Here are some blooms from my back garden today:


Hydrangea


Pot Marigold


Poppy

Today I have planted out in the front garden some of the plants that I have grown from seed. They were getting a little big for their pots so I thought I'd chance planting them out. I planted out Silene, Achillea, Rudbeckia and Solenopsis. I know some of them won't flower until next year (that's if they live that long) but I couldn't just leave them in the pots.

I kept a few of the perennials back for when I remove the raised bed in the back garden later in the year, so hopefully they'll be OK in their pots until then.

Yesterday I went to a nearby nature reserve to see what I could see:



I wrote about it here and also posted a video of the swans and cygnets, if you're interested.

Talk to you later,

Susan.

I grew these from seed. Most of them are white but a few of them are pink. I think I prefer the pink ones.

I'm going to let them seed after they've finished flowering, as I am with most of the annuals I planted this year. It will be interesting to see what ends up where.

Talk to you later,

Susan.

Most of the sweet peas that I sowed didn't survive but this one did:


There are a couple more that are yet to flower, I hope they will be as pretty as this one.


There has been a song thrush visiting my garden for the last few weeks but it moves so fast that it's nearly impossible to take a photo of it. Today I looked out of the window and saw it sitting on the fence. I had to go into the other room for my camera and was sure that it wouldn't be still on the fence when I got back but it was and I managed to get one decent shot of it:


I took about half a dozen photos before it flew away but each time the camera kept trying to focus on next door's washing lines or the shed which you can see in the background.

I bought some nyjer seeds to put in one of the birdfeeders so I'm waiting to see if they attract any different birds to my garden. I get lots of sparrows, starlings and blackbirds as well as collared doves and pigeons. There are also the occasional bluetit, coaltit and robin but I'd really like to see some greenfinches. I'll have to wait and see what happens.

Talk to you later,

Susan.

I've been having a think about the raised bed in my back garden and I've decided to get rid of it and just have the flower bed at ground level.

The trouble is that now I'm itching to get it done but I can't because there are still lots of plants in there that haven't flowered yet so I will have to wait until the Autumn.

I've got it pictured in my mind how I want to do it, I really should put it down on paper because by the time Autumn comes I will have forgotton what my plans were.

Next year my back garden will look fantastic, I'm sure of it (I say that every year).

Talk to you later,

Susan

Today's bloom is another annual poppy:



It looks almost the same as the last one I showed you apart from the frilly petals inside. I'm waiting to see what the rest of the annual poppies are going to look like - they are all about to bloom.

Here are the latest seeds from the Amateur Gardening magazine:


Agastache Anisata and Forget Me Not
According to the packets these can be sown in September and planted out next Spring. I already have Forget Me Nots in my garden but I think I'll still plant these seeds as they're probably a different variety to the ones I already have.

I bought some Agastache seeds earlier in the year so hopefully next summer they will attract lots of bees and butterflies.

Yesterday I sat out on the decking watching all the birds coming and going and I couldn't resist taking a photo of this little Spuggie (Sparrow):


Doesn't he look cute?

Talk to you later,

Susan.

This is the first of my annual poppies to flower:



It looks the same as the one in the time lapse video in my last post so it has either seeded itself from last year or I had some seeds left over from last year's packet which I sowed this year. I really can't remember.

There are a few more poppies that are about to flower, I was hoping there would be some different colours but from what I can see of them they look as if they're all the same as this one. I'll find out for certain over the next few days. If any turn out to be different I'll post the photos here.

Talk to you later,

Susan.

There's nothing new blooming in my garden which is why I haven't posted much recently.

There are lots of buds though, so it shouldn't be too long before there are lots new flowers out there.

Once they flower I might be able to identify them from the pictures on the seed packets. I did label them when I sowed the seeds but I had a minor disaster when the mini greenhouse blew over and all the labels fell out! Never mind, at least I managed to save most of the seedlings.

I planted out the Nicotianas but unfortunately the slugs got them. They also got two of the tree lilies but they didn't manage to find the third one and it's coming along great. I can't wait to see it bloom.

Anyway, in the absence of any new photos I thought I'd show you a video that I made last July. It was my first attempt at a time lapse video but I thought it came out OK. It was filmed through the window which didn't help and also it was a bit breezy that day so it looks as if the camera was shaking even though it wasn't.

The Poppy was filmed over four hours and I sped it up so that it lasts about half a minute:



I plan on having another go at this but next time I'd like to set the camera up outside so that I get a better picture quality. The problem is that I live in England - dare I leave a £400 camera outside knowing what our weather can be like? I think I should wait for a day when the weather men say there is no possibility of rain - but do I trust the weather men?

Talk to you later,

Susan.

I haven't done any gardening today, I just couldn't be bothered.

I did go round the back garden and take a few shots of my sorry looking plants. Most of them are what was left over from when I planted up my hanging baskets. I just dotted them about in the back garden and left them

They look a bit scruffy because of all the birds that have been trampling on them in their quest to get at the bird food - I like to feed the birds.

The leaves on the Busy Lizzies look as if they've been nibbled by something.

The Gypsophilas were grown from seed but the flowers have been knocked downwards by something, either the birds or the recent rain.

Anyway, here are my sorry looking plants:


Busy Lizzie


French Marigold


Lobelia


Petunia


Gypsophila


The Honeysuckle is just starting to flower:



So that's what's happening in my back garden today.

I'll keep you posted on any new blooms, there'll be some Poppies soon - they're about to flower.

Talk to you later,

Susan.

I used to work at a petrol station and the boundary was planted with various shrubs. I took some cuttings from one of them and was quite surprised when I actually got two of them to root.

I planted them in a couple of tubs and they grew, not very big but they did grow.

Eight years ago I moved to my present house and planted them in the front garden. The shrubs have thrived. The branches from each have met up with each other and I now have a hedge!

I had to purne it back today as the branches were protruding through the railings and encroaching into the street. I didn't want to be sued by some irate parent whose child had been poked in the eye by an errant branch so I went out with the secateurs and cut it back.

As I was chopping up the prunings and putting them into the compost bin it occurred to me that I hadn't taken any photos of the flowers so I found one that hadn't yet been chopped up - this is today's bloom:



I have no idea what it's called but it has lots of flowers on it which are attracting the bees.

I may try rooting a few more cuttings from it so I can have it in the back garden as well, I could do with something to hide the fence.

Talk to you later,

Susan.

It's Bloomin' Tuesday but all I can show you are things that are nearly blooming.


Astilbe


Honeysuckle


Hydrangea


Lavender


Poppy

Finally, the only new thing that is in bloom today is one that I don't know the name of:



It planted itself in my garden as a seed a few years ago and I just left it to grow. I moved it to a better position and it gets bigger each year. I don't know if it's supposed to be a bush or a tree but I've been pruning the bottom branches off each year so it now looks like a little tree. At least the birds seem to enjoy sitting in it.

Talk to you later,

Susan.