Things I make. A welcome to the front door.
Pelargonium Appleblossom Rosebud. Perfectly named. Such beauty.
This cultivar has been around for over 100 years. It grows well, with plenty of flowers, but needs lots of sunshine to provide a strong colour. My plant was at the shady end of the greenhouse, which is why it is a greenish-pink. But I love the delicate folds and pink-tipped flowers. They are perfect for flower arranging, lasting a week in water. It’s one of my favourites. This plant came from my Mum, but I can highly recommend Fibrex Nursery -holders of the national collection of pelargoniums- at Stratford, Warwickshire. Their mail order service is first class. I can spend many happy hours gazing at their gorgeous catalogue. http://www.fibrex.co.uk and on Twitter @FibrexNurseries
How can a tiny spiky cactus produce such a beautiful flower. Beauty is not always where you expect to find it.
A self-seeded pot marigold, Calendula. While I fuss over and struggle with more exotic plants, this is a reminder that beauty sometimes just happens.
We live on a windswept ridge. On the plus side, there are views in all directions- rolling fields of corn, oats, and barley. On the minus side, in the winter we are battered by 70 mph winds. Every winter we lose one or two mature trees. Last winter, we lost a majestic willow with five stately branches. Now reduced to a stump.The mature oak trees always suffer some damage. We anxiously check them after a storm.
Step over our garden fence, and take 20 paces and you will come to my chosen tree following oak.
It’s the tree in the centre of the picture.
The oak is about 200 years old and marks the start of a small wood where buzzards nest each summer.
One of the branches, snapped in a storm, has been left dangling. We wonder what lives in the holes and crevices.
Something must live in there. We see footprints in the winter.
It’s a favourite spot for a picnic in summer. The wide-spreading canopy gives much welcome shade.
Here’s Arnie enjoying the cool shade during the recent heatwave.
And it’s not just us enjoying the shade. We watched these beauties being born and have enjoyed seeing them grow. It’s a rare thing to see calves reared by their mothers these days. We get a lot of pleasure from seeing them caper around the fields. They seem to be as interested in us as we are in them. They line up along the hedge to watch me working on my vegetable plot.
Lammas Day is August 1st and our oak trees have put on the second flush of growth. Lammas leaves look so fresh and green. It’s a reminder that the season is moving on.
We sometimes see a woodpecker on the trunk. The bark must contain a good supply of insects and grubs.
A beautifully scented dog rose wreaths around the sunny side of the tree. There will be plenty of rose hips this year.
Thank you to https://squirrelbasket.wordpress.com/tree-following for hosting this meme. I was inspired to join in by Alison at The Blackberry Garden http://blackberrygarden.co.uk and Mike at Flighty’s Plot https:// flightplot.wordpress.com . Thanks for reading.
Wild grasses are as beautiful as flowers in my garden. Butterflies lay their eggs on blades of grass, and they are food plants for caterpillars.
Who doesn’t love absent-mindedly stripping the seeds as you walk along, and scattering them along the way. It’s a favourite pastime of mine. So calming – and it’s free.
Bramble Garden 