A July afternoon in the garden

I have been trying to write a post for some time now, but have been hampered by a temperamental laptop and erratic broadband. Hopefully the problems have now been sorted out. At the moment I am enjoying the good weather that we are having here in the UK and spending quite a lot of time in the garden. So I have decided to take you for a walk around our garden.

When a visitor enters our drive the first things that they see are the woodland bed and the rockery, which are both currently resting. In other words they need weeding.

The first plant that catches the eye in the front garden is this lavatera. Several years ago we bought its' ancestor from RHS Wisley and it has been propagated many times.

Next in line of sight are these daisies

and I could not resist this Nigella, which is self set so I can not take the credit for it.

On the other side of the path we have a hydrangea

and then there is  Rosa Handel  which grows by the front door.

Now round to the back garden. From the kitchen window I can see these blue violet pansies

and this dahlia which has been flowering for some time now. It is a patio dahlia with small but perfectly formed flowers.

Then around the corner by the French windows we have hollyhocks

and an agapanthus.

A short distance away on the trellis we have a clematis, which I was carefully tying up every week until we went away, when it arranged itself into a rather attractive cascade.

Hidden behind the trellis the day lilies are in full flower.

 
While on the other side of the garden in my white border, Hydrangea Annabelle is blooming.

Then finally towards the bottom of the garden the apple tree looks to have a bumper crop of fruit on it.

 I just wish that I could bottle the weather and share that with you too.

Stop the world I want to get off

Wouldn't it be great if we could press a button and stop the world from spinning.Time to step off the roundabout, slow things down and catch up with ourselves. The last few weeks seem to have been manic. This feels like the first evening that I have had to myself for weeks. I know that I should not really complain. Life is treating us fairly well at the moment by comparison with what some have to cope with.

Three weeks ago I was getting ready to go away. If only it was a matter of packing a suitcase and walking out of the door. The week before a holiday always seems to be a frantic rush of jobs that have to be done. During the run up to a holiday I often think that it would be so much easier just to stay at home and wonder is it really worth all this hassle?  Then there is the problem of which clothes to take and the right clothes always need washing. Also at this time of year there is always a mad panic to get as many plants as possible into the garden, so that the rain will water them. Whether or not you get the jobs done the end of the week comes and it is time to pack and go away. The holiday was good and my next post will be about it.

Now fast forward to the week after the holiday, which is not quite as bad as the week before the holiday, but can be nearly with yet more clothes to wash and a lot of catching up to do. On sunday we had visited three gardens in our village which were opened under the National Garden Scheme, with proceeds going to the local hospice. On tuesday and wednesday I had appointments of the hairdresser/dentist variety - both necessary. Usually I try to have only one of these sort of appointments per week. Then on wednesday evening we had tickets for a concert in Manchester, which we had booked about six months ago. We expected to be late getting home from the concert and we were.  On thursday evening we should have gone out for a meal which I had won in a competition, but we decided to turn it down as trying to do too much. Then on friday, which happened to be our wedding anniversary, I had to make a special trip into Chester to see our MP at one of his surgeries. Finally on saturday evening we went out for a meal for our wedding anniversary. And then there is Wimbledon Fortnight to watch as well.

Thankfully this week has been quieter.