garden

I had to take this photo, the last of the windfalls on the garden table. As the temperature plummets I hope the birds take advantage of these apples.

Today in my wasp catcher there was a big old hornet. I like the abstract quality of the photograph below, imperfections in the glass make the hornet distorted.

It may look like this post is an excuse to show pretty pictures of plants, but I will give it some validity by saying I grew most of them from seed and I'm chuffed with the outcome. One of my favourite plants is a climber called Cobaea Cathedral Bells. This has the most beautiful, large, bell-shaped flowers that turn from bright green to a deep rich purple colour and look spectacular. I have been really pleased with the variety of tomato I planted, small and compact, easy to grow in a hanging basket, just groaning with fruit.

One of my favourite flowers, Snake's Head Fritillary, is out in the garden at the moment. I love their painterly chequer board petals. I have always liked the water colour painting, of the flower, by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, it's beautiful. Last year we were plagued by the scarlet lily beetle, it decimated them. I think the winter snow, we had, may have killed off the lily beetle, as they are originally from warmer climes.

Susie and David held a get together for friends on Bank Holiday Monday. The food was lovely and we christened their new garden feature, the pergola. I took along a pinata I had made, wanting to test the design out. Luckily the scarf used covers the participants faces!

This dragonfly stayed long enough in the garden for me to go and get my camera. I did my research to find out that it is a female Southern Hawker dragonfly. It measuring about 70mm in length and it's an inquisitive species that will approach people. The structure of the wings was so delicate and transparent, it was fascinating to watch her.

It's our landmark on Google Earth, the big white oblong. Today we kept faith with the map and put it up. 

Sunday was such a beautiful day, Ashley and I spent the afternoon sitting in a friends garden, he said it had the feeling of a secret garden because it felt secluded, even though it's in a busy part of town. I will let the pictures do the talking. On Wednesday Angie, my friend, and I are going to the Gardener's World Live exhibition at the NEC Birmingham, the tickets are part of the prize for the photograph of the caterpillars.