At the risk of turning this into a gardening blog, here's a bit more of what's going on in our garden at the moment...
First, our Nigella (or love-in-a-mist) is blooming, as you can see above. This year, in addition to the usual blue ones, we also got white ones, which is very strange. We've never seen those before. (They're not as pretty as the blue ones, in my humble opinion, but don't tell them that.)
Here are the roses. As you can see, I weeded the flower bed last weekend and removed all the faded forget-me-nots. We discovered a few plants, buried amid the rampant forget-me-nots, that we'd forgotten!
Here are the last of the amaryllis. We must bid adieu to them for another year.
And here's our newly relocated and now mouse-proof peanut feeder -- although, as you can see, it's not quite squirrel-proof. This critter climbed up to it, removed the lid and scooped out peanuts with its little paw! I duct-taped the lid to the feeder and put a stop to that. The birds love this new location -- blue tits and coal tits are on it all the time.
The pink and white flowers at the base of the feeder are valerian. They are certainly prolific!
I have a tiny piece of valerian in water at the moment in the hopes that it might root! I picked it up off a pavement ! Might need to actually pull a better bit off the plant next time I pass by. Luckily it is not overlooked ! I love the colour of the pink.
ReplyDeleteAnother visit to a London oasis but where were the camels?
ReplyDeleteSo pretty, Steve! Your work is really paying off.
ReplyDeletethe garden looks great. my white love-in-a-mist turn pink after they open and have many more petals than the blue. I get mostly the white/pink here in the yard and mostly the blue over at the shop. go figure.
ReplyDeleteYour flower garden looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLovely garden photos. I hope you have a nice weekend to enjoy it. I love Nigella and am so happy to see it anywhere in my garden.
ReplyDeleteThat picture of the squirrel at the feeder is priceless. And your blooms are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThose squirrels are so resourceful! I wonder what they will do next to get at that feeder. I don't think I've ever seen Nigella blooms before and I LOVE them. What unusual looking flowers, so wispy and delicate.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful garden! It must give you a lift every time you look at it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I installed my finch feeder, the directions on it for squirrel purposes were to try to locate it at least four feet off the ground and twelve feet from any tree trunk or limb. That was pretty much impossible, given our trees and land. I guess an iron plant hanger like yours is not going to work for me, either! Those little guys have such dextrous paws!
The bracts of the nigella make it a most appealing flower, and the color, of course, They would probably be tricky to press, fragile, but wouldn't that be a cool thing . A hobby of pressing flowers in your future! Our squirrel is now scampering through the house,in through the open front door, out through the back, taking nuts from my hand. Substitute for my dog/cat yearning. Your roses are glorious! Everything looks so happy in your garden.
ReplyDeleteBet ya a nickel the squirrel gets around your duct tape.
ReplyDeleteI envy you having a "loop" to walk. Unless I want to walk through uneven fields (ankle-risking) with long grass (woodtick habitat), and since they're offroad I'm nervous as a deer, I have to walk on a straight road and double back over the distance I've just covered. I'd LOVE to have a four-mile CIRCLE to walk.
ReplyDelete-Kate
Your garden is lovely! Squirrels are just so resourceful - we've basically given up. At least they fling seed on the ground where the birds are able to have a buffet. Ha!
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