My photos this week are mostly of the back garden. The raised beds are overflowing and there are lots of bees and hoverflies around. The star of the show this month has to be cosmos. They are really colourful and their bushy leaves fill in all the gaps. Grandma and Granddad gave us a few and I accidentally sowed a whole pack myself, so there’s no shortage of them!
The bees are pretty keen on them too.
Recently we’ve been finding little black bugs in the house and eventually worked out they are pollen beetles. Apparently they’re attracted to rapeseed; something we are surrounded by. We had trouble working out what they were so I thought I’d mention it on here. If you have little bugs in your flowers, especially cornflowers, it’s probably these.
This pale pink lavender is a variety called Miss Katherine. I picked it up from Hartley Park Farm last year and it makes a nice change to purple lavender (we have that too!). I’ve been gradually moving some of the potted plants, including this, to the raised beds to fill gaps where the veggies use to be.
I planted an echinacea in the front garden last year; it got demolished by slugs so we had no flowers. This year they’ve obviously found something else to munch on because it’s doing really well. The cones in the middle are pretty amazing up close.
The clematis has gone berserk. We’ve run out of fence height so I’m letting the tendrils drop down over the other side for now. When all the leaves have fallen off I’ll try and weave them into something sensible. Wish me luck.
We’ve added some new furniture to the garden this week, including this potting bench. It’s tucked into a nook of the garden that gets afternoon sun and looking at it makes me want to start sowing seeds again – does anyone have any suggestions for vegetables we can grow over the Winter?
I’ve noticed a few signs the ‘A word’ is on its way. I won’t say it because I know a lot of you really love the Summer and the thought will make you sad. Berries on the pyracantha are getting bigger ready for the season I won’t name and I know that as soon as they are all ripe, the birds will strip it in a matter of days. Luckily that’s what we bought it for.
Flower heads on the cowslip have dried and you can see a few seeds resting inside. Hopefully they will scatter and our two patches of this lovely yellow plant will grow.
Looking forward to a snoop around everyone else gardens today. What has been happening in yours?
what a beautiful garden you have Gemma. any garden with cosmos is a happy garden as far as i am concerned. and i too am happy amongst them right now in west virginia. great shots!
Thanks Claudia! I’ve never had so many cosmos in the garden, so much colour…
Such a beautiful garden and so much going on! I have those pesky little beetles too, I wondered what they were. They’re all over the sweet peas! Gorgeous photos and that potting bench is perfect! x
Thank you Charmaine. I keep finding more uses for the potting bench, it’s really handy. We don’t have any pollen beetles on the sweet peas but they are everywhere else!
‘I accidentally sowed a whole pack myself’
That’s like
‘I accidentally put all the cheese on my toast and dashed Worcestershire Sauce over it’
*heh heh heh* #cheezbomb
Seriously lovely garden to have there Gemma, I love the cosmos, so delicate to look at and yet surprisingly hardy to rain. I want a potting bench and I want one now! *stamps foot* Not that I ever sow anything…
Lovely garden and lovely Gemma *stokes your ickle nose*
Stopping now before this turns creepy….
(thanks for joining in again!)
I really did!! To the seeds, not the cheese on toast. Although I’m sure that’s happened too 🙂 The cosmos are very hardy – in the rain like you say and on hot days when I don’t have time to water. Great plant. I can imagine you making a nifty little upcycled potting bench.
It’s looking great Gemma and that shot with the bee is just fab. And those pollen beetles are odd, not heard or seen them before #hdygg
Thanks Stephanie 🙂 I like the way that bee has face-planted itself right into the middle…
you really have a beautiful garden
Thanks very much, it’s been a busy few months work to make it look good but its been worth it.
You have such a beautiful garden. The pollen beetles are attracted to yellow apparently as I have some on the courgette flowers. The echinacea made me swoon, I love love love the plant but have never been able to make it stay alive in my garden
I didn’t know that about the pollen beetles, thanks! I love echinacea too (can never spell it right first time though), especially all the different colours in the centre cones.
So much to love, Echinacea especially and the potting table. It all looks glorious! I think we have all the slugs, they have decimated the hosta. It is looking very sad.