Here’s six highlights from the garden this week.
- Peacock butterfly on the buddleia, a beautiful sight from the kitchen window. I’m not the biggest fan of buddleia, as they do look a bit ‘unkempt’ sometimes BUT this nectar rich plant attracts so many butterflies and so I don’t care if this bit of the garden looks a bit wild
- Cherries! A tiny bowl of tasty cherries from our tiny 4 year old cherry tree
- This pot by the green house contains a rose that I grew from a cutting. I was a little bit surprised that it actually works sometimes to propagate a rose by just putting a stem into soil and waiting a year or so… Magic!
- Mallow, a lovely wildflower, is making itself at home and has moved from our wildflower patch to some of the sunny corners of the garden
- Blackberries. Yum.
- The ‘feathervane’ has had an upgrade. With a goose feather gathered at Chew Valley Lake and a bit of reworking, this quirky feature spins with the wind quicker than before.
See more ‘six on saturday’ selections at garden ruminations.
It’s another hot day… so we’re off before it gets too scorchio!
Have a lovely weekend
J x
A lovely six, the weather vane is great, what does it spin on? I picked some roadside blackberries, just this week. Are they early? Or am I wrong?
The feather is held by garden wire on a bamboo skewer, which sits inside a pen tube from an old biro. The feathervane is wired to the top of a hazel tower that supports the sweet peas. They’re quite fun to make and nice little bit of garden upcycling whimsy… 🙂
Thank you, I shall give it a go with what I have around. A fun project as you say.
Some of the blackberries are certainly ripe and delicious – I just checked. 🙂 Early July does feel a bit early for blackberries – google says it’s typically late July.
Well done. Blackberries are a treat here too. Have to be careful of the “chiggers” though. Those red berry mites can cause intense itching.
Thank you! I have not spotted any yet, but will keep an eye out. Here in England they’re known as harvest mites. Chiggers sounds much cuter! 🙂
Does anyone even know why roses are grafted (budded)? I mean, they grow just fine on their own roots, and for a while nurseries were selling ungrafted (cutting grown) roses.
It’s a clever technique for getting pretty flowers to merge with strong rootstocks, I suppose, but it does seem like there are many perfectly pretty roses that grow quite well on their own roots. I have a few grafted roses – they sometimes put up their own shoots from the root, and these stems look just like our wild roses. The less faffy roses are my favourites 🙂
Yes, but some seem to do as well on their own roots, without grafting.
Maybe it’s one of those horticultural habits that stick around because of tradition more than being particularly useful?
Exactly. It could be that it is more profitable for nursermen, but I doubt that. Nurserymen tend to not be so greedy like that.
Oh yummy! Cherries and Blackberries! They are ripening here, too, and are so delicious fresh from the vine. Great capture of the butterfly on the Buddleia!