Wednesday 25 May 2016

Gurt lush!

We returned home from the airport a week ago in the very early hours of the morning. We'd been away for ten days and during our absence the English countryside had blossomed in spectacular fashion.The car headlights lit roadside verges awash with cow parsley and overhanging hedgerows were a white-out of may blossom. Everywhere was lush and green. It looked like a Helen Allingham watercolour.

Helen Allingham 'The Cottage Gate.'
1884-1926
On holiday in Crete we had been told that their winter weather had been warm and dry, there were none of the beautiful wild flowers that we usually see in Greece at this time of year, the landscape looked barren.
But what a difference ten days away from home can make - I've been on catch-up in the garden ever since!


Holiday washing on the line.

The perennial borders jam packed
and starting to colour up.


After many months of rain there is more moss than grass on the lawn. We've put down lawn sand. Once the moss blackens we'll start the great rake-up!
The pond is pretty messy and I've had a bit of a go at cleaning it out. But there are lots of newts in there and they seem happy enough so I'm loathe to purchase any chemical cleaner.
It's good to get away but it's great to be back home, especially in May when everything is bursting into life!

10 comments:

  1. Great to come home to such a beautiful garden.
    Merle............

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    1. I always love coming in through the gate and seeing what has changed in my absence. I walk round the garden even if it's too dark to see much!

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  2. Beautiful tree peonies!
    Best wishes
    Ellie

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    1. I used to buy Japanese tree peonies as birthday presents for my father and I dug up the two above from his garden when we sold the family house. Lovely blooms and precious memories.

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  3. Paintings--Each could be a painting. What is What, I have no idea, but the whole is magnificent.

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    1. Once the labels drop off I'm a bit vague as to what is what and who is who myself!

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  4. Love your pond as it looks as it was made there by Mother Nature herself. Ten days in Greece? Now that is a vacation.

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    1. Mother nature has certainly taken it over, Donna!
      Ten days of idleness and over-eating was just what the doctor ordered! Take a look at our holiday over on my 'Miss Cellany' site.

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  5. A 10 day vacation sounds like heaven! If you add some barley straw to your pond, it will clear the algae up organically and you'll have a crystal clear pond. That will keep you and the newts happy. Love those peonies!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the advice - barley straw it will have!

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