Garden 4

Late Spring/Early Summer

Monday 19th May, 2014

No garden projects during the past week - just a lot of medical appointments, a quick trip to the Curraghs and a fair amount of weeding and mowing.

I woke early this morning - well before five and it was already light although there is still another month until the longest day.  I got up just before five and took a photo of the morning sky.  It was lovely outside.  There was just a gentle breeze, the air was scented by the clematis and the wood pigeons were cooing.

I don't know what is going on with the nesting wood pigeons.  I didn't see them flying into the conifer for days and thought their babies must have fledged - but recently the adults have been back again.   I wonder whether they are thinking about a second brood already.  They just seem to be visiting the nest occasionally at present and sometimes one perches on the power line nearby.

It is still all go in the tit box.  When I got up this morning the parents were already flying in and out with tiny caterpillars for their brood - and they will keep on working until the light fades this evening.

  

A week ago I received a message from Dorothy - "Just been to the Curraghs and saw some bogbean".  I was excited because I have never been to the Curraghs at the right time to see a bogbean flower.  

We couldn't fit in a trip until Friday and it wasn't entirely successful - but I did see a few flowers as well as masses of orange tip butterflies.  They seem to be having a good year as I have even seen a couple in the garden.  The drive to the Curraghs was rather hair-raising as the only route is along a narrow back road which is actually more pothole than road and, to add to the excitement, there are deep ditches on either side of the road in places.

But back to the bogbeans . . .  we parked near the grassy path into the Curraghs but there wasn't a single bogbean flower in sight from the path.  So I walked a few yards along the road to the beginning of the boardwalk.  It is a lot drier than it was in February and the new fronds on the Royal ferns are already almost shoulder height.

Eventually, I found a bogbean flower which was close enough to the path to photograph without getting my feet wet.  It was slightly past its best - the lower blossoms on the flower spike had already shrivelled.  I only found two more.   Tim was waiting in the car so I didn't want to spend too long searching.  

Sadly, the bluebells are nearly over for the year but I took a last set of photos about a week ago.  I have trouble getting the right shade of blue as blue flowers often look too close to the green end of the blue spectrum in photographs but these bluebells in the late afternoon sun are just about right.

I wondered whether the same light conditions would work with the intense blue of the tiny  germander speedwell flowers (Veronica chamaedrys) - but they still look a bit too anaemic.

Germander speedwell is related to a very pretty pale mauve spiked veronica which was given to me by a friend.  It isn't native to Britain.   If I have identified it right, it is Veronica gentianoides, a wild flower from the middle east.

The garden flowers seem to be taking over from the wild plants now - but the hawthorns are looking pretty.  We have a group of in the back garden.  Two are covered with blossom but the other poor tree is almost smothered by a wild rose which should be flowering in a few weeks.

The first bud on the climbing rose by the summerhouse opened last week.   I love the perfect little miniature blooms on the Cécile Brunner- partly because they remind me of happy holidays on my aunt's farm.  She used to make Victorian posies with the little roses and sweetly scented violets.

Last week's mowing marked the sad demise of my trusty Flymo.  It just refused to start again after a brief stop when I was half way through mowing the back lawn.  Tim says it is only good for the scrap heap - so I finished the back with my little reserve mower.  The little mower cuts well but it is really meant to be used on a smaller lawn so I will have to get a new mower.  It isn't easy because I want an electric mower without a grass catcher and a lot of the internet garden equipment suppliers don't deliver to the Island.

At least I don't have to avoid stepping on the occasional "dog mess" when I am mowing the back lawn now - but I still have to concentrate.  We have a lot of bumblebees in the garden and they sometimes enjoy a stroll on the grass.  They can get quite cross when I rescue them from the mower.

The shrubs are all doing well this year.  In fact everything seems to be thriving after the mild winter.  Near the drive we have an old lilac - not a lilac lilac but an almost wine red lilac!

And near it is a rather pretty weigela.  I don't know its name.  I grew it from a cutting from an old plant which was already in the garden.

And almost last but not least (as they say), the apricot azalea mollis glowing in the early morning sun.

But the big news is that it must be almost summer because the first oriental poppy opened three days ago!

The next morning there were five flowers and today I have given up counting.

And there is more pleasure to come.  The wisteria flowers are starting to open.