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

On a visit to Hestercombe Gallery, May 2021 (Landscape Portrait: Now and Then)

The clear line dissects

A horizon drawing the view

Everything else

Left to others to construe

 

And here are old favourites

With anecdotal charm

The chance meeting in quiet rooms

Shapes of another time, another place

Of older artscapes we have

Wandered in

 

Lyme Bay & Exmouth

All along the coast

 

Each footstep piled

Like stepping-stones

These landscapes we fossil

For memory bones

 

A washing line of memories

Pinned up, black & white

Reminding me of another day

Stitching it all together

While we unpick meaning

 

Letting our lives fall

Moments windblown

Petals on a lawn

 

Old walls and footsteps

Gossip in these halls now

A slow travelling

And in the blink of an eye

Time & timelessness combine

 

I remember the first time I saw

Leonardo da Vinci’s cartoon

It was no laughing matter

An acme moment

With a view

 

The triptych

(plant in threes)

The densely wooded landscape

(Of your knees)

Here tenderness grows

Wrapped in human clothes

 

Rain obscures the Jekyll garden now

A pattern of drops on the windowpane

Echoing art

Art echoes

Again

The exhibition can be found at:

Landscape Portrait: Now and Then 17.5.21 - 25.7.21

Hestercombe Gallery, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton Somerset TA2 8LG

For more information:

hestercombe.com

 

Trees, Seeds and Crochet

As lockdown eases and the temperature rises it has been lovely to get out & about over the Easter holidays. It is that moment in the year when the trees burst into leaf and bird song and I have spotted my first swallows of the year.

As usual, several windowsills have been full of seed trays, mainly flowers this year and now the days are warm but the nights cold, it is that seasonal dance of bringing trays in and outdoors as they start to harden off and grow on. 

The pasque flowers have survived the frosts  and I'm delighted to find lots of self seeding flowers in the garden, feverfew, ox eye daisies, pansies and a few foxgloves, natures own patchwork. What we need now are milder nights with some rain to help with the outdoor seed planting.

Pasque flowers

Quantock Hills, mini tree and sheep.

Beautiful tree shadows at Glastonbury Abbey in the Spring sunshine.

Mini Granny Squares patchwork crochet in cotton.

Spring arrives with Pasque Flowers & Pots of Seeds

The sudden spell in warm, dry weather has meant lots of growth in the garden and a chance to get out and get on with a bit of weeding and tidying up after such a long lockdown winter.

These Pasque Flowers are a lovely welcome sight for Easter.

The fierce frosts destroyed this old pot but the pansies it held survived, clearing up the pieces, I found this makers stamp with its pretty little flower motive intact.

Peacock butterflies have been emerging in the sudden heat this week, I guess from hibernation, a delightful distraction.

Indoors, pots of seedlings are taking over the windowsills, this week the heat beginning to make them too leggy! I've quite a few 'free plants' outside this year as well, as self seeders start to emerge, feverfew, love-in-a-mist, ox-eye daisies and strawberry plants and the warm temperatures have also meant the chance for a bit of sketching in the garden!

Wishing you Happy Easter.

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.