I have quite a few photos that don’t fit into my usual headings, so they have made up a mixed bag for me.
How could I forget Mdme Alfred Carrierre when doing my post about roses, she was the first one in flower, brfore all the others!
The clematis montana that I planted to celebrate our son’s wedding decided that it didn’t want to climb the ancient ash in the back garden, it decided to flop over the mock orange blossom in front!
Then part of it started climbing, this is half way up.
This year I noticed that some has managed to get 2/3rds of the way up, maybe by next year it will reach the top!
Suddenly a splash of colour stopped me in my tracks down by the greenhouse. My poppy was in flower. This poor poppy has been sitting there for years and has now rooted through the pot into the soil, I’m sure if I try to move it and plant it elsewhere, I’ll get more poppies coming up from the roots left behind, so far it has been left, but maybe one day I will give it a go.
Peony Bowl of Beauty looking gorgeous!
She even looks beautiful with the sun shining through the petals.
Peony Jan van Leeuwen, this and the previous one have lovely perfumes.
My third peony flowering at the moment is Duchesse de Nemours, another with a delighful perfume. I think I have a new passion!
We had the most amazing sunset last Friday, it was worth missing 10 minutes of Gardener’s World to photograph it from upstairs!
All the baby birds have started to come to the feeders by the back door, just as well that I got lots of food in before the lockdown! This young Gt. Spotted Woodpecker hasn’t learnt yet how to access the peanut feeder, his/her Mum brings him/her every day now, I’m sure it will soon get the hang of it, then the feeder will need filling every day!
I had a lockdown birthday last week and had a wonderful visit from my daughter. We sat in the garden sitting 6ft apart of course, but oh, it was cold with a gale blowing from the north, even with the house between us and the wind and being well wrapped up, it was freezing! She brought her own coffee , lunch and chair with her and we had a wonderful time catching up on all the news, even though we email each other every day and face time regularly, nothing beats seeing family in the flesh, but oh dear, it was so hard not to give her a hug!!! She brought me lots of presents, including making me 2 face masks, 3 books to read, a jigsaw to keep me occupied and a lovely bunch of peonies!!
I’m doing a bit of jigsaw every time I pass it in the dining room, I did all the flowers first and am now working on the birds, with the background being all white, I’ll leave that till last!
That is my mixed bag up to date now I think, yesterday I was pricking out 63 tiny meconopsis seedlings into plug trays, I thought being in the greenhouse would be warmer than the garden, but not really, I was glad to get back inside as I got really cold. We have had more showers, but the ground is still rock hard, I’m afraid we need a lot more rain to do any good, at least today the sun is shining and the wind has dropped, thank goodness!
So glad you had a good birthday ! x It is tough to be hug-less though, isn’t it?
What a wonderful sunset ! I shall have to wait until I can get out by bus and/or ferry, over the other side of the river, to catch a sunset here but I can see the sun going down on the fields behind me 🙂
I did enjoy this catch up of your mixed bag: am making the most of friends’ bird photos, since I am surrounded by cats and am unwilling to put out any feeders !
Love, Rosemarie
Lovely to hear from you Rosemarie! Can you see the sunrise instead of the sunset, they can be just as good? I have lots of cats, which get chased by me, from neighbouring houses since Gemma died, but I still have hundreds of birds!
I very much enjoyed your mixed bag Pauline. Sounds like your clematis is not following instructions lol. Bowl of Beauty really is lovely isn’t it? I wish you a Happy belated birthday! How lovely that your daughter was able to come to see you, it’s a pity the weather wasn’t a bit kinder. Hope you will post a picture of the jigsaw puzzle when complete!
Glad you liked it Denise! If only my birthday had been a week earlier the weather would have been perfect! I did a lot of the jigsaw yesterday so yes, I will photograph it when it is finished.
I was thinking about your birthday as it is just before the Golfer’s – it can be hard to remember birthdays if we don’t know what day of the week it is, never mind what the date is!! Good to know you had a visitor, albeit 6 feet away. Good to see your mixed bag of extras, including your own baby woodpecker!
Baby Woodpecker has mastered the peanut feeder Cathy and is here all the time now. I keep telling it that peanuts are the equivalent of MacDonalds and it should be looking for grubs on my trees, but it takes no notice! As much as I would like to forget birthdays, my children won’t let me, it was a good day, all the better for seeing my daughter after so long, it made such a difference actually having a person to talk to!
Oh, I don’t seem to be getting notifications of your posts so came across, why oh why does this happen? Just loved the blooms, especially those stunning peonies! Lucky you having woodpeckers and seeing that adorable juvenile. Happy belated birthday, how lovely that you got to see your daughter, what a shame about the weather. Oh, I get how you miss the hugs, but fab you got to see each other.xxx
The peonies have been really wonderful Dina, I have gone each morning to have my morning fix of their perfume! Baby woodpecker has taken over the peanut feeder, hardly any other birds get a look in now, but when its parents come too it still demands to be fed! It was wonderful to see my daughter “in the flesh” as opposed to Facetime and we had a wonderful time in the garden in the bitterly cold wind, 6ft apart of course! x
So glad to read that you had a birthday visit from your daughter Pauline. What a shame that the weather didn’t oblige but I imagine that you didn’t feel the cold. Books and a jigsaw – what could be better presents apart from a plant 😂
It turned out to be a lovely birthday Anna, in spite of having to sit out in the cold! The jigsaw is now finished, I became quite addicted in the end, justy couldn’t stop doing it!