Garden highlights in late July for #SixOnSaturday
We’ve had a spell of hot weather followed by some heavy downpours and the rain has got the garden growing again.
Many of the roses are looking good, despite the heat. We’ve kept deadheading and we watered the rose patch every few days during the hot weather.
Nye Bevan was looking particularly fine this morning after an overnight rain shower.
At lunchtime on sunny days the garden has been fluttering with butterflies, and it’s a pleasure to see them flitter about. This lovely little orange butterfly looked a lot like a sycamore seed when it was in flight. I think it’s a female silver washed fritillary, according to the pictures on this spectacular website about butterflies in Bedfordshire.
Next up, the waterlily, which is doing well after lovely husband split an older plant into sections and repotted them earlier this year. The damselflies at the pond are very bendy and fly about the place attached to each other, in a loop that’s known as a ‘wheel’. Apparently damselfly mating is a “complex, precisely choreographed process” and this paper all about the fascinating sex life of damselflies proves that point.
Something’s eating the apples. They’re not especially ripe yet, but I’ve tried one so far, and something else has had a nibble.
In the pond the white star sedge is settling in well and I like the unusual flower shape.
And in the rose bed, the agapanthus adds a pop of contrasting colour to the sunset tones of the roses.
That’s all for this week. You can view more garden collections for Six on Saturday at garden ruminations.
Have a lovely weekend, whatever you’re up to,
J x
Who knew how complicated damselflies are?
I had no idea how amazingly weird and interesting they are until quite recently…
All the photos are lovely but the one with the damselflies captures their bright blue colouring perfectly, it’s stunning.
White star sedge was planted intentionally? I mean, it is not an invasive weed? It is pretty, but looks like too much like weedy sorts.
The apple looks quite advanced for the end of July. When does it typically ripe? I suppose it is not all that early for apples; but I happen to be accustomed to those that ripen for the end of summer or autumn.
Lovely to see all the insects as well as the beautiful flowers.
I wonder why they are not called flitterbys or flutterbys rather than butterflies. The white star sedge is a beautiful addition to the garden. It seems to like wet conditions, doesn’t it?
I think lots of people call them flutterbys!
The sedge is planted into the edge of the pond, and so far it seems fairly happy there. 🙂
Beautiful, beautiful photos of the flowers and fruit after the rain. Many of these are frameable, showing the insects and the raindrops and the beauty of the plants, themselves. Very nice!