Cack-handed Musings!

Hello!  I am still here, complete with my strapped up arm (courtesy of the tree) which is causing me some (a lot) of frustration, but the good news is I've been to a physio and he's certain he can fix it.  So I haven't been able to do any gardening, or sewing, or knitting, and I'm only allowed to type left handed.  In fact I'm having to do most things left handed which so far has led to several cack-handed incidents including managing to break the front door key by twisting it the wrong way in the lock, fortunately I noticed what was happening just before it severed and managed to remove it from the lock in one piece!

Despite all of this the garden is doing well.  The new dahlias I bought in the spring from Rose Cottage Plants have been flowering for weeks and weeks now.

Dahlia Rip City

Dahlia Waltzing Mathilda

Dahlia Classic Poeme

In the front garden the roses are still blooming as are the clematis.

Rosa Scepter'd Isle

Clematis Gypsy Queen 

 But autumn is marching onward and the anemones are blooming their little socks off.

Those of you who follow me on twitter might have seen that I was quite incensed the other week when a non-gardening colleague of mine described my garden as 'over-grown'.  I suppose to the untrained eye it might appear that way, but I prefer to think of it as abundant and flowing!

Anyway, whatever it is, I like it :-)

Still Going Strong

It's not exactly peaceful in my house at the moment (I live in a terrace and next door is being re-roofed), and the garden isn't exactly private at the moment either due to men on the roof but it's still looking good.

Hydrangea Annabelle has thrived this year

Echinacea White Swan would really prefer a sunnier spot but is still flowering

and the Passion Flower is just getting into full swing.

But it's not all white in the garden, there is rather bright Cosmos

and a very pretty Potentilla

and some very delicate Thalictrum (Hewitt's Double)

and even though the Monarda (Prairie Night)  is a bit scruffy now, the bees are still loving it.

Echinops provides a contrast of structure

and there's still a lot to come as this Dahlia bud shows.

I'm hoping the roofers will finish soon as I really want my peaceful house and garden back!

A Funny Old Year

It's been a funny old year in the garden hasn't it?  Some plants that are usually stunning have struggled just to survive but some have done really well.  Some of the roses that got so damaged by the rain in June and looked quite appalling are now on their second flush and looking much better than the first time.

Sceptred Isle

Lady Emma Hamilton

Mutabilis

The dahlias also seem to be doing well with year, although a little slow to get going.

Cafe Au Lait

Unknown pink bud

Nuit D'Ete

It's been a mixed year in the veg garden.  After a slow start I am now picking courgettes, beans, cucumbers and tomatoes.  The yakon, given to me by Fiona, has loved all the wet weather and I'm hoping that all the top growth means there are lots of tubers below...

Yakon

The biggest winner this year does seem to have been the slugs though, huge great big brown ones - YUK!  It has been a constant battle between me and them, one that I think I might just be winning (those of you that know me in real life know I HATE to be beaten by anything!).

But rather than end this post on such a yukky topic I'll leave you with this detail from the centre of a Mutabilis rose - just beautiful.

A Normal Weekend?

I've been in the garden quite a bit this weekend, which is perfectly normal for me.

This dahlia is one of my favourite flowers at the moment.

Dahlia Nuit D'Ete

Dahlia Nuit D'Ete

 
I have a bit of a thing about dark flowers but generally find they don't show up very well. However this one  looks lovely in the front garden growing alongside the white japanese anenome.

My other favourite thing in the garden at the moment are the skeleton flowers on Hydrangea Annabelle, the detail is just amazing.

Hydrangea Annabelle

Hydrangea Annabelle

A perfectly normal weekend... but there are some other things I have done this weekend that you may not regard as normal:
1.  Helping to catch a bantum who was having an asthma attack.
2.  Waking up to find this post-it stuck to a fresh duck egg outside my back door on Saturday (explanation below)

(Hinge and Bracket are my neighbour's ducks.  Since she got them in May I've been giving them all the duckweed that I scoop out of my pond.  They laid their first eggs this week, and were kind enough to give me one!)
3.  Showing both neighbours how to avoid the spiders' webs that are spun across our narrow gardens by teaching them the "Elephant Dance".  (Imagine sticking one arm out in front like a trunk, and waving it up and down as you move in an elephant like manner down the garden and you'll get the gist of it!)

A normal weekend?  I'll let you decide!