Short of time, I usually post photos of my garden at dusk in a last-minute dash about the place. Today, I got up early at 6am. And, surprisingly, the back fields are as misty as an October morning. We are having some really strange weather conditions this year.
I opened up the summerhouse in the hope of a nice day. The weather report says it’s going to be 23C.
Things I can hear at this time in the morning: Cows in the field opposite. They line up along the hedge to see what I’m doing. Snorting, sniffing and generally jostling for space, they are noisy and rather nosy neighbours.
I like to walk the perimeter of the plot twice a day, at dawn and dusk. We’ve made a kind of avenue of trees accidentally. We just happened to place the cherry, maple and ash trees wide enough apart to drive a lawn mower between. It makes a lovely calm leafy track, and the view out across the field changes daily. This path is good for watching the owls. They can’t see us, but we can see them.
On the other side of the trees, there’s a small paddock, an orchard and veg plot. This year, there’s more cut flowers than veg, although we are enjoying Charlotte Potatoes, and broad beans at the moment. I planted some French beans a fortnight ago and they will be cropping in another couple of weeks. The cut flowers have all been battered down by the rain. We had a whole month’s worth of rain in 36 hours. Floods are out in surrounding fields. Growing in a total jumble is Ammi, dahlias, rudbeckia, nicotiana, borage, verbascum, sweetpeas, cosmos and pot marigolds. There’s cabbage and garlic squeezed in there somewhere.
On the garden table there’s pots of the new Agapanthus Fireworks. My trial plants flowered from March and have now produced another three stems. I’m delighted with my plants and can highly recommend them. They are easy to grow and flower for a long period without needing anything more than watering.
My trial Aeonium plant is also looking really lovely. It’s a gorgeous colour and shape.
That’s my six photos for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed your ramble around my garden- at an much earlier time than usual!
links :
Six on Saturday : https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/03/six-on-saturday-03-08-2019/
Agapanthus Fireworks : I wrote about them here : https://bramblegarden.com/tag/tulips/
Agapanthus from Wyvale Nurseries : http://www.wyevalenurseries.co.uk/news/news/agapanthus-fireworks-wins-new-product-award-at-glee/
Aeonium Review here : https://bramblegarden.com/2019/04/12/review-of-garden-beauty-web-shop-and-prize-draw-for-aeonium-schwarzkopf/
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Bramble Garden 
Those first photos are particularly wonderful, Karen – what a great time to walk round the garden!
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Thank you Cathy 🙂 x
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I keep looking at fireworks in online nurseries & decide against it, wondering why I thought it was nice. Then I see yours & realise that these lovelies look better in the SoS photos than they do on the websites. If I’d seen your photo online, I’d’ve bought a dozen of them. Love the path between the trees. Great owl listening territory.
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Thank you Lora 🙂
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That was a lovely morning stroll around your garden Karen. We have also had some misty mornings recently now the heatwave is over. Karen, I will be in England at the end of August for a few days and wonder if you would have time to meet up at Coton between August 26th and 29th. Would be so lovely to meet you!
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Thank you Cathy. I’m free 28th and 29th? I’ve got two free tickets for the season, so don’t buy one. Which day would be best. I think they open at 12. I’ll check.
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🙂 Let’s say Wednesday the 28th then. Yes, they open at 12. Shall we have lunch there?
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Yes, great idea. Meet you at the entrance. My phone number is 07930 246974 xx
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Lovely! My Mum’s number is 01604 880666 should there be any problem.
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What a nice peaceful morning tour. The cows may seem noisy but I bet you’d miss them if they were to go elsewhere.
Love the agapathus!
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Thank you. We really would miss them. They go indoors for the winter and the fields seem so forlorn. That agapanthus is amazing. Thanks again. X
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I love any garden at dawn…so pretty. Thanks for the walk about. X
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Thank you 😊 xx
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The garden looks beautiful in the early morning. I am getting to enjoy and appreciate the succulents in the garden too. Amelia
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Thank you Amelia. I feel like the early summer rush is over, and there’s time to stand and stare. I love the August to October spell. I can get on with the weeding and watch all the seedlings coming to fruition. Karen
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A beautiful tour Karen. I love the new Agapanthus. I have not seen these before.
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Thank you. The agapanthus are a new release this year. I was really lucky to be offered a trial plant or two. Must say, they are my favourite thing in the garden this summer. Well named
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How delightful. These unplanned sixes are so nice because they show how some of us actually do our gardening rather than just the closeups of the products of such gardening, like flowers and vegetables. I think I just did flowers this week.
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Thank you Tony. I agree. And restricting the number to six makes us really look and think about our gardens. Good luck with your garden. Regards. Karen
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What a striking agapanthus Karen. Name duly noted. I passed through Leicester for years en route to see my parents in Peterborough. Very unusual for there to be so much rain in the summer in that neck of the woods. You probably wanted some but not that volume!
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I loved your misty garden views, and the avenue of trees looks so inviting for a walk on a hot afternoon.
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Thank you. Do you know, there’s nothing there but trees, but it’s my favourite part of the garden. It’s a place where you can dream. Best wishes , karen
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A pleasant floral amble. I hope the morning mist lifted. The avenue of trees is inviting.
I enjoyed the description of bovine behaviour. With your noisy neighbours, it is just as well you haven’t got the mind set of a townie!
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Thank you. Enjoy your week. All the best. Karen x
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No I meant where was it from?
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Love that Agapanthus, what’s the name?
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Fireworks. It’s absolutely stunning.
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Yes, and almost immediately I realized that you had said where it came from too. Thanks.
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A good set reflecting the weather. I particularly liked the misty shot and the agapanthus. Cows are incredibly inquisitive, aren’t they?
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Thank you Derrick. The cows seem to take an interest in everything we do. Sometimes they just stand and watch us all day long. All the best, karen
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Early morning is a real delight. I was out watering at six this morning, despite rain elsewhere in the country, we seem to be in a ‘desert’ spot. Bird song, clouds when there are some, insects, and just seeing how plants are growing are an added treat. Your agapanthus and aeonium are real winners for you.
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Thank you Noelle. I hope you get some rain soon. Today it’s the sound of harvesting all around us. The farmer was harvesting oil seed until the middle of the night.
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I too am up at dawn and am amazed at how misty it is some days. Love your Agapanthus, it certainly looks like a sparkler, must look out for it. We still haven’t had enough rain, hopefully more next week.
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Thank you Pauline. Doesn’t the garden sound wonderful at dawn. All the sounds seem much more noticeable than in the middle of the day. Hope you get some rain soon. All the best. Karen
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I loved touring your garden at dawn, Karen. Even if the rain has been hard, it still looks lovely. I adore those agapanthus!
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Thank you Eliza. Those agapanthus have been focal points on the garden table all summer. Such long lasting flowers and so pretty. Even the seed heads are attractive. Enjoy your Sunday. 🙂 x
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I enjoyed your early ramble. We walk before the sun rises, so I’m used to being up early.
I laughed at your description of the cows. There are cows in the pasture bordering our property, but we’ve never noticed their being curious about us. I suspect we are too far away to be interesting to them.
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Thank you Anne. Our neighbour’s cows are are really tame and friendly. I think some are hand reared, although most stay with their mothers, which is a rare and lovely sight nowadays. There’s a gap in the hedge on my side, and a gap in the hedge on their side, across a narrow single track lane. They peer at me and I peer at them. Each wondering what the other is doing! Enjoy your Sunday. 🙂
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I should go to the fence and talk to my neighbor cows. Who knows what wisdom I might glean from their big brown eyes?
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I’ve tried that Anne, I’m afraid I couldn’t glean any information from them 🙂
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I won’t try, since you were unsuccessful. *sigh*
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The agapanthus looks to be a winner. I like the combination of the white and purple.
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Thank you. It’s really fab.flowers last for ages. And they have coped with torrential rain- and 35C temps. Everything the weather has thrown at them! They are really pretty.
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