Golden garden days

Greetings friends. I thought I would give you all a break from my woolly sheep saga this week and spend a little time with you in our garden as the sun has been shining for almost a week here in the UK...amazing!

We'll start here where an old wrought iron gate takes us into what we rather grandly refer to as 'the rose garden'. We designed this little space 12 years ago and it is now overflowing with plants that we have put in and others that have invited themselves (self seeded).

The roses are not yet in bloom but the forget-me-nots have given us a sea of blue for the past 2 months and as always aquilegias have popped up all around. As you can see it's a bit of a 'free for all' situation with everything jostling for position.

I'm happy to say our sundial keeps accurate time.

Although not easy to see in the bright sunlight, on the ground around the sundial is the little motto 'Be Mindful of Time'.

So let us indeed be mindful of time, leave the rose garden and head for those scarlet poppies across the lawn.

Lovely as they are, they are rather too garish for my tastes but they put in an appearance each year and always add cheerfulness to the grey stone wall behind.

Now these are the poppies of my choice. The colour reminds me of faded Victorian ball gowns. It's such a shame they only last a few days before the petals drop.

More pink beauties...this is clematis 'Nellie Moser' and the blooms grow to the size of plates.

And here's a job for my husband! This solanum has climbed the house wall so quickly this year that it is now peeping in through the upstairs window.

I'm very fond of this vivid pink rock rose (helianthemum). It pops up each year through the lime-yellow leaves of the euonymus and for a few short weeks makes a brilliant splash by the driveway.

At the end of our terrace we have a curved stone wall and seat which was built many decades ago. The land drops away quite steeply on the other side and for this reason my children named this stone feature 'the battlements'. Needless to say the name has stuck. We think it was originally built as a sort of viewing place for the enjoyment of uninterrupted views across the lake. Sadly those days are long gone because the woodland trees opposite our house have since matured and now mask the view which is a great shame.

Growing out of every crack and crevice on the battlements is this delicate little ivy-leaved toadflax

At the end of a sunny day our honeysuckle fills the evening air with its rich perfume. It is the offspring of an older honeysuckle from my dim and distant past that has treasured memories for me.

This tiny black and white photograph shows me with my baby sister many moons ago in my grandmother's garden. Behind us is my granny's honeysuckle that she was very proud of. After my granny died in the 1970s my mother took a cutting from it which happily rooted and eventually grew into a large bush producing many more offspring over the years. It pleases me a lot to know that the honeysuckle I now tend in my garden is a direct descendant from the very one my granny nurtured all those years ago.

And so it is time to leave the garden as the sun goes down on another day.

As the moon rises over the tree tops, twilight slowly descends.

Until next time,
Eli

Comments

[carol (wee cute treasures)]

Thank you for sharing your beautiful garden. So tranquil, so glorious.

[Carol (Wee Cute Treasures)]

Eli - This comment is also on my own blog, but you might not see it. So...here it is again.

Thank you for the compliments Eli! Great praise coming from you - Queen of Cuteness yourself!! Chalky, Charcoal, Rose and Aaaa-shling have had endless sunshine here in Ireland. Bo Peep told me that they had behaved very well - despite a few little adventures she did not go into details about!

Still marvelling at your garden photos. My garden is very small compared to your - but still room for the glorious Nelly Moser. Enjoy the continuing sunshine Eli (while it lasts!!).

[clarice]

You have one of the most stunning gardens. Just gorgeous !!! Clarice

[Jolene Martin]

Beautiful photos of your garden. Thank you for sharing.

[Paula]

Dearest Eli,

I enjoyed seeing your beautiful garden so much! It is always so delightful to see what is growing there in England. I am so glad you have been enjoying sunshine. Wednesday and Thursday we had some much needed rain, and today was beautiful! If it does not rain, we have to water every few days when it is hot out, more during the summer when we usually do not have much rain fall. We save rain water in buckets, but a rain barrel would hold much more. Something on our wish list.

I love the old gate opening into your rose garden, the forget me nots are so pretty! Your sundial is beautiful, how wonderful that it keeps time and bears such a wise quote! The poppies are lovely, but I agree with you, the pink ones are my favorite... they do, indeed, look like faded Victorian ball gowns! Lovely! Oh, I would love a Nelly Moser clematis!!! It is such a pretty and large flower! I wonder if it would fair as well in my climate. The solanum is amazing!
I love the pink rock rose, too. Your children chose a perfect name for the stone wall and the ivy-leafed toadflax is a very charming companion to the 'battlements'. I have not seen toadflax before.

Your honeysuckle is so beautiful and I love that it is a descendent from your granny's. The photo of you and your sister is so sweet! Eli, your garden is really amazingly beautiful. I can just imagine what it was like to see the sun setting and the moon rising! Very peaceful and relaxing. I can see you and your husband have put a lot of love and hard work into your garden. Thanks so much for sharing it! I could see it featured in the English Garden magazine!

Love, Paula

[Rhondi]

Your garden is beautiful!! I'm sure I've said that before.