A new plant in the new garden is this Buddleja Black Knight. I’m hoping that it will draw Butterflies in from miles around. It has a musty earthy smell to it and beautiful dark purple flowers on the flower spike.

One of the Dahlias is almost ready to open. It is a two tone mix of orange/yellow. I wanted it to match the Orange and Yellow Roses. I always love the pomp and circumstance of the Dahlias, Aztec treasure flowers.

The last photo before the holiday is the lilac Larkspur. Cats Dad gave me a tray full of seedlings. They are flowering beautifully all around the garden in lilac, purple, blue, white, and mixed flowers. They have a nectar spur that is behind the flower, very much like a Columbine..
The birds are visiting the garden every day. The buzzing insects are now swarming around the flowers and today I even saw a Grasshopper on the corner of our uncut grass! A few Butterflies have flown through as well.
I am recharging the camera batteries for the holiday. We are going away for a week on a tent holiday, with no electricity point, so no laptop for a week.
Snappys gardens blog is on a summer break..

This is Streptocarpus Hannah. I acquired the plant from the plant stall at Walton. She has light pink flowers with a yellow and red striped throat.
I bought a famous Streptocarpus plant back from Tatton park last wednesday. It was the Streptocarpus Blue Harlequin, winner of best new plant 2010 at the recent RHS Chelsea flower show. It has blue and white colours on the same flower. Blue on top, white underneath..
We are going away on Friday for a week so there will be a few more posts before Snappys summer holiday. We are going to the Forest Of Dean camping and activity doing…

They loved these alkaloid filled plants. I think they would be toxic to humans and horses if eaten to excess..

A lone Ladybird wandering around on the plot. These are such happy insects.I love finding them in the allotment or in the garden. They are aphid eating machines.

The Cabbages are nearly ready to be harvested. All the blood, sweat, bites and stings seem worth it once it has been washed, prepared, and cooked. The satisfaction of eating your own grown fruit or veg is amazing!I am almost evangelical..just try it and see.

The finished plates with artfully arranged New Potatoes, Pea’s, Globe Artichoke, and three types of Courgette from Hils (normal, yellow, and round).
We ate the New Potatoes with some Chicken on Tuesday. They tasted lovely. I need to go back to harvest the rest of the Charlotte New Potatoes.
The RHS Tatton Park Show yesterday was amazing. I took over three hundred photos. Tomorrows post will be about this years show. It runs untill Sunday if you are near Cheshire.
There was so much there to see. It is one of the highlights of the year for me..

It has the look of a Tea Rose when its buds start to unfurl its yellow petals. I think last year it only had one Rose on it. This year it has a half dozen rose buds. The leaves are also a nice green colour with no black spot or yellowing leaves.
I have been looking at the garden birds today. A family of Goldfinches are now regular visitors to the nijer seed and have also been feeding on the ground. The Blue Tits have also found my new peanut feeder. The round cage seems to attract them, more than the yellow sunflower shaped one which had no where for the birds to land on.
The Great Yorkshire Show starts today. We will be travelling tomorrow to Harrogate to the Yorkshire Showground. I will charge my camera batteries later.
There is a flower tent at this years show. I will take lots of animal photos. I hope it does not rain too much.

I made the Baskets just after we moved into this house. There are Verbaenas, Lobellias, Busy Lizzies, Begonias, Petunias, and a pink Geranium in the four hanging containers. I have three hanging baskets around the garden, and one window box on the back wall.

The Lobelias look quite pretty at Macro level after a spot of rain. There is something very therapeutic in making up a hanging basket. Watering them in, and watching them grow throughout the season into a mass of colour and effect.

If you are organised you will have bought slow release plant food for the compost mix, and some water gel crystals. These crystals turn into a clear jelly once wet and hold onto the water. Untreated baskets (like mine) dry out very quickly in the summer heat. Water also passes through the soil and runs out. Baskets need watering twice a day during very hot spells. the plants are totally dependent on you for survival. I love the cheerful pink and blue flowers that the baskets are festooned in.
I’m waiting for a sample Wally Bag from L.A. These are recycled plastic bottles turned into containers that can be filled with compost ready to plant. They can be attached to a wall inside the house, or along a wall or fence outside. There is a push to get these Wall Gardens into Los Angeles schools to teach children about gardening and growing things.
The individual pouncehs can be attached together vertically or horizontally and the pockets planted up. Linking them all make bigger wall gardens. We have two lots of fences that could be decorated with more hanging baskets or wall garden bags. Our garden is small so the space needs to be utilised well. I wander if the Hanging Gardens of Babylon looked like a Los Angeles School Wall Garden?
The rain is pouring down now soaking the grass and all the hungry plants. The pond will also be catching its supply of fresh rainwater.
I have also seen who’s been nicking off with my garden grown Raspberries.A hungry juvenile Blackbird flew up onto the cane, pecked the fruit off, and then flew away to eat his fruit prize..

I made the Baskets just after we moved into this house. There are Verbaenas, Lobellias, Busy Lizzies, Begonias, Petunias, and a pink Geranium in the four hanging containers. I have three hanging baskets around the garden, and one window box on the back wall.

The Lobelias look quite pretty at Macro level after a spot of rain. There is something very therapeutic in making up a hanging basket. Watering them in, and watching them grow throughout the season into a mass of colour and effect.

If you are organised you will have bought slow release plant food for the compost mix, and some water gel crystals. These crystals turn into a clear jelly once wet and hold onto the water. Untreated baskets (like mine) dry out very quickly in the summer heat. Water also passes through the soil and runs out. Baskets need watering twice a day during very hot spells. the plants are totally dependent on you for survival. I love the cheerful pink and blue flowers that the baskets are festooned in.
I’m waiting for a sample Wally Bag from L.A. These are recycled plastic bottles turned into containers that can be filled with compost ready to plant. They can be attached to a wall inside the house, or along a wall or fence outside. There is a push to get these Wall Gardens into Los Angeles schools to teach children about gardening and growing things.
The individual pouncehs can be attached together vertically or horizontally and the pockets planted up. Linking them all make bigger wall gardens. We have two lots of fences that could be decorated with more hanging baskets or wall garden bags. Our garden is small so the space needs to be utilised well. I wander if the Hanging Gardens of Babylon looked like a Los Angeles School Wall Garden?
The rain is pouring down now soaking the grass and all the hungry plants. The pond will also be catching its supply of fresh rainwater.
I have also seen who’s been nicking off with my garden grown Raspberries.A hungry juvenile Blackbird flew up onto the cane, pecked the fruit off, and then flew away to eat his fruit prize..

Cats Hosta’s are magnificent in pots. They have all started to flower. Some people do not like the Hosta’s flowers. We have a new batch of half dozen plants ready to be put into barrel planters to join the five mature Hosta’s we have growing already. We also bought some copper tape to see if it stopped the slugs and snails from wreaking havoc on the green leaves. There are so many varietys of Hostas all with fancy names. The leaves are beautiful when you water them. The waxy leaves cause the water to form a ball, and it rolls around the Hosta leaf like a pin ball. It hits where the stem is and slides down into the centre of the plant. Watering Hostas is therapeutic for the pin ball way it collects water off its leaves..

The Busy Lizzies skirt my garden nymph statue. She is dwarfed by the foliage of the New Potatoes growing in bags. These are so easy to grow. You only need one grow bag, about five small seed Potatoes and some compost to fill the bag with. The soil just covers the foliage until it breaks through the top. Each grow bag averages about five pounds of new Potatoes. Yummy with butter and parsley. It is so easy I have been extolling the virtues of it to people at work. It is a simple grow your own project anyone can do even with the smallest space!

The Pond today is slowly being surrounded by the growing plants. We have three Frogs that take it in turns to bath in the cool waters. There are lots of flies walking about on top, and black larvae hanging under the water surface beneath. According to the forums we should just let the pond achieve a natural balance of pests and predators. We attracted the Frogs within a few days of putting the oxygenating plants. I love pond watching and seeing what wildlife has moved in already. I want more marginal plants around it to keep it cool during the very hot days. The birds already love this. Its like a House Sparrow car wash with them splashing around on the stone steps.

I love these Baby Apples. These are the first fruit that has formed after three years of growing. The picture of the Apple tree could have been done in a trade description act. It showed a mature tree laden down with masses of fruit. The first year I had one flower which the slugs ate, and the second year there was no flowers at all!
This third year there were masses of flowers and finally some Apples have formed. The Apple Tree is growing in a pot at the moment. I think I will plant it once it has gone back to sleep in the Winter. I want to get more Apple trees for this garden. I want to grow Bramley Apples, especially for freshly baked home made Apple Pies.