Summer in the garden, everything flowering all at the same time...

 

A quick update on some of the flowers in the garden this summer. A few might seem to be weeds to some, but I find them to be useful as pollinator foods and very pretty as well. (A lawn with white clover smells gorgeous and is good for common blue butterflies and bees.) I admit, due to the very wet spring, the bindweed is ferocious this year but autumn pulling and digging will get it back under control for next year and for now, the white flowers are appealing. The very wet Spring seems to have triggered a profusion of flowers with everything flowering all at the same time... these are some that caught my eye today.

Self-Heal (butterflies and bees)

Snapdragon (bumblebees)

Crocosmia (pollinating insects)

Valerian (all insects plus moths like the hummingbird hawkmoth)

Bindweed (pollinating insects)

Buddleia (pollinating insects, in particular moths and butterflies)

white clover (bumble bees, common blue butterfly)

lawn flowers!

roses (good for this human!)

fox and cubs (bees)

Love in a mist seed heads (for next years' garden!)

Buddleia 

Chicory (bees)

Sweet William (bees)

Cornflower (pollinating insects)

Calendula (pollinating insects)

Spring green and gold in the garden

 

kerria

wallflower

hardy geranium, rose, (behind rose) knapweed, phlox, lungwort and small daffs (flowering now over) getting ready for summer

pulmonaria (lungwort)

birdbox and bluetit (taken from indoors hence the blurry image)

new leaves on the little tree

rosemary in full flower

tulips 

new leaves for the elephant ears (bergenia)

grass seed beginning to grow on new lawn area

New for Summer in my Etsy Shop: Birds, butterflies and bright colours.

 Click on the photos for more information and to go direct to my Etsy Shop.

Wool crochet panel cushion cover

Swallow fabric cards

Crochet wool trinket pot

Watercolour paintings

Beautiful June

Everything seems to be flowering at once this month in the garden. The warm wet weather has bought lots of buds and growth but not so many butterflies this year. The prolonged wet weather was not good for the outdoor vegetable seeds, I'm on my second lot of bean sowings as the first were lost to slugs and pigeons but have managed to get some shallots and rhubarb going. 

I have begun another lawn spiral, this time in the front, they start off pretty unruly but after few mows settle down. If you are tempted to try one & have an electric mower, please make sure you remember where the cable is at all times. 

Lawn spiral

Nigella, tiarella & green alkanet

bearded iris, knautia and lavender

tea rose

Thoughtful Spring Gifts...

This month in my Etsy shop I have added a new design, based on oak leaves collected from our little oak tree last Autumn. These new fridge magnets are lightweight, slim & ideal for popping in an envelope along with a card for posting as a thoughtful gift for someone special. Click on the images below to go straight to my Etsy shop to browse.

Oak Leaf Fridge Magnet

Oak Leaf Blank Greetings Card in pale mint with recycled envelope.

All my items are designed and made by myself and, where possible, I use locally or UK sourced materials. 

January Trees

The arrival of new seeds to plant is always a  treat, especially in January. This year it is a packet of six non-dormant Monkey Puzzle seeds (Araucaria araucana). I hope they will germinate and add to the collection of small trees growing away, including the Giant Sequoias. I have also taken cuttings of the Salix babylonica 'Tortuosa' (corkscrew, tortured or my fave, dragon's claw willow). I have found the easiest way with these is simply to push bare stems in a pot in winter and watch them grow away in Spring.
I have planted my lovely Christmas gift of a Glastonbury thorn in a pot for now, until a permanent site can be found in the garden. Growing trees in containers, whether Bonsai or just small trees, is a lovely way to find a life-long connection to nature if space is limited. If you make one gardening resolution to keep this New Year, make it to grow a tree.

January frosts

Sequoiadendron giganteum

Dragon's Claw willow and Californian lilac

More frosts...

Monkey Puzzle seeds

June in the garden

Love in the mist and patio

June border

Grapevine tamed

New bird table and vegetable boxes

Potting on.. plants for the borders by the new fence

rose and a shady corner