When we first moved here I did not realise quite how much damage rabbits can do. I lost many plants in those first few years. I put netting around the beds and had various other contraptions to try and deter them. It worked to a degree but the garden looked like some sort of assault course. After a lot of thought I decided to take all netting etc down. I knew I would lose a lot of plants, but it would also show me what they would leave alone. That would give me the foundations for landscaping a rabbit proof garden. The warren, is in the copse, and this doe was out at lunchtime! The following plants flower happily every year and until this point have not been on a rabbits lunch menu.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Rabbits and blooms.
Friday, 23 May 2008
Birds, bugs and blooms.
A Blue Tit feeds her youngster. I have four Blue Tits nests in the garden. The adults are not using the feeders at the moment, showing there is plenty of insect life in my garden, to feed themselves and the chicks. This is years of work now showing good results for wildlife.
BUT you never have enough food for Starlings.............
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Poppies, blooms and Damselflies.
Californian Poppies are an absolute favourite of mine......... a mini meadow of sunshine.......
its hot and humid today, the damselflies came to soak up the sun and hunt amongst the sedges.
I watched them for ten minutes trying to catch small insects.
They are so beautiful....like mini sculptures, exquisite.
Tagged, for the last time.
I have been tagged by Naturewitch......a new blogger that I found via Hedgewitch. Both great blogs and both my sort of people. BUT this really is my last tag. We all have differing views on things and that is what makes life interesting. I am by nature a private person and my blog is mainly about my garden, wildlife and how I see things. Today I will answer the questions with an open heart.
1. What was I doing ten years ago?
Living in a town.......loads of traffic....lots of noise.......BUT this was the year that I went to South Africa to see my son who was working there at the time. He took us on safari, the most magical and mystical time of my life. Mr Practical, my son, me and a guide went on safari on foot. We had several outings lasting four to five hours and starting at 6.oo am. I saw things that I will never forget......the overwhelming heat......the smell of freshly trodden soil. Eating under the stars, so many you could not count.
The second thing in that year was a trip to Goa with my very beautiful daughter. I saw poverty there that still saddens my heart and soul if I think to deeply about it. Mr Practical and I are not one for posh hotel and swimming pool holidays. We like to take a car and go. I like to see real people and how things truly are. There was a little girl we visited most mornings. She had a little shop......it consisted of a piece of silk thrown on the floor, full or oddments that truthfully weren't worth buying. She was around eight years old.....she looked after a baby while her mother worked the beach. My daughter and I would take her chocolate and pencils ( she loved them) and buy a little something. As poor as she was she greeted us with a smile...............
2. Five thing I must to today.
Take Dad for this health check....he is a diabetic.
Tractor mow the grass before it rains tomorrow.
Do this tag to get it out of the way.
Feed the birds and the hedgehogs.
Phone my daughter to see how my little Poppi is, she was very unwell yesterday.
3. Snacks I enjoy
Chocolate, chocolate and of course the main thing chocolate.
4. Things I would do it I were a billionaire.
I don't like this questions,,,,people always focus on money and of course there are many that need it.
I think in the West we reflect more on what we havn't got, rather than what we have.
If I have to say something....I would see my children and grandchildren had enough to get by and keep them comfortable.
I would buy up local land............and employ people to plant and put it back to woodland and meadows.
I would give to charities, children in poverty, abused animals, cancer research and the British Heart Foundation.
Personally I am happy as I am.
5. Places I have lived.
I was brought up in South East London and lived there for the first 19 years of my life. We lived in a rough area on a council estate and Mum and Dad had little money.........London will always hold my heart, she taught me a lot about life.......the good and the bad....I will always be grateful.
From then on I lived in towns in Kent until finally settling here seven years ago.......and I have never been happier.
Well there it is the last and final tag. So please no more......I will only refuse.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Wednesdays birds, blooms and things.
This little bee was positively drunk as it rolled around the pollen in Rosa Rugosa......
they don't seem so keen on the white, but hoverflys love these.
The foxgloves just get better and better.
The lovely climber Solanum is just starting to make an appearance.
The Wisteria's fragrance is wafting all around the garden. I have a beautiful clematis and honeysuckle growing on these arches to. When the Wisteria finishes I shall have other blooms to look forward to.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Birds, blooms, and insects.
Tuesday and another look around the garden....Alliums are really doing well this year.
The Gunnera is literally growing before my eyes, some of the leaves are over a metre wide now.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Wonderful Wisteria.
This is my wisteria today.....full of blooms.....
Mr Practical made and put these arches up for me. The whips had been lying on the drive when we moved here, it was very much a neglected plant.
The frost hit this plant hard in early April and I lost all the buds.
The photo above shows you what they looked like, they just fell off the plant, and I thought it would not flower this year.
I spoke to an elderly man that I know in the village and told him what had happened. He told me to feed it seaweed and keep my fingers crossed. I did exactly that.....and now as I walk through the arch and look up to the sky, this is my view. There are lots more buds waiting to open, when it is in full flower I will upload a photograph. Isn't mother nature amazing.
Sunday, 18 May 2008
The Bees and Me.
Pollenation has been good.......
I give you wild flowers when there is not much else to be found.
This is not my garden, this is yours. I live in the house......I tend your space.........I share it with you because you choose to stay here. And when on warm sunny days I hear your gentle buzz amongst the flowers, I know it has all been worthwhile.
Celebrate the strength of greenness and its ability to transform us.
Friday, 16 May 2008
Small and beautiful.
Another stroll more blooms. This time the small flowers, the ones that hide, and are shy about showing themselves. Enjoy.
Toadflax, my all time favourite.
Cerinthe, wow that colour.
It is an Allium, I think, not sure which one.