Thursday, October 15, 2009

Around the garden ....

..... between the showers.
25mm (1 inch) of rain while we were away and the garden is just loving it. Very cold wind at the moment is stopping us from getting out and planting all the plants we bought, but hopefully we can sneak a few into the ground in the next few days. Meanwhile, we're loving the rain too, even though the lawns now need harvesting rather than mowing.
Pink Dogwood (Cornus)

White Dogwood - fairly insignificant flowers, lovely leaves and stunning red branches.

Yellow Broom and Red Valerian or Centranthus.

Pink Valerian and Yellow Daisy (?)

Silver Lace Bush, Purple Hops and White Osteospermum.

A bit of everything including Californian Poppies and Bronze Fennel.


Smoke Bush (Cotinus) - Grace.

Rhododendron


Lavatera


White Lilac.

Purple and white Lilac.

Single pink Marguerites.

The lettuce are thriving and the pansies are blooming.

Contemplative gardener.

Broad beans and spring onions that have been growing continuously for about 15 years.

Apple blossom.

11 comments:

Michele the Celebrant - Michele Bolitho said...

Hello Alice
I was delighted to find your blog yesterday when I myself was blogging about the beauty of Nara Park. I see that you and I have much in common. My beautiful garden is the Heart Garden in Weston, and I'm having an open afternoon (free) this Sunday 18 Oct. It's by invitation, so, would you like to come? Through my blogsite http://celebrantcanberra.blogspot.com/spot.com I invite your blog followers as well. I will email more information to anyone who contacts me.
With warm wishes on a chilly Canberra day from a fellow garden lover, Michele (aka Michele the Celebrant)

Michele the Celebrant - Michele Bolitho said...

Hello again Alice
There's an error in the comment I posted to you. My site is http://celebrantcanberra.blogspot.com/

Cheers
Michele

RachelD said...

Welcome home!!! I trust you had a LOVELY trip.

I'm nodding away---after midnight here, but I'll post more tomorrow after my eyes can focus on these gorgeous pictures.

rachel

PS Peter Rabbit and I snuck in for a few nibbles in that amazing garden.

Bernie said...

Alice it looks like you live in Paradise....your flowers are so pretty and look at your garden already.....we are having a snow storm today.
Hope you had a good time while away.....:-) Hugs

Sigrun said...

Alice, great to see your wonderful plants on the frosty morning in Germany!

Sigrun

diane b said...

Are you challenging Floriade? You have so many plants and a magical vegy garden. Lovely photos of a lovely garden....envy envy envy.

Ozjane said...

Two things upset me....wisteria..don't you dare show me any.....and dogwoods.
I planted one and it died....I want to plant another..but am waiting on the weather.
But I like my smoke bush better than yours....so that is my one lonely consolation...sobs.
It is raining..we have had some today as it danced around us most of the week.
Dogwoods indeed!!

Kerri said...

Rain...how wonderful! I'm so happy for you and your garden! And it is responding beautifully. Those lettuces are so colorful with the dark red mixed in among the green. It's good to see the contemplative gardener taking a break. He sure keeps those weeds at bay!
My pink Marguerites were lovely mounds of green with very few flowers this summer. I wonder if the soil is too rich for them? Or maybe not enough sun (a half day)? The yellow one in full sun bloomed all summer.
You have so many lovely blooms and plants in your garden. My Centranthus bloomed more this year, but it hasn't come anywhere near to taking over yet :)
I can't wait until our pink dogwood flowers. Perhaps next spring it will bless us with beautiful pink blooms like yours. It's still quite small.
I love that Broom!
Thanks for sharing the growing delights with us, dear Alice :)
It's especially cheering to see your lovely garden on this frosty NY morning. Rain and snow showers are predicted for today and tomorrow! So much for a long, warm fall. It's not happening. We've had cold, damp (often wet) and dreary days one after the other for what seems like forever. Bah humbug!

Laura in Paris said...

what a beautiful garden!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Hi Alice, You have a very special, beautiful garden. A great variety of plants and a thriving veggie patch. I thought the pink Dogwood was a single Rose. I am glad you received some rain it is always so welcome. Here it is very dry and windy and I am busy keeping the newly planted Daylilies and pots watered.

Green Iris said...

Seeing all of your lovely flowers reminds me of a book that I dearly loved as a little girl -- The Secret Garden. I don't recall the author's name but your pictures brought that book to mind. Just beautiful!