As always when I have been rather overwrought I turn to the great outdoors to bring me to a calmer state of mind.
I spent some time in the garden today and although it was overcast for most of the day it was warm and the plants were happy!
This reliable rose is actually a gorgeous scarlet, with no pink evident, but whatever I did I could not get the correct depth of colour to come out. Although it has no smell, it has a double flower and always cheers up a dark corner in the summer.
I try to make room in the garden for some wild flowers and herbs, for the bees and butterflies as much as anything else. Also, with little possibility of growing in our arable areas any more I like to give them a home too! Here the St. John’s Wort is very happy with a Giant Bellflower behind it: they both need a little lime spread occasionally since ours is an acidic soil. I disturbed several bees as I came in close to take the photo: if I get depressed I can always use the St. John’s Wort I suppose. Mind you I spent years making myself eat Feverfew sandwiches to ease my migraines with no effect at all!! (Feverfew grows like a weed in our garden).
One of my stately Acanthus spires: I always think they look a very Victorian plant with their huge, glossy leaves (out of the picture I’m afraid) rather reminiscent of an Aspidistra, that stalwart of the polluted industrial revolution, and the rather muted, mourning colours of the flowers, favoured by a generation that took mourning to a whole new level, with their gradations of clothes colours according to time scale, special mourning brooches, rings, caps, cards, and social conventions.
My little herb planter near the back door, with variagated lemon thyme, salad burnet, dill, marjoram and a sunflower planted by the birds, stem just growing out of the picture on the right!
My beloved old Clary-Sage, another member of the Lamiacaea family which the insects love so much. The leaves are at least a foot in length and covered with long hairs. This veteran is years old and I would be so sad to lose it since it is not often seen for sale. I found it a long time ago in a specialist herb nursery.
And last but not least, isn’t this fun!! I found it at a plant nursery around my birthday and could not resist. It is a common or garden old marguerite, but some virus or mutation has turned the petals into long, thin, convoluted threads. They look just like coconut to me. It is a vigorous plant and according to the sales pitch will flower all summer long. As you can see, it is another favourite with the insects, jolly good. The yellow centre is so bright and the white petals so very white, a real show stopper. Often the white of some plants is rather creamy or stained with pale yellow, but this white is dazzling.
stopping by woods 