power plant

Verbena bonariensis and bees — —

Raindrops keep falling…. Yes, the past week has been showery, and much cooler (low to mid twenties Celsius). And the garden is beginning to look green again. I think the grass will take a bit longer to recover, but the plants and vegetables are much happier.  I do hope all those of you wishing for rain last week got a drop too! I try not to give my flower garden extra water, and then inevitably wait too long before caving in. Thankfully I haven’t lost any plants to the heat we had so early on in June, with just some stunted growth and fewer blooms on some of my plants. I am nonetheless still able to produce enough blooms for a Monday vase, as I join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden . The actual vase today is a cheap green glass bowl, originally meant as an outdoor candleholder. (The green colour is actually painted on!) The pattern on it reminded me of raindrops… The Queen Anne’s Lace serves as an umbrella. The vase also contains: Aster ‘Mönch’, Agastache ‘Blue Boa’, Scabi...

Old World Swallowtail

It is Monday, so I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her lovely flowery meme. But before I share my vase, a quick weather update: it’s raining! You remember? That wet stuff that falls from the sky? I may go out and do some planting in it later to appreciate it to the full! Back to the vase. In German ‘sunhats’ (Sonnenhut) is the common name for Echinacea and I think it is the perfect description for these summer flowers. What’s more, while cutting some Echinacea and Zinnias for today’s vase I realized that Zinnias also look like little sunhats. What do you think? My Zinnias this year have been a lovely mix of colours, from seed packets called ‘Bumblebee’ and ‘Sonnenstrahl’ (sunbeam). I picked a variety of Echinacea purpurea, E. pallida, and various Zinnias… some have wide ‘brims’, some floppy, some with frilly bits on top… Which one would YOU wear? (My own sunhat looked quite plain in comparison so I stuck a Helenium in it for the photo!) The foliage is from ...

If you have followed my blog for a while you may remember we started making a seating area in the centre of the new Words & Herbs Bed last summer. Finally an update! So just for fun, Now that it’s done, It is the time to share – in RHYME!- The story of a pergola… (Well, maybe not the whole story in rhyme, but some at least! ) Last year we began, amid many rain showers, and a bed was created full of fragrant flowers The centre was reserved for a place to sit where we can look at the garden and also smell it. Summer went by and the middle grew weeds while the new bed was planted with flowers and seeds At last – the structure went up when autumn came round And the rain, frost and snow would settle the ground In spring it was levelled, ready to sow but the season was frosty and progress was slow  The first climbers (more about them later) went in late March at last… Which meant I could finally sow the grass! It took quite a while for the grass to grow But ...