Garden highlights this week as we reach the longest day of the year:
The sweetpeas are blooming in the ‘bench’ border. This bit of the garden has changed a lot in the last year, as ‘we’ (my lovely husband) cut back the sprawling hebe and wild rose, and made space to plant out an acer, a few shrubs and a sweetpea tower in their place.
It’s a much nicer spot now, and the sweetpeas have a marvellous aroma. There’s a bright bunch of them on my desk and they are joyous little flowers.
Wildlife highlights this week include the cinnabar moth which found a tiny ragwort plant in our lawn. I usually weed out ragwort even in the wilder areas, because it can take over a space – but it is nice to see the cinnabar pop by. This is a pretty poor pic of a very pretty moth, but it wasn’t there for long, so please use your imagination to picture the scene more effectively. 🙂
The damselflies are getting very friendly with one another, as shown in the pic below. And (not shown) there are tiny little ‘shells’ of damsel skins on some of the plants, where the little baby damselflies have shed their skins and unfolded their wings. The pond is a perfectly peaceful place sometimes, I feel very lucky to be here.
At the top of that photo is our composting area, and I’ve been greatly enjoying the benefits of a good supply of homegrown compost. I’m taking a few cuttings and seedlings for friends who are establishing new gardens, and it’s always nice to hear when a cutting of honeysuckle or a patch of pinks get going from something I’ve propagated. 🙂
Ooh its hot, and I have to go soon, so this is not the most perfectly enumerated Six on Saturday but never mind!
For better organised blogs about brilliant gardens, check out ‘Six on Saturday’ at garden ruminations, and the hashtag #SixonSaturday
I hope you have a lovely midsummer,
Jen x
Lovely to see the pond life.
You did well to capture the cinnabar moth, they just don’t stay still long enough. The damsel flies are a joy at this time of the year, I could watch them for hours. And sweet peas are worth all the trouble to grow. Nothing quite like their scent.
The sweet peas are a gorgeous color, and the sweet pea stretched out by the pond is just like mine…If mine were not terrified of the outdoors. She often adopts that pose, but take her outside, she cries and becomes a bundle of muscle with only one will – to make a beeline to the back door and into the house.
It must be humid also, for sweet peas to perform so well. I do not grow them because they roast in the arid warmth, and it does not get very hot here. They bloom only briefly for early spring, after growing for months since the previous autumn.
We certainly do have a humid heat here in south west England.
I grew up a couple hundred miles north of here, in North West England (what a small country England is!) … and the sweetpea season was a bit longer up north because of the cooler temperatures. But I’m hoping that if I keep these sweet peas watered and picked frequently they might last thru the summer time in Somerset 🙂
My niece grew sweet peas in Los Angeles when she was young! They were a lot of work for only a few flowers, but were among her favorites. I find it annoying that sweet pea seed are even available from nurseries there.
The cinnabar moth really is lovely, and the damselflies are fun to watch, too. I’m a huge fan of the Sweetpeas…I’ll have to think of growing some in the future. Thanks!