Feeling a bit 'meh' and some nice things

 You know how sometimes you just have a day/week that is a bit 'meh'?  You can't necessarily say what is wrong, but you just feel out of sorts.  I had one of those last week.  I am usually a fairly content person, but things got to me a bit last week and I was feeling a bit down.  My lovely husband bought me these flowers to cheer me up, which was very thoughtful of him.  Sunflowers, agapanthus, lilies and some foliage.  I have been enjoying seeing the lilies open and although sometimes the scent can be overpowering, this one has a gentle scent, which is just there in the background.

To quote Winnie the Pooh, "Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon" (or flowers!).

I had noticed this self sown foxglove and was watching it grow.  It has surprised me as it is at the front of the house, growing through gravel and a weed suppressing membrane.  However, it seems to be doing well.

Also at the front of the house, in a pot, is this phlox, which is a division from a plant in the back.  I divided it earlier in the year and it had rewarded me with the biggest flowers it has ever had.  I have another division planted in the shadier border in the back garden and that is also starting to flower.  The other division is back in the original pot, but with refreshed compost and is also looking good.  

There are always good things to be grateful for, which is something I need to remember on those 'meh' days!

Favourite Chelsea gardens, foxgloves and alliums

It is RHS Chelsea week again and it has returned to its normal time of year.  I have never visited in person and I don't think I probably will - I am not someone who enjoys being in large crowds of people. However, I do watch all the TV coverage and enjoy looking at the gardens and plants.

This was the People's Choice winner - 'The Perennial Garden - With Love'.  I like the relaxing green and white planting with touches of plum.

This was the RNLI garden designed by Chris Beardshaw, which came second in the People's Choice awards. He always has beautiful planting.

This was the Morris and Co Garden (designed by Ruth Wilmott).  Two of William Morris' patterns, Trellis and Willow Bough, were included in various ways. This was third in the People's Choice awards.
 All the photos above are from the RHS Chelsea website (information on the medals is here).  These gardens all have more traditional planting.

Judging from what I have seen on TV, more natural planting styles are very much the trend, which is a good thing for wildlife.

Back in my garden, the roses are starting to bloom, (but they deserve a post to themselves),  together with foxgloves (my latest favourite - I need many more of these and will sow some more seeds soon).

Two foxgloves in a pot just outside the window.

This foxglove was plonked rather unceremoniously into a pot last year but is looking lovely.

The alliums are still looking good too...

...with their vibrant colours of purple and green.

Autumn food and gardening

There is a definite feel of autumn now.  Subtle changes such as darker mornings, cooler evenings and foliage starting to fall or change colour.  I have been enjoying comfort food this week and soups and rice pudding have featured.

Above is a delicious soup Chris made - roast squash, peppers and garlic, sweet potato and potato.  Really warming and gorgeous.  We have also had leek and potato soup which was also delicious.  Leek risotto has featured as has Yorkshire Sponge Parkin cake with the ginger and spice flavours.  I made my first rice pudding yesterday which tasted really good, but I need to work out how to get the rice and milk mixture incorporated better.
My autumn gardening has included planting my allium Globemaster bulbs which I bought from RHS Chatsworth and finally getting round to planting a replacement Winter Flowering Jasmine which has been in a pot for a year or so and which I hope will grow well now it has been released into the garden. I have also planted some foxgloves 'Foxy Hybrids' and 'Apricot' which I grew from seed so I am looking forward to seeing them grow too.

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Like most of the UK, we are 'enjoying' a heatwave. (I realise that our temperatures are tame compared to other parts of the world, but they are unusual for the UK).  There hasn't been any significant rain for a month here.  I am not enjoying it at all.  I am not sleeping well and I'm finding it all a bit oppressive.
We are supposed to be getting thunderstorms tomorrow night with the possibility of flash flooding.

Animals and plants are also suffering without the rain (which I realise that I take for granted so much - perhaps a little less now).

However, there have been some nice photo opportunities.

 My agapanthus Navy Blue is flowering earlier than usual...

(with a helpful bee)...

 ...as is the hibiscus (usually in August).

Conversely, this foxglove is later than usual.

 The insects seem to be enjoying all the flowers.  Here is a bee on the verbena bonariensis.

 Butterflies on the buddleia...

 ...and more...

 ...and more.

 Here's a hydrangea I forgot in my hydrangea round up post - this is 'Fireworks'.

I think I said this hydrangea was Diamont Rouge.  However, it isn't, it is actually Vanille Sundae.

Always one to state the obvious, this song seems to sum up the UK at the moment...All together now "Feelin' hot, hot, hot!"

Open Gardens 2016

A village about twenty minutes from where we live had their Open Gardens on Sunday, so, as the weather was reasonable and I do enjoy nosing round other people's gardens, off we went.  We visited last time they were open, in 2014 and you can see the posts here and here . There was a variety of sizes of gardens but all had lots to interest the visitor.  Many of them had large borders, which showed the plants off beautifully.

 This poppy had escaped into the next door field.

 I liked this arrangement with peonies and delphiniums.  A nice place for a G & T (or cup of tea), depending on your preference.

There were small gardens behind a terrace of cottages which were beautifully maintained.  The owner of this garden made me laugh.  She told me that one of the organisers of the afternoon had sent all the owners badges to wear, but "mine's still in the envelope...I'm not wearing that!"

There were roses, lupins and geraniums a-plenty.

In the next door garden, there was some fiery planting with the orange and red of the potentilla.

 There was a very inviting deck chair in a quiet corner.

Hardy geraniums were everywhere and this one caught my eye with its gentle apricot and lilac tones.  It is a double flower, which meant it wasn't good for wildlife, but it was still very pretty.  I think it may be Geranium 'Summer Skies'.

These photos were from my favourite garden, which was very photogenic (and looked very labour intensive).

 There were some inviting shady area with lots of foxgloves...

 ...as well as some sunny borders with hot colours.

 The screens and trellis dividing areas of the garden provided some pretty views.

 Doesn't this archway make you feel that you want to explore?

 The rose had climbed right to the top of the tree and looked amazing.

The front garden was full of roses, cat mint and geraniums.  Scruffy would have loved the cat mint - it is a good job he wasn't with us!  We had a lovely afternoon and enjoyed sandwiches, cake and tea at the Village Hall.  A perfect Sunday afternoon.

Chelsea Flower Show 2014

 I don't know about you, but I have been glued to the Chelsea Flower Show coverage on BBC1 and BBC2 this past week.  I have never been to the show itself, but I do like to watch the programmes.  Here are some of my favourite gardens and I think they all have 'floofy' planting in common. The photos are all from the RHS Chelsea website here.  Not for me the best in show choice, with clean lines and restricted beds of plants.  I like the exuberant planting where things are allowed to spill out. Irises featured strongly in a lot of the gardens as did foxgloves. First is the Homebase garden by Adam Frost, with lovely native countryside plants.

 I really want one of these tree trunk seats (when I get my slightly bigger garden...no harm in dreaming!).  It looked such a peaceful and relaxing place.

 The Hope/Help for Heroes garden had more beautiful planting and lots of grasses.  It symbolised the journey through recovery for injured members of the armed forces and won the People's Choice award too. The other great thing about it is that it is going to be a garden for injured service people to use, so will have a new life helping those very people it was designed for.

 Cleve West always has lovely planting schemes.

 This was the No Man's Land garden with a mound at the back with natural planting, symbolising the trenches in the battlefields slowly being taken back by nature.

The Topiarist's Garden was in the artisan category and had incredible attention to detail. The planting was mainly white and green.

 The Night Sky garden was another lovely example of planting combinations and used lots of white flowers to represent the stars . The black background had little brass circles on it which did look as though they glinted.

Another view of the Night Sky garden.

Finally, the Potter's Garden, another in the Artisan category but again showing such an eye for detail.  Call me old fashioned, but these gardens all appeal with the planting and the atmospheres they conjure up.  I'd be happy to sit in any of them.  Now that Chelsea is all over for another year, it is strange to think that all this beauty has vanished, as if it had never been there at all.

Open Gardens (part two)

 Still in the first garden we visited, in the more shady areas, there were lots of foxgloves, also alive with the sound of bees.

 Looking up through one of the trees in the orchard area.

 The second garden we visited was not quite so large, but was still cleverly sectioned off into smaller areas.  I was very envious of the lovely iris display the owners had.

 The third garden looked small but went around the back of the house and had room for a vegetable plot, pleached lime walk and rather a nice vista at the start.

It also had a gate, leading into the rest of the garden.  Looking at these photos, I am obviously drawn to doors or gates in walls.  This is partly because they frame the view beyond so well, but mainly because I read The Secret Garden far too much and this longing for a secret garden of my own has stayed with me.

 A very tranquil part of the garden with harmonious shades of green and white.

Even the stables (no horses now) were pretty, thanks to a covering of climbing roses.  I thought that the mounting block steps were crying out for some terracotta pots of red geraniums on each step.  I seem to think that image comes from Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit, but it could also be influenced by The Little White Horse, except the geraniums in that book were salmon pink.
What a wonderful way to spend a lovely afternoon (and the cakes were delicious too!)