I am already dead-heading the buddleja on a regular basis but so far have seen just two butterflies. I am sure that the weather is to blame as calm, warm days are hard to come by. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the situation will change before the food they need disappears for the season.
I rarely see the mature flowers of Rumex obtusifolius (dock leaf plant) as it is one of the few that I restrict in the garden proper. This is mainly due to the difficulty of removing the deep root in its entirety. This lovely specimen at the edge of Schull Market was the biggest that I had ever seen. Usually, I would take responsibility for the poor quality of the picture but in this instance I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I walked into a patch of nettles. I challenge anyone to try and keep your hands still in these circumstances.
I was feeling very sorry for the two robins who had their nest rifled by starlings, so put some dry meal worms in a pot outside the house to help them get the energy to start all over again. It is now frequented regularly by a young female blackbird and what looks like an adult male. I am using the visits to try and become more acquainted with these birds in all stages of their lifecycle and add the cost of the mealworms to that of the blackcurrants that I had to buy to make my cordial this year.
My Sea and Wild Carrot are usually teeming with soldier ants at this time of the year. To date I have seen very few, but the Rose Chafers are much more abundant than usual. Despite their name they seem to favour plants with white flowers and the mature flowers of this Ozothamus rosmarinifolius ‘Silver Jubilee’ (Sea rosemary) seems particularly popular.
This is my latest attempt at mixing wildflowers and cultivated plants and I am particularly pleased with the results. It remains to be seen how they get on together in the long term. I am also trying to find out how I can maintain colour for as long as possible throughout the year but I feel that this is a good start.
Scabious barocca against the vivid blue of a hydrangea macrophylla.
I must apologise to the bullfinches who spend so much time in my garden. I recently described them as ‘stuffing their faces’ on the seeds of Sowthistle. A few days ago one alighted on a plant just outside my window. I was just two feet away and could see clearly how systematic they were when harvesting the seeds. Having filled (not stuffed) their mouth, with a quick gesture they cut off the white pappus leaving them with a neat mouthful of seeds. This was the personification of elegance and efficiency and I hope that the apology is accepted.
Sadly my Cornus kuosa ‘Santomi’ flowers have lost most of their petals very quickly this year. These have been replaced by a very elegant fruit which appears to be popular with the birds (but then what fruit is not?)
Some of my more exposed hydrangea can appear a little battered as this ‘Madame Emile Moulier’ does. However, it does make a nice counterpoint to the Lychnis and Geranium plants.
It is handy when you can take your photographs from inside the house avoiding yet another drenching. These Dierama – Angel’s fishing rods – are a possible contender for my mixed wild and cultivated flower garden as they are elegance personified.
These geraniums are thriving in the damp summer. Sadly I am not!
Two soldier ants doing what they do, endlessly. To date they have few companions this year.
I have a number of different varieties of Wild St John’s-Wort growing throughout the garden. They are so delicate and slender and I am beginning to think that I prefer them to the cultivated ones. Either way they have settled in well in the herb bed and are a nice contrast to the lavender in the background.
The swallows are spending a lot of time around my house this year rather than in the valley in front of it. There is the usual shuffling for the prime places on my TV aerial, but this year the new solar panels seem to be the main attraction. You would be forgiven for thinking that these were two penguins on a sheet of ice.
The contest for prime places.