Wednesday 15 June 2011

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day – June


There’s quite a bit going on in the garden at the moment, although we are perhaps falling behind… I think it’s due to the dry weather, many of the plants just aren’t growing. We’ve hit a wall where the seedlings have sort of stopped…

I won’t be saying much in this bloom day as I have a cold and am struggling to think with much clarity, so it’s going to have to be simple images plonked on a page (perhaps that's for the best to be honest).

Please visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to take part in this meme.





A vase I put together from lovely Roses from the garden








First Raspberry













Copyright 2011 Liz.
All rights reserved. Content created by Liz for Gwirrel’s Garden.

29 comments:

Christine @ the Gardening Blog said...

A really gorgeous Bloom Day show!

Larry said...

Very lovely post... I've tried the primula vialli a couple times from seed, to no avail... such an interesting color combo on the bloom... L

Thordis said...

Absolutely love your blog! What a gorgeous selection of flowers...very after my own heart! And your photos are just lovely. I was wondering which camera you use?

Oh, also very jealous of some of the wildlife in your garden...Bullfinches?! Willow warblers!! How wonderful! Puts my fairly usual mix to shame! Anyway hope the cold gets better! With thanks (and more than a dose of admiration!) Thordis in Norfolk

Thordis said...

Absolutely love your blog! What a gorgeous selection of flowers...very after my own heart! And your photos are just lovely. I was wondering which camera you use?

Oh, also very jealous of some of the wildlife in your garden...Bullfinches?! Willow warblers!! How wonderful! Puts my fairly usual mix to shame! Anyway hope the cold gets better!

Liz said...

Hi Christine,

Thank you very much, for once I'm actually really pleased with how the garden in general is looking. Normally there are weak points that I zone in on, but this year there seems to be a lot happening and it's looking very mature.

Liz said...

Hi Larry,

The Vialii was bought a good few years ago and I now have three separate plants where I've accidentally ripped off a section and they've then survived. So you are probably best advised to buy a plant, wait until you see smaller ones growing around its base and then split it into more.
They don't tend to grow very quickly though but do readily divide.

Liz said...

Hi Thordis,

I use a Canon 60D with a couple of macro lenses, sometimes I also use longer-zoom lenses but usually I stick to the macros.

I am very lucky to have the species of birds visiting and actually it is a factor which is putting me off moving! The Bullfinches are regular visitors at the moment and I am certain we have a number of pairs visiting; especially as I saw two males arguing over the feeders. They're here every 30 minutes so must be nesting nearby.
The Warblers don't tend to stick around long but I do get the odd glimpse and a couple of weeks ago regularly heard Chiffchaffs in and around my garden and my neighbours'.
And to think I'm so close to the city centre; you'd never know it!

Cheryl said...

Hi Liz,
Sorry to hear you feel so unwell.
Poor you. Stay warm, and take care of yourself....sounds as though you are suffering.

Beautiful images of your blooms.
Foxgloves are so lovely.....mine have just finished flowering, so I cut the seedheads off today. Hopefully I might have a second flush.

Salvia never do well here. I have to treat them as annuals.

Primula Vialli is a new addition to my garden. How long do they bloom??

I love your vase of white roses.........perfect.

The Sage Butterfly said...

Your photos are top of the heap! Very nice! And your blooms are beautiful! Happy GBBD!

greggo said...

Nice foxys. Mine are about over.

scottweberpdx said...

Sorry you are feeling crummy...I'm just getting over a cold myself...at least your garden is looking amazing! Feel better soon!

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

So many pretty flowers today! I love the Persian Cornflower with the white rose, it looks like 'Iceberg'.
I hope you feel better soon.

Donna said...

Liz your images need no words...they speak volumes and make me want for more...please continue to plunk them down for those of us who adore the eye candy...hope you feel better soon...

Paul From Alabama said...

I like the way you photograph your flowers, you get the important things.......Thanks for inviting me into your garden.

Houston Garden Girl said...

Love your photos, they are so artistic looking.

ShySongbird said...

Lovely photos again Liz! I love Foxgloves, so pretty.

I see you have that pesky Harlequin Ladybird in the garden. I haven't seen any in our area yet which is probably a good thing ;)

Yum! I can see Raspberries and cream on the menu there soon :)

Reading your reply to Thordis, I am wondering when we are going to see some Bullfinch photos? You are so lucky to have them as regulars!

Hope that cold clears up soon, it's the hay fever problem here.

Janet/Plantaliscious said...

Who needs words with such beautiful pictures? Hope your cold is much better now. My foxgloves are confusing me this year - the white ones out the front have been blooming for weeks, the ones out the back are still barely showing flower spikes, let alone blooms!

Liz said...

Hi Cheryl,

Thankfully it was quite a short cold and really now it's just a case of getting rid of the blocked nose, that's also causing me to be deaf in my right ear.

My Foxgloves are coming to their end too, and I'm sad to see I don't have any of the whites/creams that I had last year, so I've sown some more excelsior mix and will make sure I deadhead these before they set seed and hopefully I'll have a wider variety of colours next year. I'd love to have a sea of them along the back of the garden... Mmmm lush! :)

My Primula's have been blooming for a couple of weeks now, I think they started in mid/late may and are almost finishing. In previous years I've cut the blooms off and had a second flush but it hasn't worked for the past couple of years??

Liz said...

Hi Sage Butterfly,

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed my photos :)

Liz said...

Hi Greggo,

Thanks, mine are almost finished too. I do have some perennial Foxgloves beginning to bloom now though, but they're all somewhat swamped so I'll have to move them in future.

Liz said...

Hi Scott,

Thanks, the cold is almost gone now - just a blocked nose and deaf ear and still easily tired out.
This year I'm actually quite pleased with a lot of the garden; it's the first year I'm really happy with it in general (just need to get rid of all the rubble left over from some work in March first!)... But as always there's still work to do, even if I do make it for myself ;)

Liz said...

Hi Catherine,

Thank you very much :)
I thought the white rose was 'iceberg' too! But I wasn't sure... It is a shrubby type rose, but not as dense as I see Iceberg normally gets. I've tried pruning it in a variety of ways and it doesn't seem to like any of then, so this year I plan purely to dead-head it and let it do its own thing.

Liz said...

Hi Donna,

Lol, I'm not one for words really... I just don't have the skill that others have to make things interesting :)

Liz said...

Hi Paul,

Thanks, perhaps its time I showed more distant images... But I find they rarely ever show just how much is going on...The blooms often seem to get lost in all the foliage and the images look far more boring that the real life thing. Perhaps it's something I ought to experiment more with.

Liz said...

Hi HGG,

Thank you very much, I'm thrilled you enjoyed my photos :)

Liz said...

Hi Jan,

I do have Harlequins yes, but I didn't think that was one of them... I thought they had an 'M' on the back behind the head in front of the coloured shell?
I don't think I've taken any Bullfinch shots for a while, I might've perhaps got a mediocre shot, but I don't tend to use my telephoto lens anymore to take shots of the birds... I do hope I get to see babies soon though :)

Thankfully I don't get bad Hayfever at this time of year, and it isn't usually too bad; unlike my poor mum who really suffers.

Liz said...

Hi Janet,

Yep my cold is better now thanks, although I had to pop out today and quickly realised how easily I become tired. So I'll take it easy for a while longer and may have to postpone cooking a sunday lunch for my dad.
My Foxgloves are dwarfs compared to recent years and my white perennial Foxies are also very small and quite a disappointment; they're only now coming into bloom. I think it's just been too dry for them.

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden said...

I really like your photography. The images aren't flashy, just simple and delightful. The flowers are all beautiful and make for a terrific bloom day post.

Laura Bloomsbury said...

Superb shots, lovely blooms but the Primula viallii (?) is a wow. The way you've captured it with it's close neighbour out of focus, makes it look fuller and almost fluffy.
Laura
p.s. just started my cold - came out of the blue