Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

Good luck to your DD2, Dusty, you and Mrs Dusty will be on tenterhooks    

Talking of babies, Mummy or Daddy thrush brought two of their babies into my garden first thing this morning I like to think I played my part in keeping them fed and watered. I haven't seen them since, so maybe they were just passing through on their way to pastures new now the babies have fledged. Anyway, I was really pleased to see them and both babies looked very healthy and well fed   

Dusty, I've tried to take photos of hover flies before, but never been successful. These two were very cooperative, with Mrs HF staying put on the buttercup for at least a couple of minutes, so easy to get photos (and a video).

YBE, silly me didn't realise the Merlin app could ID a bird from a photo - I've checked and my wee bird was definitely a Dunnock. Thanks for the lupin seed offer - I think I'll probably go for a plant this time, but keep me some seeds, please, just in case I can't find one. Oh, and I did spell ecstasy wrong yesterday - I blame my wobbly head   

That's expensive for your garden waste collection, Farway, I think it was £40 where I used to live, but that was a few years ago. £250k for a CEO - I'll do it for half that    Lovely pyracantha - what colour berries do you get?? Nice rose too. I think I'll stick to cream or ice cream with my rhubarb    

I was out for a lovely warm walk this morning - I made the mistake of wearing a hoodie (that I couldn't take off) and was absolutely roasting. Got a few steps in though and didn't go veering off into the loch    

OT - still nice and sunny.

pink_poppy

Uriah Heep (the Heron, with photobombing duck), mummy or daddy thrush with one baby (couldn’t get all three together) and a gathering of sparrows (with dopey baby blackbird)…

pink_poppy

And my Geum is flowering…

greenbee

I now have a builders' bag of gravel to shift from the corner of my drive and nextdoor's. The poor driver was trying to get the pallet closer to the house, but I have a gravel drive and it's heavy. So he went up next door's drive and then couldn't get across!

Thanks for the thoughts on the roses. I've got a random shrub rose growing through one at the moment, and it looks silly, so I think I need climbers that I can train (rather than ramblers that will just take over!). 

The obelisks go 30cm into the ground Dave - there's one here already and it seems pretty robust. I just hope it isn't concreted in! Having said that, it's pretty sheltered here (although I really must put a bamboo on the rowan before it ends up being at 90 degrees!).

twopenny

I've seen a few roses when I was looking in the book to find out what little glory my neighbour has. But I don't know them.
But you need to think do you want it evergreen (shuts out sun in winter), scent, height and spread.

Cornelia is the one I have which is a musk. Disease free, great scent.
I see Buff Beauty is marked as a small grower though I've seen it go mad down in the soft south. It's popular for a reason.

Sun's come out which is good cause the drop from 27-11 with chill wind was a bit of a shock 🫨

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

My rain is just an annoying patchy drizzle, useless for gardens, except to help the slugs along a bit. 

Sort of drizzle that stops you painting the widows,

I did see Monty is in trouble, his dog friendly garden has dog poisoning plants in it

As someone pointed out, he is a designer, not a “proper gardener”

Easy mistake to make, seems most plants will kill dogs or cats if they eat 'em, but, in the main, Ds & Cs are not daft enough to eat 'em.

PS, forgot to mention Dusty, maybe name him / her / they Chelsea?

At least the birthday will be remembered, one of mine is May Day

Rain may dampen the creative ardour somewhat, but painting widows has the distinct advantage of knowing their husbands won't come home unexpectedly.  

Sheep are nowhere near as bright as dogs, but even they know it's sensible not to browse on digitalis.

Chelsea? Nah, too many footballing associations!  We must also bear in mind this child will be 50% Indian, so cricket would be more appropriate, assuming it's a boy. Even then, care needs to be exercised to choose a name that sounds OK, both in English, and Hindi. Using the cricketing example, Hardik Pandaya comes to mind, but seriously, who'd want to call a lad growing up in the UK, Hardik?  

Anyway, she might be a girl. In that case, we'd avoid Delilah. That's the cat's name!

OT: It's stopped raining, but there are varying amounts of cloud. With the chilly NW wind, temperatures are moderate even when the sun's visible.

I still have Rosemoor photos to use up. How about a field with even more buttercups than ours?  

wort

Hi, managed a bit of gardening yesterday before I got too hot. I cut back the heather and the rosemary it was turning into a tree. Which filled the green bin, after the bin men came ,I went in the back garden and cut the sambuca nigra, I needed the ladder and I want to keep it at a slightly manageable height!! That refilled the bin.
My dark leaved prunus is looking sad again, leaves are sticky and full of flies, had to cut dead wood off it .
OT still no rain yet but now it’s moved to the weekend.
Off to catch up on posts and then work.

Dustyevsky

wort said:

OT still no rain yet but now it’s moved to the weekend.

A misty start to what promises to be a very sunny day, still with that keen NW wind, and not great for filling the new deep bed in the polytunnel. The cool nights are slowing the growth of the outdoor courgettes, but I've had one from the polytunnel and also a small cucumber from a  containerised plant in there.

Mrs Dusty repaired our deep bed covers, so now the birds won't get our strawberries. I've noted that squash plants sown in late March are doing worse than those planted in late April. Different varieties, but still significant.

On the grandchild front, things are progressing normally down at the RD&E hospital, so we should have a result later today, or early tomorrow. Believe it or not, everyone got some sleep last night!

pp that's a vibrant Geum! It's unfair, because yours has a lot of filling-out to do, and you're not the RHS, but I spotted a new one in Rosemoor last week, and this would be a good time to show it:

I don't think the colour here is quite right. It was such a bright afternoon, I had too much contrast in many photos. Anyway, this plant demanded attention near the Hot Garden.

I love Uriah Heap as a name for the heron.

Farway

Sunny morning, seems it rained overnight, judging by the drops on leaves this morning

Good job too, at least, the dust will have washed off. 

Mixed feelings though, rain swells my cherries & they split & go manky. 

IMO, Growing, and subsequently eating, cherries is worth a Chelsea medal by itself.

Dustyevsky said:

Chelsea? Nah, too many footballing associations!  We must also bear in mind this child will be 50% Indian, so cricket would be more appropriate, assuming it's a boy. Even then, care needs to be exercised to choose a name that sounds OK, both in English, and Hindi. Using the cricketing example, Hardik Pandaya comes to mind, but seriously, who'd want to call a lad growing up in the UK, Hardik?  

Anyway, she might be a girl. In that case, we'd avoid Delilah. That's the cat's name!

 

Not thought of that, one of modern day pitfalls, used to be only needed to watch out for initials or shortened names, as Mr & Mrs Head discovered once young Richard started school. 

Beautiful show of buttercups, wouldn't mind some cream from any Jersey cow grazing there

The Geum are showy, I've never been a big fan but, as with Jap anemones, I think I could get converted

My Jap As are still growing, just not romping away, maybe the rain will give them a prod?

wort said:

I went in the back garden and cut the sambuca nigra, I needed the ladder and I want to keep it at a slightly manageable height!! That refilled the bin.

My dark leaved prunus is looking sad again, leaves are sticky and full of flies, had to cut dead wood off it .

Not sure if I should be envious, the one I have in Volunteer border is OK but very short, just chest high. I really would like it to be taller, but I think it's so dry there, it brings out the Bonsai tendencies in it.

Seems to be an explosion of aphids this year, the dry & sun I guess.

My apples, pears, and even buddleia have wrinkled, sticky tips.  

I could spray, but loath to right now with blossom everywhere, and hoping the blue tits & robins get a move on with the babies to pick & eat the aphids.

No gardening today, volunteer meeting this afternoon, then I may pop into Morries on way home, just in case something may suit the spaces left by my dwarf dahlia compost fails

Plus, I did see some very large pots last time, and since then seeing Silver Birch in a dustbin made me think about getting a couple, not dustbins, large pots. 

One for my orphaned Red Filbert, t'other for my neglected Golden D apple

I did have a couple of garden pics, but they seem to have become “lost” in my computer, so here is a Wisley allium from last week

Spot the bee

Dustyevsky

The favoured Geum here, 'Bell Bank,' was very floriferous, but went over in about 10 minutes, due to the dryness. The other one we have is 'Savanna Sunset,' which is rather unremarkable.

https://www.kelways.co.uk/geum-savanna-sunset/p40783

I think they appreciate some moisture. Hard to achieve right now. The stream's gone.

I didn't know a Richard Head when teaching, but there was a Julie Caesar. Stupid parents!  Nicknames were a double-edged sword when I was a lad. If you didn't get one, you were a nobody, but you'd no control over whatever moniker was bestowed upon you! My folks were displeased when they heard mine, until I convinced them it was much better than Scab, Knob, or the one I can't write here, because it's racist!

wort, some of Rosemoor's Sambucus nigra are very old, with trunks like a wrestler's thighs. They're cut back hard in March/April and seem to do well on it,