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Birth Announcement Card
The fairly regular substantial showers of heavy rain that we are experiencing this week has really freshened the garden and perked up flagging flowers such as Japanese anemones which are somewhat stunted; solanums both blue and white like this one that cascades over a tall dead elm; various dahlias had been dried up and hanging […]
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A Bunch Of Roses
This largely overcast morning Jackie spent weeding and planting; my contribution was dead-heading and a little clearing up. After lunch I picked a bunch of roses. Later this afternoon I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2022/05/23/a-knights-tale-1-a-sneaky-weekend-2/ This was an attempt to tidy up the series. For the first 3 episodes of the tale I had incorporated sections like this […]
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Happy Planting
Jackie spent most of this pleasantly sunny day on general garden maintenance, including spraying about half of the Back Drive weeds with herbicide. My contribution was dead heading, hand weeding, and clearing debris, in one long and one short bursts. Here are some blooms of For Your Eyes Only, before and after dead heading. I […]
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After The Storm?
Yesterday’s winds had in fact reached gale proportions. This morning I joined Jackie in the garden and carried out a dead heading operation. Roses New Dawn, Alan Titchmarsh, Créme de la Créme, For Your Eyes Only, and Winchester Cathedral were among those that received my attention. Taking a break for lunch and cutting my hair, […]
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Hoverflies Can Stand The Heat
This afternoon seemed even too hot for bees. Jackie continued her garden maintenance work. My contribution included trimming the edges of the lawn, a modicum of dead heading, and acting as the Head Gardener’s bagman, to and fro the compost bins. We enjoyed, however, a host of hoverflies, seen here on For Your Eyes Only, […]
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Flies Are Now In Season
On another warm, humid, and largely overcast morning garden maintenance was continued. Jackie mostly concentrated on the Rose Garden, then produced her own gallery. It was the cricket on Absolutely Fabulous that sent her indoors for her camera. She also spotted a bee and a beetle on Rosa Gallica. Winchester Cathedral, For Your Eyes Only, […]
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For The Bees
Between stints in the garden today, which varied from overcast-gloom to sun-bright, I finished reading Chekhov’s engaging story entitled ‘Teacher of Literature” (1894). Essentially tracing the journey from childhood hardship to the consequences of unearned comfort the tale is told with human insight and with delightful bucolic descriptions. I will not reveal the changes in […]
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The Plant Pulley
Today was very hot and sunny. Until fatigue forced me inside I put in more work on the stones of the Weeping Birch Bed footpath. It is now possible once more to sit on the chair beneath the tree and look across to the Rose Garden. A raised stone sits in the foreground of this […]
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Precipitation Photoshoot
Beneath a constantly percolating cloud colander parky temperatures prevailed throughout the day. I stayed at the computer while the Assistant Photographer produced the precipitation photoshoot. Click on any image to access the gallery where each picture bears it own title. This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy mango and lime piri-piri chicken served with chilli-potent […]
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Sweated Labour
On another sweltering, humid day we made short trips into the garden largely for the purposes of watering, mainly plants in hanging baskets. Speaking for myself, I needed to wait until I had stopped soaking my T-shirt and recovered from my efforts before I was almost fit enough to wander around to admire our work […]