Well, we are kind of out of the way. Up on our hill. Can see the mountains.With the neighbourhood cats. And the birds. And more cats. We all feel safe with Spencer on guard , on a thundery day. Best day to weed and wack and cut and prune, and hack and wallow in the dirt. My feet are constantly run amok with dirt all summer long.
The Centaurea cyanus ( doesn't that sound grand?) or Bachelor Buttons, or cornflower , is growing wild, at the fence. Not sure where it came from. It used to grow in corn fields in the UK, but are now endangered. Don't know where this one popped in from. Must have reseeded from somewhere else.
Awfully glad it has showed up. I also learned that the blue pigmentation is known as "protocyanin" and appears red in roses.
Somethow I don't think Smokey was impressed when I told him all this. He had his eyes set on something yummier.....
Busy robins, stugging themselves full of worms. Half of the time I'm out in the garden is spent distracting cats from the birds. "Come on Smokey, let's take your picture, aren't you a pretty boy....you don't want that nasty old robin, do youuuu" .
I'm sure the neighbours must think I'm nuts by now. The "cat lady" syndrome is alive and well, and not because I wished it. Hard to distract a big grey tom cat from munching on robins.Basically standing on my head to get a pic of Scarlet Runners growing like in Jack in the Beanstalk.
Or to sneak a backdrop of Cordelia sitting among the Cranesbill. I think I'll blog about them later. Have been taking pics of bees along with the cranesbill, and they worth a good blogging. Today was just a day to watch things grow. It's all happening so fast. In the blur of the photo is quick shot of the "Black Mamba" ( no it's not a snake) . A dark, dark purple petunia that is SO dark it is black like black velvet.
And as ever, the every present buttercup. It never dies. It likes to stay fastened to the soil, until it gets ripped up.
But in the greenhouse, the war of the buttercup has been won. Ferns, Orange marigolds, Geraniums, bay leaf bush, three fruit tree,plastered up against the back wall, and an evergreen clematis, and Martha Washington Geraniums.
And of course, some "Black Mambas".................great name, and no, they don't hiss.Also known as a Crazytunia....
The greenhouse is one of my favourite places. It's like an oasis.
Spencer and his cohort, Penguin, always seem to be sleeping on their feet, just outside the greenhouse door.
Beside the greenhouse , I've let a patch go wild around a rusted chair. When Spencer was smaller he would sit in the dirt, squishing flowers . Now he's too long to do that. He spills out over the edge. Dirt spills out with him. Iris, buttercup, cranesbill, campanula are all growing up wild underneath.
The Campanula Takesana seems to have a life of its own. Not flowering yet. But soon. Usually by June, and I think sooner, this year. They resemble Beatrix Potter stylized blue bells.
The Campanula heads off the top terrace. Weeding............it never ends.
And in the farthest bed, Sweet Peas, growing like little weeds up through the soil, alongside the ornamental curry plants. They got terribly damaged in the snow from March, and I had to cut them back. I think they've survived. Curry doesn't like to be squashed or broken. It just tends to die off, but so far, so good.
And then there are the bumbly bees all over everthing. But that's for another blog. Bzzzz. Even Spencer senses when it's time to go home. He and Smokey use this trail every day. Trail worn into the grass.....
...........And off they go . To come back tomorrow, and tomorrow , and tomorrow. To this place . Up on the hill , far from the madding crowd, as Thomas Hardy wrote:"Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray, along the cool sequester'd vale of life, they kept the noiseless tenor of their way."
(I just need some sheep and chickens, and I'll be set.)
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