Flutterby Patch

Green shady places

After last week's colourful 'rosie post' I thought I'd take you to some of the shadier parts of our garden. Neglected corners where ferns and brambles thrive.

Let's follow this little path and see where it leads.

 
We could leave the garden by this little 'secret gate' in the hedge. But we won't, we'll head for the far corner of our patch.

This is my husband's domain. It's where weeds and hedge clippings that aren't suitable for composting are piled high ready for burning. As an ex-Boy Scout my husband really enjoys having bonfires (the bigger the better!) The large logs are from a larch tree he felled and I'm not sure if this arrangement is meant to be an artistic 'log-man sculpture', a chopping block or a seat. It probably serves as all three.

We are surrounded on all sides by woodland. As you can see it is quite dense at this time of year but lovely in all seasons. We enjoy watching roe deer, badger, fox and rabbit in the wood but not in the garden as they can wreak havoc. Deer and rabbit eat anything and everything; badgers dig up the lawn looking for worms and the fox raids the dustbin....complete chaos! Most of the time we manage to keep them out thanks to a high fence.

Back to our garden and this is a safe refuge for small mammals and birds. What a perfect reason for not moving this tangle of fallen branches interlaced with brambles. I guess it could be home to a great many different creatures so we are happy to leave it undisturbed.

But who's this little fellow? He's certainly not one of the creatures I was expecting to see! I wonder where he's going with his bundle of feathers? Let's follow him.

I think he's disappeared up these old stone steps and is hiding in the shadows. We'll creep up very quietly and see if we can find him.

Ssh! Don't make a sound. He's sitting over there. I wonder what he's up to?

He seems to be busy stuffing his soft downy feathers into a cotton bag. I do believe he's making a pillow.

Oh dear! He must have spotted us. His little stone seat is empty and he's left one of his feathers behind. Did you see which way he went?

Perhaps we should leave him in his shady green home and head back into the warm sunlight where the flowers bloom. We'll return again later in the summer and see if the little fellow is anywhere to be seen.

This little hobbity fellow is the same size as my Midsummer fairies and measures just 4 -5 inches (10cm - 12cm)

Until next time,
Eli

Rose ramblings

Greetings friends and a big thank you to everyone who left kind comments about my midsummer fairies, I'm so pleased they made you smile. Apparently there are several little girls in gardens a long way from mine here in England who look at my blog to see which characters will appear each week. This week's post is all about roses, but not wanting to disappoint my young friends I have asked this little fairy lady to bring you these pretty pink blooms.

For us June is very definitely the month of the rose. I'm ashamed to admit that we don't prune and feed our roses as often as we should and so those that do well are generally the ones that can thrive without special attention.

We can see this beauty through our sitting room window. It's name is 'Albertine' and you will find it clambering up walls and fences the length and breadth of Britain. It's definitely an all time favourite.

Next to 'Albertine' we planted 'New Dawn' about 15 years ago and being a delicate shade of pink it makes a nice contrast.

This old style rambler is called 'Wedding Day' and wouldn't it make a wonderful bridal bouquet. This picture was taken at 8 o'clock this morning as the new flowers were opening from tight yellow buds. During the day all the yellow blooms will slowly fade to white. In the picture it is rambling over a large trellis. We planted another 'Wedding Day' beside a 40 ft tree and it quickly reached the top!

Climbing another tree we have a rose with the wonderful name 'Rambling Rector'. It's musk fragrance drifts across the terrace and into the house through open windows. It's a very old variety and is thought to have been the one Titania slept under in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream (how wonderful!)

'Rambling Rector' has made its way to the top of this rowan tree and now cascades from every branch.

These are two very useful books by Roger Phillips and Martin Rix. They contain many hundreds of pictures with accompanying information about roses old and new.

I adore old fashioned roses and this one dates from the Victorian era. It is known as a moss rose because the buds and stems look as if they are coated with fluffy moss. The flowers have a wonderful fragrance and the mossy buds have a citrus scent.

As you can imagine these two books are well thumbed. The first, by famous rose grower Peter Beales, takes you to 33 famous rose gardens. The second, by John Scarman, is an invaluable source of information about collecting and growing old roses.

Here's another Victorian favourite with a heady scent. This is 'Cardinal de Richelieu' which turns from deepest claret to rich velvety purple.

And this rose is named after the famous florist 'Constance Spry'. It works best as a climber but ours lives amongst tall shrubs and pops out at a height of 6ft with sprays of myrrh-scented blooms. Its a real beauty.

And here is a little lady who quite literally flowers her heart out from June to November. She's called 'Phyllis Bide' and she likes to grow against a pillar or wall. Her stems look fragile but are very robust and although her flowers are not beautifully formed like many of the larger roses she's the garden's best performer.

'Phyllis Bide's' flowers open apricot yellow and gradually turn to sugar pink and cream. The petals are slow to fall and the bush is rarely without blooms throughout summer and autumn. If I remember to feed this little lady with rose fertiliser I'm quickly rewarded with a fresh crop of flowers. She is truly delightful.

I had hoped to end this rosy post with some of my David Austin roses but they are a bit slow to appear this year because I pruned them late in the season. 'St Swithins' (above) is flowering nicely which pleases me as he's sure to be blooming on my daughter's birthday - 15th July  - St Swithin's Day.

I confess it was this wonderful book by David Austin that persuaded me to create a rose garden some years ago. Since then I've added more roses and David Austin has published several more books which all look very tempting! If you love roses you'll love his publications!

Happy rose growing.

Until next time,
Eli

Midsummer fairies

The sun might not be an enthusiastic visitor but it's midsummer and so time to look for fairies in the garden...

....sweeping their tiny pathways

....collecting freshly laid eggs

and gathering honey for tea.

And when their work is done you might see them having fun making daisy chains.

Until next time,
Eli