Sometimes real life gets in the way

A field of camassias at Wisley

It has been a funny few weeks recently; busy at times with not much to do at others but not being able to really concentrate on much. Importantly I have not really had either the time or the inclination to  garden or blog. I have certainly missed the first, I just have to look out of the window to see the results, & it just may be possible dear reader that you have missed the latter in some small measure, if only to see how tediously boring I can get.

So, real life…… I am of an age when you just about manage to sort out your children, or at least not have them hanging about the house needing you to spend money on them quite all the time, but you then find you have aging parents to sort out instead. In my case this has resulted in recently moving my 90 year old mother from her own home in rural Norfolk to a care home in bustling SW London. One of the points of the whole exercise has been to move her closer to me but suddenly I realised the weight of responsibility, particularly when I ended up going to St Geoge’s Hospital A&E department at 4 am last week (nothing too serious).

The view from her window has changed from this…..

 

 

 

…… to this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a period of some small ups & lots of huge downs! I don’t usually ‘do’ the personal but somehow felt it would be cathartic for me to get this out! I hope you don’t mind dear reader, that is if you have managed to get this far!

For your delight & delectation

I have lots of stuff going on at the moment & although I have various rubbish things I might or might not blog about I just haven’t the time or more likely the concentration. Just so as you know I have not forgotten you dear reader, I thought you could see some of my pictures from a few days in Southwold taking in Dunwich & Minsmere.

 

  OK, that will do.

The bastards!

I would like to add that a number of 'creatures' were harmed in the making of this blog entry!

So, I had my gold scissors but where was the ribbon……

 

This was, of course, for the Grand Opening of Rob’s shoppiwop, The Garden Sage.

Now there have been rumours that this particular shoppiwop was for the sale of curtains & other types of window dressing, but I can assure everyone there was neither curtain nor blind in sight, & as for chintz roses, the man has much more taste than that!

So, let me go back a little. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.

In fairly recent times I got to know a fellow blogger called Rob. I do a mean that I did met him in the old fashioned way rather than in the virtual world where many people lurk. And I should clarify the use of the word blogger in describing myself as calling myself one at that time was more than a bit of an exaggeration.

(ooops, sorry about that duck’s head!)

It happened like this…. I was perusing the blog of my good friend, Arabella Sock, something of a minor celebrity in blog world for her carefully crafted & insightful  bloggywog, The Sea of Immeasurable Gravy (beware it contains pictures of kittens). I was doing a bit of stalking of those who made comments, as you do, & came across Rob & his blog. ‘Hang about’ I thought, ‘I think I know where this person works’ which was in a garden shop very close by.

So, I pop into this shop, casually buy a few plants whilst checking out the man working there before confronting him with the words ‘Are you called Rob & do you write a blog?’ It was the very same so we had a bit of a chat. I really should have been more suspicious when he became very animated after I explained I was a friend of Arabella Sock.  When he asked if I was a blogger, for some ridiculous reason I said yes when all I had been doing was fiddling around just to see if I could.

Rob told me of his plans for his own shop & so I eventually found myself on a very lovely sunny Saturday afternoon in Raynes Park all geared up to make a speech & cut the ribbon…….

There was food, there was drink & of course many beautiful plants but no ribbon. And I had made him his very own celebration cakes too.

And at last, here he is, hiding behind the orchids……..

Well done Rob The supposed great & good who spurned your invites have missed out on South West  London’s premier event!

(I still think Little Shop of Hostas would have been a better name, don’t you?)

A Case of Simple Yet Effective

Bless me for I have sinned. It is some time since my last blog & why is that? It was almost done & dusted. I was going wow you nature lovers with a chat about the joys of parent-hood in an urban setting. You see the robins had started building a nest at the back of the garden. This then led onto lengthy reminiscences about my trials & tribulations last year with the blackbird family which had me in a state of high anxiety for some weeks. I had the stories, I had the pictures, then the bloody robins decided upon some better bit of real estate, they had called in Kirsty & Phil & moved elsewhere.

What to write about now?

It came to me whilst wandering round Wisley on Sunday morning admiring some of the flowers. The camellias were beginning to get into their stride; lots of big blowsy blooms which I duly admired. I was then reminded that, on the whole, I love single flowers much more. This camellia flower says it all.

The double kerria japonica is widely grown, but look how more effective the single flowered version is.

 

 

 

 

 

I love the many & varied flowers of roses of all stages of blowsiness but at the end of the day am a real ‘sucker’ (there is a vague joke there by the way) for the single flower. I have a lovely deep red ‘Dortmund’ in my front garden which I love. Indeed there are many examples of different plants I could talk about, but best not.

Needless to say there are some doubles which quite frankly should not exist!

Narcissus ‘Rip van Winkle’

Oh, OK then, here is one picture of one of the (now deceased) baby blackbirds from last year.

‘Runty’