In just a few days since G.B.Foliage Day, the Rogersia which was just showing a couple of tiny leaves, has grown so much already.
Rogersia.
And it has put out so many new leaves. I think the colouring and the texture is so beautiful, I wish they could stay like this for the summer, but they will all turn green.
Skip the next bit if you don’t like beetles! Lately I have been hunting red Lily Beetles, I am finding so many each day on my lilies and squashing them underfoot. However I found so many on my snakes head fritillary seed heads, as well as on the lilies.
Just a few of the red lily beetles.
They are known to attack the snakeshead fritillaries, so hoping to reduce the numbers next year, I collected them in a pot. This should hopefully reduce their numbers, I’m afraid at least 30 were all squashed under my welly boot! At least the ones that were copulating died happy!
Rhododendron with ponticum shoot.
If any of you have rhododendrons with two different coloured flowers on the same bush, then it is time to take action. Obviously this rhododendron has been grafted onto the root stock of Rhododendron ponticum, the wild rhododendron, which will eventually take over if not stopped. It is spreading far and wide in this country and doesn’t allow anything else to grow in the vicinity . I usually follow the stem back to the trunk and pull downwards, removing the purple flower stem. If you cut it, it can sprout again, pulling it is usually the only way to get rid of it. I had 3 stems to pull away on this bush, hopefully they won’t return.
First rose.
My first rose which is flowering on the pergola. The roses on the pergola didn’t get pruned this year, as we just ran out of time with being out every day at the hospital. By the time we could prune them, they were already covered in buds. This has made them flower earlier this year than normal, I think we will just have to enjoy them and make sure we prune them, probably in November this year.
Clematis Lasurstern
Climbing up the side of the conservatory is a clematis which we inherited with the house. I think it is Clematis Lasurstern. The opening buds are quite beautiful.
Clematis Lasurstern
And the open flowers are just as beautiful. This is the first flower on my large flowered clematis and this tells me that spring is rapidly giving way to summer!
Baby blackbird
Having food out all the time on the bird table means that there is always lots of movement outside the back door. We knew the blackbirds had hatched their chicks when Mr.Blackbird started filling his beak with mealworms and flying to a spot in the border with dense cover from the shrubs. The other day this baby blackbird came with its father, obviously hoping it would feed him, but no, he had to feed himself as father flew away, back to the shrubs with his mouthful. Maybe another chick in the border or has Mrs. laid more eggs already? Moving round the garden , we can hear hundreds of chicks begging for food from their parents, soon they will all be coming to the bird table, I’d better get more food in so that I’m ready for the influx!
Acer Osakazuki seeds.
Acer palmatum Osakazuki seeds are very evident on my little tree. I planted a few a couple of years ago and now have two little trees in pots.
Seedlings of Acer Osakazuki
One has new growth which is very red to start with, the other has new growth which is just plain green. As we have so many seeds this year, I think I will plant some more and see what we get.
Seedling of Acer Osakazuki
This seedling shows the most promise, it just depends on how much colour it gets in the autumn.
Rhododendron Fantastica.
Rhododendron Fantastica, in the woodland, is looking better this year than any other year since it was planted. There are so many flower heads this year, we must have remembered to water it during periods of drought last summer!
White Aquilegia in the woodland.
Just into the woodland is a lovely clump of white Aquilegia which I must save seed from, to spread around in there. There is lots of red campion and cow parsley here at the moment, that have jumped in from the road the other side of the hedge. These will be allowed to flower, but not go to seed as I don’t need any more!
The pond.
Serious work is needed in the pond, I wonder if I’ll be given any waders for my birthday?! I need them as I don’t relish getting in, in a pair of shorts and some old shoes any more!!
Chives.
I don’t know how my chives are surviving. They started off up in the bed where the forget me nots now are, but a few years ago they seeded down below into the cracks in the paving. Each winter that area is quite often flooded, for days at a time, how can they survive under water, when we are told to plant them in well drained soil?! The original bulbs in the flowerbed have all died!
Polystichum setiferum Divisilobum
The new growth on this fern, Polystichum setiferum Divisilobum, looks just like an octopus , well I think so anyway!
English Iris and Buff tailed bumble bee.
The group of English Iris are in flower in the front border. This Buff tailed Bumble bee was certainly enjoying itself, visiting every flower.
Buff tailed Bumble bee.
Eventually it’s tail was even more buff coloured, as each flower it visited deposited its pale coloured pollen on it’s bottom!
View across the circular lawn.
This is my favourite view of the garden at the moment, with me standing by the border next to the field, looking across the bed round the dead oak with the Stipa gigantea, just starting to push up it’s beautiful flower panicles. Beyond is the circular lawn with the bog garden in the distance. The clematis cascading down out of the oak tree will soon come to the end of its flowering for this year, I’ll just have to wait 11 months for it to put on a repeat performance!
That is the end of my photographic oddments, a thoroughly mixed bag I think you will agree.
