END OF JUNE

What’s been happening in my garden at the end of June ? Not much really as we still have no real Summer weather, most days  of the last 2 weeks were cold and rainy and windy but the forecast for the near future is a lot better so shall we finally get Summer over here in froggyland ? I’ll let you know, ok ?!

My garden is full of frogs, I really have to watch where I step when I am removing weeds or plant a plant cos I don’t want to step on one, some are tiny others are quite big but we have the quiet ones, the brown frog, he only says prrrrrr  prrrrr ….The slugs are having a ball too, they are everywhere, luckily we have a thrush with a nest full of babies and I see broken slug shell’s everywhere.

MY FIRST DAHLIA FLOWER OF THE YEAR, A YELLOW ONE CALLED  YELLOW STAR, IT’S IN A BLUE POT SO I LIKE THIS COMBINATION, IT HAS A LOT OF BUDS SO I AM HOPEFULL, ALL IT NEEDS IS A COUPLE OF WARM DAYS

A SOFT YELLOW DAYLILLY COMBINED WITH GERANIUM ANN THOMSON

MY GOATSBEARD (ARUNCUS)  IN FULL BLOOM

MY FIG TREE IS STILL NOT COMPLETELY RECOVERED FROM WINTER BUT IT LOOKS OK AND THE FIGS ARE REALLY BIG THIS YEAR

THIS IS A CLOSE UP OF ONE OF MY AEONIUMS WHO IS DOING VERY WELL DESPITE ALL THE RAIN AND COLD IT HAD SO FAR

AND THIS IS MY DARLING GRANDDAUGHTER (3) WHO LOVES TO WATER EVERYTHING IN THE GARDEN AND IN THE HOUSE, I HAD TO SAVE MANY CACTI AND SUCCULENTS FROM DRAWNING ! BUT I LOVE TO TEACH HER ALL ABOUT GARDENING AND WILDLIFE, I LOVE HER TO BITS !!!

Have a great week all and thanks for stopping by ! Enjoy your garden !

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MY GARDEN AT THE MOMENT

Winter was long, freezing and wet. We didn’t get Spring, we went from Winter into Summer so plants are way behind their normal blooming time. Normally June is the most beautiful time in my garden with lots of blooms but today my garden still looks pretty green.

I walked through my garden this morning and made some pictures for you.

BLOOMS OF CLIMBING HYDRANGEA OR SHOULD I SAY THE BEGINNING OF THE BLOOMS ?

ONE OF MY FUCHSIA’S, AREN’T THEY CUTE WITH THEIR BALLERINA FROCKS ?!!!

AND ANOTHER FUCHSIA, THIS ONE LIKES TO HAVE HIS FACE IN  THE SUN

GERANIUM ANNE  THOMSON STARTED BLOOMING AND WILL GO ON TILL THE FIRST FROSTS

PELARGONIUM

THE FIRST OF MY DAYLILLIES IN BLOOM

GERANIUM SANGUINEUM, A LOW GERANIUM WITH CUTE LITTLE LEAFS AND LOTS OF BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS, BLOOMS FOR A LONG TIME

ONE OF MY AQUILEGIA’S, THIS ONE IS STILL IN BLOOM AND IT LOOKS AS IT HAS STILL A LOT OF BUDS, THE WHITE ONE HAS NO MORE FLOWERS AT THE MOMENT

MY BEAUTIFUL LITTLE VIOLETS, THEY HAVE BEEN BLOOMING SINCE LAST YEAR SEPTEMBER !!!

AND YET ANOTHER GERANIUM, I THINK THIS ONE IS ENDRESSII

SYRINGA PALIBIN  A LOT  SMALLER THAN SYRINGA VULGARIS

ARUNCUS OR GOATS BEARD

ALCHEMILLA MOLLIS OR LADIES MANTLE, ALWAYS HAPPY TO PERFORM

DIGITALIS, THE FIRST FLOWERSTALK IN MY GARDEN WHO IS BLOOMING, THEY HAVE SELFSEEDED ALL OVER THE GARDEN BUT I  LET THEM BE AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT IN THE WAY, THE BEE’S LOVE THEM AND THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL !!!

I hope this lovely weather will continue for a long long time !!!!

 

Have a great week and enjoy your garden !

 

WALK WITH ME

Today I took my camera and took a stroll through my garden to see what is going on. We are now in the middle of May and it is still cold, too cold for the time of the year and it has been raining for a few days now, that is good as the garden was bone dry. With the rain everything grew a bit and the garden is a lot greener than a few days back.

GERANIUM PHAEUM

ALLIUM URSINUM WITH A FEW SHOOTS OF MELISSA OFFICINALIS. THE ALLIUM LEAFS AND FLOWERS ARE LOVELY IN A GREEN SALAD AND FROM THE LEAFS OF THE MELISSA YOU CAN MAKE A LOVELY LEMON TEA, YOU TAKE A FEW LEAFS, POOR HOT WATER ON THEM AND LET IT BE FOR A FEW MINUTES, AND VOILA YOU HAVE A LOVELY HEALTHY TEA THAT TASTES LIKE LEMON TEA, OR YOU CAN ADD A FEW LEAFS TO YOUR ORDINARY TEA TO GIVE IT A LEMONY TASTE

THESE DAHLIA’S ARE WAITING FOR A PLACE IN THE GARDEN, THEY WERE IN THE GREENHOUSE FOR A WHILE BUT THEY ARE HARDENING OFF OUTSIDE AND THEY ARE ENJOYING THE RAIN

LOTS AND LOTS OF BUDS ON MY CLIMBING HYDRANGEA

THIS CUTIE WAS ENJOYING THE WET WEATHER TOO, I NEVER KILL THEM, I LET THE BIRDS IN THE GARDEN DO THEIR JOB AND THEY DO

MELISSA OFFICINALIS, GROWS LIKE MAD AND SELFSEEDS LIKE MAD BUT IS EASILY REMOVED, YOU CAN REMOVE THE FLOWERS BEFORE THEY SET SEEDS, THAT HELPS OFCOURSE, YOU CAN DRY THE LEAFS AND USE THEM IN POT-POURRI

FERNS UNFOLDING

THIS IS SYRINGA PALIBIN, A SMALLER VERSION OF THE SYRINGA VULGARIS, IT IS ONLY ABOUT 100-150 CM HIGH AND ACROSS, THE FLOWERS ARE SMALLER BUT THEY SMELL THE SAME, HERE YOU SEE THE BUDS

A VIEW OF THE FRESH NEW SHOOTS OF ONE OF MY HOSTA’S

ALCHEMILLA MOLLIS OR LADIES MANTLE

MY FIG TREE AT THE MOMENT

IT ALREADY HAS MANY SMALL FIGS

THIS IS HOW MY FIG TREE LOOKED LAST YEAR AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME, THIS WINTER I COVERED IT WITH THIN FLEECE TO PROTECT IT A BIT FROM THE COLD AND I LOVE THE RESULT !!!!!!

AND THE SHOW STOPPER IS MY NEW AEONIUM, I HOPE THE SUN WILL MAKE IT A LOT DARKER, I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS A REAL SCHWARTZKOPF BUT I HOPE SO !THERE WAS NO NAME ON IT.

I hope I will soon be able to show you lots of flowers !

Enjoy your garden !

 

YELLOW AND BLUE

Yellow and blue, my 2 favorite colours ! As the temperatures have gone up, slowly but surely, more and more flowers have appeared. I still have snowdrops blooming in the pond area , it is mid April !!! But finally the narcissus are in flower, I just love those little bright yellow flowers ! Last year I decided to plant Chionodoxa, a small bulb with pretty blue flowers to go with the yellow narcis tête à tête and they look like a match made in heaven ! I also have blue hyacinths, they come back year after year after year, they live at the foot of my fig tree and they seem to love it there.

THESE ARE A BIT DARKER BLUE THAN THEY ARE ON THE PICTURE

THESE ARE A BIT LIGHTER THAN THE ONES ABOVE

MY BLUE HYACINTS

As I was walking through my garden this morning I noticed some frog spawn in the pond!!! So we are going to have baby frogs ! We always have lots of frogs in the garden and I like it, they eat a lot of snails and  insects so I should say ; the more the merrier ! It is fun to see the egg’s grow and turn into little frogs.

Today our weather forcaster promised us 23 C°, it is now almost noon and it is about 15 C° with   a dark grey sky, so if we want to reach that 23 C° the sun must come out of hiding ! People are all very excited over here as it will be the first nice warm day of the year, many rushed to the seaside to catch that first sun and others ran to their butcher as they planned their first barbecue ! I did neither as I want to do some work in the garden.

I hope there are lots more sunny days to come !!!!!!

I hope you all have a great and sunny weekend  !!!!

SUNDAY WAS A FUN DAY

Yesterday was a sunny Sunday, the first this year ! It was still cold but in my greenhouse it was warm. I did a lot of sowing, planting, repotting, potting and watering as everything is very dry. Today I had a free day so I thought I could continue working in the greenhouse….but early this morning my son rang to tell me the childminder was ill and asked if I could take care of the kids so ….no gardening today !!! And there is so much to do !!!!

The first seeds I have sown this year were spinach, it took over 3 weeks to germinate !!! but it is looking good now. Yesterday I did the carrots ( little orange ball’s called Paris Market),and lettuce for cutting, I planted eucomis bicolor in pots, liatris spicata in pots, 3 dahlia Yellow Star and 3 dahlia Lucky number, all in pots untill after the frosts about mid May, then I’ll plant most of them outside in the garden,but some will get a big pot. At the moment they can grow away and take a head start in the greenhouse cos it’s warmer there. The temperatures are on the up and rain is on it’s way, it is welcomed as the soil is so dry cos of the dry cold winds we had for weeks on end. So finally it looks as if Spring is on the way !FINALLY !!!!

Here are a few pictures for you :

THE CARROTS AND THE LETTUCE

ON THE LEFT IS LIATRIS SPICATA, ON THE RIGHT IS EUCOMIS BICOLOR

THE PINK AND YELLOW DAHLIA, THE PINK ONE IS A BIT BRIGHTER THAN ON THE PICTURE

All the bulbs had tiny tiny shoots so they all have a long way to go !

Have a great week all and thanks for stopping by !