The summer holidays are over here. In Scotland schools generally finish for the summer at the end of June and restart in mid August, so 2-3 weeks earlier overall than the English summer break.
3 good things about the holidays:-
- The Olympics - I'd liked to have seen more than I managed, but what I did see was surprisingly enjoyable.
- Visiting North Norfolk, a lovely new part of the UK for us to discover.
- Going to see Brave, I really liked it and want to see it again, though perhaps without the little boy perched on my knee telling me he wanted to go home as it was too scary (and he had wet pants!).
3 not so good things about the holidays:-
- The July weather wasn't the best.
- Spending more time indoors than was good for us.
- Going to see Ice Age 4, the children enjoyed it but I'll be quite happy never to see it again.
Amazingly A's shoes from the last school year still fit and are in excellent condition!
Off we go. N was back at nursery too (he's entitled to 2.5 hours per week day from the age of 3 till he goes to school).
From a rather dreich morning it turned into a gorgeous day. I took lots of photos after we collected A from school in the afternoon...
This is in the field behind the school, you can just make out A & friend as two tiny dots in the centre right of the photo. There is also a faint rainbow in the centre left.
Once home we pin our butterfly chrysalids to the net (A was given a
butterfly garden set for her birthday). The we go out to the garden...
Cosmos. I really wanted some of these in the garden this year. Earlier I sowed a whole pack of seeds but none germinated so I had to resort to buying a fully grown plant from B&Q. Still, it was worth it, they're beautiful and add a very welcome splash of colour to the garden. I'll try sowing the seeds in a propogator for next year rather than directly into the soil.
Geranium & bee.
Unkown flower & bumble bee.
Hubby's peas this year have been excellent. They're later to ripen but have produced a fantastic crop.
Love the twirly bits.
Neglected clematis also doing well this year.
The runner beans, will we have beans before it's too late?
Pea harvest.
I think this is some kind of phlox?
Self seeded hypericum. I think the berries are prettier than the flowers.
Globe thistle, these are doing great too. They seemed to take a few years to establish themselves.
A little garden view from beside the deep purpley pink buddleia. We have three buddleias in the back garden and one in the front, all are different colours and are popular with the butterflies. We had a peacock butterfly pass through the garden today, the first one I've seen this summer, but it didn't linger long enough for a photo.
The rowan berries are colouring up nicely.
Lastly I cut a few crocosmia stems which have been obstructing the path and team them with some of the purple buddleia in this wondrous tall pottery jug which was a recent charity shop purchase, a steal at just £2 - I was pleased that day.
So, really a garden update post in disguise I suppose...
12 comments:
I always think it's strange that school begins at different times in Scotland, my brother lives in Strathaven and is taking my nephew to ' big school' for the first time tomorrow. I was admiring Buddleia today but didn't see any butterflies on it at all ... very sad .
I didn't realise that schools in Scotland go back so early. Your garden looks lovely and you have such a wonderful array of plants.
June
The garden looks beautiful. School is starting for us next week, my oldest heads off to university on Friday, I am not ready for all of this.
Meredith
It's been a strange garden year here ... our tomatoes are doing very little and I don't have any hopes of a good harvest. The herbs are pretty happy though.
Love your bouquet - somehow it looks autumnal to me. And garden updates are fine - any excuse to post flower photos! :)
your garden is just beautiful! I grew cosmos from seed but they are far from flowering yet..... x
Your garden is a picture, so pretty and so much colour. That deckchair on the lawn under the tree...sigh.
Love the word "dreich" by the way - have just looked up it's meaning. What a great word!
how lucky that A's shoes still fitted! R's did too but possibly not for much longer. Still, it meant we could postpone the expense and the horror of trip to Clarks at the end of the holidays! PS the chrysalids need to be hanging from the roof of the habitat rather than pinned to the side so that there is room for the butterflies to hang properly and dry their wings when they hatch out. I use sellotape to stick the greaseproof paper bit to the centre of the lid. It is fiddly and you have to hope none fall off.
I know the child on knee feeling (tho have been lucky enough to have avoided wet pants so far!) - a recent 'treat' for Islay and my niece to see Beauty and the Beast had both of them trying to sit on my knee!
I keep meaning to send off for some more caterpillars as its a couple of years since we last had any. Our garden doesn't seem to furnish us with any free ones - slugs and snails however are very easily found! Juliex
I'm also going to see Brave. My children are grown, my grandchildren are 1000 miles away, but I'm going nonetheless.
school already? Cool!
(I loved Ice Age 4... sorry...)
Your garden is growing beautiful things. The pink flower does look like Phlox to me and I agree that Hypericum berries are prettier than the flowers.
Cosmos doesn't do as well if the soil is too rich which is good news because who has perfect soil in their entire garden? Derived from the Greek word meaning "beautiful," cosmos are as dainty as they are durable and are also one of the easiest plants to grow from seed.
Cosmos are adaptable to almost any kind of soil, but they do need moisture to germinate. In dry, hot climates, place a shade cloth over the bed until the seedlings begin to sprout. This happens in roughly five to 10 days after planting.
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