It's that time of year when my garden is at its wildest and even I start to think it might be time to cut the grass. I have to wait for the Ox-Eye Daisies to flower first though and they're in their full glory right now.
This is the view of the garden from my bedroom. The bottom half is a bit tamer and you might just be able to make out the winding cat (and human) path that goes through the middle of it. All the visiting cats keep to it, including Violet who doesn't live here but thinks she does. I have to keep the back door shut if I'm upstairs or she wanders in and helps herself to Tolly's food.
As well as the daisies, my roses are all flowering now after a slow start because of the lack of rain this Spring. Here's Kew Gardens all mixed up with some Love-in-the-mist and a Geranium.
Next to it and hiding behind another rose is one of my short foxgloves. I know, they're meant to be taller than this but all mine only grow this high. Maybe they give up once their roots hit the heavy clay soil?
The big leaves by the wall are some of the Hollyhocks that I planted this year. These look like they might be a more respectable height anyway. I bought them from the plant stall in our market which has really nice plants that you can get when they're small (and cheap). I'm very lucky to have that stall nearby now that I can't drive to garden centres as I used to. I do have to enlist help to carry my purchases though as I can't carry things and breathe at the same time.
This is Buff Beauty which lives on the other side of the garden and has lots of coffee coloured flowers. David Austin roses aren't cheap but they are really good quality and grow quickly even when planted as bare roots.
Just up from this one is my rose in a cage ...
I planted The Pilgrim inside this big obelisk about three or four years ago and it looked ridiculous sitting at the bottom. It's being making good progress ever since though and the frame is doing a good job of supporting it.
Yellow roses are my favourites but what I call marmalade coloured ones come a close second. This one is Lady of Shalott and is holding its own against the wild daisies now that it's got a bit bigger.
That's more hollyhocks next to it; these ones aren't as tall as the others yet although they all started off the same. Isn't this a gorgeous colour?
Tucked down by the side of the house where it gets virtually no sun is a rose that has been in this garden longer than I have. I'm not sure of its name - possibly Maiden's Blush although the pictures I've seen all look more pink than mine which is very pale. That could be down to it to being in a shady spot perhaps?
Last Spring my daughter helped me plant three new bare root roses in the front garden, two more yellow with a white one in between. They flowered last Summer which I hadn't been expecting but have really come into their own this year.
This is the wonderfully named Tottering-by-Gently and, next to the gate, is The Poet's Wife.
Apparently, this one has a nice scent. I try to buy scented roses even if my Long Covid means that I can't smell them. Passers-by can enjoy them. The white rose in between (White Flower Carpet) is a ground cover rather than a shrub rose so it only just reaches up to the railings at the moment. It's absolutely full of blooms though.
This year I planted two Lavender Hidcote plants in between these three roses. They're tiny at the moment but they will grow. I particularly wanted the Hidcote variety as they reminded me of a lovely day spent at Hidcote Gardens back in the days when I was well. It's a series of little gardens, almost like rooms, each with their own character and style and I spent a long time wandering through them.
In between admiring my daisies and roses, I've been crocheting flowers. Some big ...
... some small ...
... and some absolutely tiny.
These ones are crocheted with a 1 mm hook using size 20 Lizbeth tatting thread. The buttons are about half an inch across. I got the idea from Diane's blog - if you search 'button flowers' on there you can see hundreds of lovely examples. I enjoy reading a blog by someone else who does lots of different crafts like I do. Anyway, I just used part of the pattern for my bigger flowers to make my little buttons. I want to make more of these but I'm going to order a more comfortable hook first. I find thin metal hooks tricky to grip so I shall get one of my favourite Clover Amour hooks to play with.
