birds, so let’s get on………..
No 1
Another daylily has opened, I think it might be Gentle Shepherd, whatever its name, it makes a nice change from all the others.
No 2
I pollarded my Eucalyptus tree in the spring so that I can now keep it at about 6 ft tall. Thankfully it has sprouted beautifully and I have lots of lovely juvenile foliage to add to any arrangements.
no 3
Stipa gigantea looking gorgeous across the “meadow”. In the morning sunshine it looks like spun gold.
No 4
Hydrangeas are starting to flower and have recovered very well from last years drought when they definitely suffered. Some I thought were dead and cut them right back, they have responded by growing masses of large leaves and look really healthy, but they won’t have any flowers this year unfortunately.
No 5
A little day lily on the rockery, when I say little, I mean tiny compared to most of them. The flower really is tiny and the the plant only grows about 1 ft tall.
No 6
I have never seen a Gt. Spotted Woodpecker on the ground before, usually the parents and youngsters fly straight at the peanut feeder, scattering all the other smaller birds as they land. This is a juvenile with red on the top of its head, I think its looking a bit bemused, what am I doing down here maybe?
You don’t need to worry, I haven’t put it in a cage! I put mealworms out every morning for the robins, blackbirds, chaffinches, dunnocks and house sparrows. I got the cage from the RSPB when I found the magpies, jackdaws and wood pigeons were eating nearly all the mealworms, now the smaller birds can hop in, have a good feed and hop out again. I was totally amazed to see the juvenile woodpecker had hopped in, I wouldn’t have thought it could squeeze through, but after having a good feed, it hopped out again! Wonder if it will try it again?
There we have my six for this week, flowers keep coming, soon it will be the Agapanthus and late summer flowers, there is always something waiting in the wings, thank goodness.
Thanks to Jim at Garden Ruminations for hosting once more, if you pay him a visit you will see what other gardeners found worth photographing in their gardens. Hope the rain doesn’t stop you gardening this weekend!
Lovely to see the little woodpecker at the end, what a beauty! I like the idea of a small daylily, as my garden is so tiny, yours looks lovely. Glad to hear the hydrangeas have recovered, it has been a tough time for them. I must admit my two get any excess water that is hanging about. Have a good week 🙂
I did save water last summer Gill and tried to put it where it was needed, but with all the hydrangeas, rhododendrons and camellias wanting it, it was hard to see to everything and some did suffer. Glad you like my young woodpecker, they keep me entertained!
I have to admit I skipped straight to the baby bird pictures, and they’re brilliant. I did go back & look at the flowers! I particularly like the tiny day lily, it’s very pretty.
The tiny day lily has formed a decent sized clump now Helen, so has lots of flowers that keep coming each day.I love this time of year when all the birds that usually come to the feeders, are all bringing their babies, the young blackbirds and robins seem very tame at the moment.
We have rain now which I hope my hydrangea will enjoy, I try not to water it with tap water, but occasionally it needs a drink and the tap water has to suffice. Lovely to see the woodpecker.
It is raining at the moment Rosie, nice gentle rain which the garden will appreciate.I don’t get much gardening done when I’m watching the birds, there seem to be so many of them at the moment.
What a pretty little daylily, Pauline – I had no idea that they came in a tiny size!
I hope your hydrangeas do well for you this year, even those that won’t flower, you can look forward to next year. I moved a few this early spring, and they’re not looking great right now. The recent heat and lack of water hasn’t helped. Fingers crossed for yours!
Love your giant Stipa! That must look so good with the sun filtering through!
There are some lovely small ones Catherine, just the right size for the rockery! The hydrangeas which I cut right back look very happy at the moment, they have responded by making extra large leaves. The Stipa is my favourite grass of all time,so much so that I planted a second one!
How tall was your eucalyptus before you pollarded it? Mine now is more than 4.50m tall and I will have to cut it back one day…. Lovely stipa, I have the medium version.
I don’t think my Eucalyptus was as tall as yours Fred, more like 3 or 3.5m tall. I will keep it at about 2m so that I can manage it easily. I like that Stipa but can’t see it from the house, when I realised how wonderful it looks with the sun shining through it, I planted another where it would have the sun behind it and I can see it from inside the house.
Gosh, that blue Hydrangea is lovely. Lovely to see a young great spotted woodpecker in the garden.
The Hydrangea is a beautiful dark blue isn’t it Graeme, so lucky to have the right soil in that spot! The woodpeckers are with us all the time and come to the feeders lots of times each day, I think they are addicted to peanuts!
Little woodpecker is so cute! Good to hear that your eucalyptus tree is so healthy, too. I was just looking into getting one and was surprised at how hardy some of them are.
The woodpecker isn’t so little Angela, very cute though! The eucalyptus is fine since it was pollarded, I must keep it to a manageable height and by doing so I will always have the lovely juvenile foliage.
Nice images! The woodpecker is adorable! I had a yellow bellied sapsucker in my yard once, pecking at my horizontal logs.
Thanks! Your yellow belliied sapsucker sounds interesting!
I love the juvenile leaves of Eucalyptus; so much prettier than the mature ones. I am wondering if I could squeeze in a Stipa gigantea somewhere, it’s my favourite grass, yours looks wonderful. How lovely to have such a beautiful woodpecker feeding in your garden.
I agree Chloris, the young leaves are much nicer. I think the woodpeckers nest in my dead oak, they certainly live in the garden. So many people have asked why I don’t have the dead oak cut down, but it is home to so much wildlife and it is where the tawny owls sit and call in the winter!
I would love to able to grow Eucalyptus Pauline, there’s nothing quite like it in flower arrangements. I think it’s lovely that you keep the dead oak for the wild life.
I suppose the Eucalyptus aren’t hardy for you Denise, such a shame. The dead oak is like a block of flats for the birds with the woodpeckers, nuthatches and treecreepers working their way up and down. Last winter I went into the garden in the evening when I heard the owl calling,it was the female sitting in the oak, eventually I heard a male calling from across the fields. He arrived and sat on the end of the branch that she was sitting on, I could see them quite clearly in silhouette as there are no leaves anyway with the tree being dead. They kept calling, he would shuffle along the branch a bit, more calling, more shuffling etc. Eventually he reached her and they did a lot of beak clicking and murmuring in between. This went on for a while, then they both took off and flew away into the darkness over the fields, I like to think there are tawny owl chicks over there somewhere!
The cage looks like a great idea and how wonderful to have that woodpecker in your garden.
The photo of the meadow with the stipa looks fantastic.
All the feeders now have cages round them Catharine except the peanuts, otherwise the woodpeckers wouldn’t be able to get them, I’m afraid the birds have to take their chances on that feeder. I bought these other cages when a sparrow hawk was coming regularly to the feeders, but for the little birds, not the food! It has worked very well, the birds are now safe and able to feed in peace. Glad you like the stipa, there is a mown path between the meadow and the border with the Stipa, the gardener knows now to go round the meadow twice with his lawn mower and then once up the centre so that it looks maintained! Only another month and it will be time for it to be cut, the farmers are already cutting theirs, meeting their huge tractors in our narrow lanes is a bit hair raising!
We haven’t seen a woodpecker in the garden for a little while, but hopefully they are still around – we did have a baby once, like yours, though. The fresh foliage on the eucalyptus is lovely and will prove very useful, as you say – 6 feet seems a good size to keep it at.
The woodpeckers are around here all the time, they are very welcome visitors Cathy. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to snip little side shoots of the eucalyptus to add to flowers whenever the occasion arises, should be much easier now that it is only 6ft tall!
loving the blooms. That stipa is gorgeous! I cut all my hydrangeas back too thinking they were dead, like yours mine have made something of a come back. Lucky you getting closeup to that wonderful woodpecker!xxx
The Hydrangea has responded really well Dina, with such huge leaves this time, it must be enjoying all the rain we have had! The woodpecker is back lots of times each day, I always have the camera handy at this time of year!x