This Way to the Garden: poppy

Showing posts with label poppy. Show all posts

Thursday, 29 June 2017

Midsummer Garden

June and Midsummer's Day has passed and now we've reached July. I always think that June and July are spectacular months in the garden - a culmination of all that you wait for during those dark months of winter.

There are so many plants blooming and flowering that it's difficult to be able to give each one the appreciation they deserve, but here are few of my favourities from the garden this June.

Delphiniums and foxgloves amongst the wallflowers

Pots of wallflowers, cotton lavenders and begonias

Shades of poppies amongst verbena, daisies and irises

Lupin time

Perlargoniums and begonia pots

A summer favourite - sweet peas

Nothing like picking your own raspberries

The sweet smell of a summer honeysuckle

Campions and lavenders

Salvias in different varieties

Summer isn't complete without the heady scent of roses

Hebe foaming on the rockery

Bees and bright cotton lavenders

Monday, 26 June 2017

The Walled Garden At Holkham

We visited the 'Walled Garden' at Holkam during a recent holiday in north Norfolk. We've been before on several occasions and each time we visit, the garden has been developed even more. The garden is an ongoing restoration project, named the 'Beyond The Walls Restoration Project'. The aim is to restore the beautiful garden for future generations to enjoy.

It truly is a hidden gem and just as the guide book describes it - 'step through the ornate Victorian gates to enjoy the tranquil atmosphere, stunning array of flowers, seasonal fruit and vegetables and beautiful colours and scent.'

June was a fabulous time to visit with a stunning wildflower display on our way to the garden and many of the flowering plants in bloom. Catmints, roses, geraniums, rock roses, sweet williams, cornflowers and delphiniums being just a few. I think the rose garden was the star of the show on this visit, out in first and full bloom it made a stunning display of all rose varieties. Having said that the sweet peas were rather beautiful too and then the old greenhouse areas - packed full of sweet williams, cornflowers, delphiniums... mmm... very difficult to choose a favourite.

Take a look at the pictures and choose for yourself...

Friday, 1 July 2016

The Poppy Fields

The fields around our beautiful Hertfordshire countryside have been very beautiful and colourful over the last few months. Firstly it was the bright yellows of the rapeseed then as it faded back, the poppies started flowering.

The poppies have been particulary stunning this year and have been in flower for nearly a month or so now. It's poignant that they should be so beautiful this year, as it's this year that we commemorate a hundred years since the Battle of the Somme. The battle was one of the bloodiest of the first world war, with over a million killed or wounded and a total of 19,240 British troops dying.

My grandad fought in this war and this battle on the Western front and all through it he wore a small silver cross with a soldier's doxology engraved on it. Luckily, he managed somehow to survive the battle, but died in his early sixties due to gas poisoning damage on his lungs from the gas that was used by the German forces to assault our troops. My dad gave me his silver cross when I was waiting for my transplant call and once more that tiny silver cross and prayer served as a good luck talisman for our family and I survived an incurable disease, receiving a heart and double lung transplant and a gift of new life. I treasure this little silver cross and prayer now and keep it safe and sound, alongside my new chance at life.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful poppies flowering nearby at this most significant time for our country.

The Battle of the Somme started on the 1st July 1916 and ended on 18th November 1916. Let us never forget the freedom our soldiers fought for.

Monday, 20 June 2016

June Garden

Time for a quick catch up as I've been busy coming and going with hospital, travelling and other things and while all that's been happening the garden has suddenly burst into full bloom and is brimming with so much colour. So many plants have come to life again, I can't keep up with them all at the moment.

We spent a sunny weekend updating all the pots and baskets with summer plants and general tidying and then simply enjoyed it all with a long awaited barbeque. The borders seem to have sprung into growth over the last week or two, full of poppies, geums, wallflowers, salvia, lupins and foxgloves. The roses have started to bloom and the pond is looking colourful - full of tall yellow irises at the moment.

It's one of the prettiest months in the garden and a time to enjoy it to the full now we've reached summer and the longer days. It's such a pleasure and so uplifting to be outside and a time to relax, slow down and enjoy it all.