Of course everything has moved on since I took these pictures during the latter half of April and I don't have many more yet, as the weather has been naff - I didn't mind three straight days of rain as it's good for the garden, and it's certainly really lush and green out there. It also keeps the stream flowing into the lake which I always want to stay full for as long as possible. Hopefully with some warm sunny days coming soon (and the end of the awful wind which makes photography really hard), I'll be able to capture what the garden is looking like now. It changes so much this time of year!
But for now, those photos. There are lots of them, but as I haven't posted any for about a month I think I'm entitled to!
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| Apple blossom in the orchard. Not so sure about a good apple harvest now as the weather turned wet whilst a lot of the trees were in flower. |
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| Eating cherry blossom on the left and ornamental cherry double blooms on right. |
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| Think this is one of my three eating cherry trees! They were loaded with flowers. |
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| Hard to get a photo of my neighbour's wonderful ornamental cherries without either swings or perimeter fence in the way. That's my Smokebush Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' in the foreground. |
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| The big old cherry in full bloom whilst the green tree in the foreground is my greengage which had finished flowering. |
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| Cherry again with Euphorbia characias in the foreground. |
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| There was a reasonable showing of buds and some flowers on my Forest Pansy this year. This is Cercis canadensis, the Eastern Redbud. |
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| They don't all open up into flower though, but it's better than a few years ago when the buds just kept dropping off! |
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| There's not much left of this lilac by the pond as much of it has died off. |
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| Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) is everywhere in my woodland at the moment - look carefully at the pic on the left and you'll see a male Orange Tip butterfly! I love these flowers as they last for ages. |
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| My second biggest oak tree looking pretty with fresh young leaves. |
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| Some of the front bed, weeds and all (can you see the dandelions?!). Thankfully most weeds are smothered now by Forget Me Nots! |
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| Same area which has been taken over by bluebells in the thyme bank, which is looking better now that the brown dead bits that I couldn't prune are disappearing under new growth. |
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| Some spring photos look positively autumnal! These are some of my purple or dark leaved shrubs, and golden ones too. |
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| In the veg patch before the purple curly kale started flowering, but the PSB was providing nectar for the bees. And that cherry tree again. |
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| A snapshot of my Pollinator Meadow Year 4. This is now completely natural with colonised it like dandelions and goosegrass, even some grass. I'm leaving it like that because the whole point of this is that it is/was an experiment to see which insects and pollinators were attracted to it. It's hugely colourful no matter what kind of plant is flowering. |
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| Top is the bug that loves brassicas, Eurydema ornata, bottom left is the first Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus) I've seen, and bottom right a Striped Shield Bug (Graphosoma lineatum), a bug I normally see later in the year on dill and fennel flowers, so it was a surprise to see it in my woodland area just sitting on a leaf. |
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| Teensy solitary bee collecting tons of pollen at the top, and a Carder Bee on the bottom. |
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| Hairy-Footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes) and a little Weevil on the left. |
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| Hairy-Footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes) on my Kale flowers. |
Those of you who sent me emails - I've read them and thank you. Thing is, I'm not set up on my Kindle to send or receive emails - so to my friend who has a FB page I'll reply to you via messages there; to my cousin, we can keep in touch via your daughter on FB, and to my friend who sent healing advice - thanks, I'll print it out! Hopefully soon I'll be able to spend more time at the proper desktop computer and reply to your emails properly - things are easing up in the sitting department! xx
Wow... Always such amazing beauty from you Mandy. Love You My Friend
ReplyDeleteThank you, Virgil. xx
DeleteLovely to here from you Mandy...
ReplyDeleteI love the photos of the Easten Redbud, and I think most blossom trees have looked stunning this year. Front garden looking good and the pollinator meadow has a good mix of flowers, like that too. Glad you have managed to find some insects, seen a few this week my self between the April showers.
Hope you are feeling a little better.
Amanda xx
Thanks Amanda - yup very April showery here too and I'm glad I have a late apple tree in blossom right now, as so much blossom got blown away by 'March' winds! Plenty of bees buzzing around even when it is not butterfly weather - they always amaze me coming out to feed as soon as the rain stops. :-) xx
DeleteGreat photographs as usual and so uplifting to see the blossom and insects busy doing what they do best....I hope you are soon feeling stronger and things are on the up.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Ian. I've loved the blossom even more than usual this year, probably cos I had more time to look up and see it instead of looking down working in the garden! :-)
DeleteIt was well worth the wait to see your photos Mandy, thank you. I envy you your cherry trees, our's was cut down before we bought the house and now all I see are next door's falling to the ground unwanted.
ReplyDeleteGlad sitting down is not as uncomfortable. I hope this month is better for you.
Hi Debrazzawoman - thanks very much. What a shame about the cherry trees. Can't you ask your neighbour if you could pick their cherries? I thought you were friends with all your neighbours! I think I'm going to have to invite the neighbours in to pick my strawberries cos we will never manage to harvest or eat them this year and I've got plenty of jam from last year. There's going to be a big waste of fruit here this year but nothing I can do about it. All last year's currants are still in the freezer! I need someone like you around to deal with it all. :-)
DeleteLots of lovely flowers and blossom here Mandy. Is that a dear old wallflower I see amongst the pollinator group. I use to have them in a small garden when I was a boy, lovely flowers and much overlooked as a garden flower.
ReplyDeleteThanks Roy. Yes, wallflowers! All grown from a packet of seed and this is their third year flowering, so I am not sure if they are real perennial wallflowers, or if the usual grown as biennial ones are actually perennial if you leave them be? They are messy straggly plants but who cares, they flower early, are really pretty and the bugs love them. :-)
DeleteYour photos are lovely as always! Your surroundings are pure paradise! I'm so glad you are feeling a bit better and things are easing up in the sitting department. Hang in there dear friend! Jean
ReplyDeleteHi there Miss Ladybug! I am very grateful for my environment, more so than ever this last year. Being stuck at home so much is a lot easier when I have a huge garden to wander around in. Hopefully I'll get back onto the bench by the pond again soon, as I'm on ABs again, so pray they get rid of the bloody abscess this time..... ! Thanks and lots of love xx
DeleteOh those photos are lovely especially of the hairy foot bee and those kale flowers :) I hope your blossom hasn't been damaged. I think we've lost all our plum blossom as we're still having frosts and if you're awake early enough after 5am the grass is white!
ReplyDeleteHi Rosie - thanks, I love those bees too and enjoy watching them buzzing around the pretty brassica flowers. I think a lot of blossom got blown away rather than a frost problem like where you are. It's unusual to have frost here in May but it is possible! :-)
DeleteBlossom looks great Mandy, glad you are feeling a little better, I am in Brittany in a weeks time so the weather is guaranteed to be warm and sunny :-D
ReplyDeleteBeware les Saints de Glaces, Ian! Those cold days mid May, after which we may plant out our tender plants. I hope you will be here for long enough to get your courgettes in. :-) I've been thinking of you as I realised how time is passing fast and I need to get to a garden centre to buy mine! Toms too. Proud of hubby's spuds which are nearly ready for first earthing up, and his rows of lettuce seedlings. I'm missing doing such mundane things but eventually I'll get there and will be able to get bored of it all again..... Lol! :-)
DeleteYour garden looks wonderful Mandy, such beautiful colours everywhere and I love the pollinator meadow. We've sown some wildflower seeds in various places and they are shooting up, mainly due to quite a lot of rain here in Devon! The photo of your neighbour's cherry threw me initially, "good grief, M and K have got swings", I muttered to myself.
ReplyDeleteLove Philippa xx
Hee hee Philippa, did you never notice the swings here before? Must admit I tend to forget them myself and haven't had a swing for a long time cos K needs to varnish the wooden seat! We were going to get rid of them when we first bought the house then found they were quite fun. I've yet to sow my wildflower mixes but so many are self seeding so there is less and less room for them now. Maybe tomorrow, with my helper! Enjoyed being out today as it's sunny which is great therapy. :-)
DeleteNo, I never noticed the swings, leave them there please so we can bring the 2 little Grandchildren to play on them one day. I'll give you loads of notice that they are coming to visit!
DeleteLove P xx
They need some tlc but then so do many wooden things, not least shutters and external windows and K is run off his feet right now. I feel so bad that I can't do my usual chores, as there's more than enough upkeep for two people here! I guess your grandchildren can come visit when I am well again. :-)
DeleteSorry you've had a rough week my friend. Hopefully easing up now?
ReplyDeleteThese pics are just lovely, especially the ornamental cherry and the striped bug- never seen one before, how fantastic! And also all the wonderful bees. Hoping for improvement in the weather here next week to go flutter spotting again XXX
Hi CT - thanks very much, lot less pain but suffering from AB induced very upset stomach! Hopefully the worst of that is over as I really don't need something else that takes away what little appetite I have. Anyway I've had sunshine and butterfly therapy this afternoon, so no longer envious of all the lovely flutters you've been seeing as I had a Painted Lady here and a Swallowtail on my kale flowers. Wonderful sight! xx
DeleteWhat a beautiful garden you have. Love all the blossom and wildflowers and insects. The pollinator meadow project looks exceedingly interesting - will try and catch up on some of your older posts and learn more. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the awful week you have had - really do hope the antibiotics work and the abscesses are less painful and the stomach upset gets better.
Thanks very much RR. The pollinator meadow is a strip in the veg patch where I sowed a packet of seeds 'for pollinators'. The 1st year it was a mass of annuals but amazingly a number of perennials managed to grow under the tall annuals, so I now have Dame 's Rocket which is fab for butterflies and smells great, and wallflowers. Other plants seem to have died off but I discovered new things growing, whether they just came from the wild I'm not sure. There are also some mirabilis plants, white valerian and a really pretty knapweed which is different from what grows wild here. Plus tons of forget me nots and the annual phacelia is already flowering! It's been great watching it over the years as it evolves.
DeleteAnd thanks for the nice comment re my health - still very up and down so trying to make the most of every 'up' time! xx
Well, for whatever reason I obviously didn't see this post Mandy and as you only have one post on the home page, didn't think to look at the 'older posts' link. Anyhow, let me add a few words now. The E.ornata bug is a real treat as I don't think there's much chance of finding one locally just yet. There is a black, white and yellow version of this one that's also quite striking. Same with G.lineatum, my pal Tim finds these in Jersey but nothing here yet...amazing things though and would love to see them for real ;-)
ReplyDeleteA nice little collection of bees too...those Carders are great with their rufous backs. I love the idea of that pollinator meadow by the way...only wish I had the space to create one myself.
Hi JJ - thanks for looking. I thought my blog was set to show three posts before having to hit the older posts button, although I think that changes once you've hit a comment button. Well whatever! :-)
ReplyDeleteI have seen photos of the other E. ornata so did have to check again to be sure. I'm out of touch with my bugs and IDing right now! Mostly just enjoying seeing butterflies and bees and just being outdoors when I can. The pollinator meadow may end up being permanent in my veg patch as I can't bear to dig up some of the plants. These days there are more flowers than veg in there! There are also host plants in there now (Verbascum for those groovy Mullein moth caterpillars, and Hedge Woundwort which likes the shady area under the greengage tree, which hosts those bugs). So it's evolving in an interesting way.
Anyhow, you find some amazing critters so you shouldn't be too envious!! :-)
Your garden is still a wonderful sight Mandy! Your photos really show us what beauty you are surrounded by. Just stunning! I love your bugs! So much more interesting than what I get here!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had more space to grow a wildflower meadow!
Thanks for this wonderful share! You are an inspiration! ♥
Thanks so much, Kim! I adore my garden and love the different habitats and one good thing about this year, because I'm not being my usual busy self doing lots of gardening, I can really enjoy just looking and 'smelling the roses'. Especially now the roses are opening up, lol!
DeleteK is telling me when he notices any interesting bugs now (I've got him well trained) so I have just been out to inspect an egg sac with a load of tiny baby spiders. I need to try some macros of them, though! :-) xx