The West View from the Terrace

The main difference in the view this week is the distant view outside the garden. The hay has been cut and wound into huge rolls; the uncut grass is now golden yellow – the colour of the countryside in summer.

Inside the garden Stipa tenuissima is also showing its golden locks.

The Slope on Thursday 29th May – Stipa in the Wind

Again a changeable week weather-wise. A couple of day with cloud and a few spots of rain and the rest hot! The images today sparkle with the sun.

Death in the Rose Garden

No, not the title of a new novel, but an everyday occurrence in My Hesperides Garden.

So much going on!

There is so much going on in the garden this month that it is hard to include everything I would like to share. Especially as I don’t want to just show individual blooms, however lovely they may be, you can find those everywhere on the net from the RHS site to the web pages of growers who are selling the plants.

In a Vase on Monday

Welcome to my contribution to ‘In a vase on Monday’ hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden where we pick flowers from our own gardens.

The Spring Walk and Back Border – the story continues

Well I was wrong again! At least half of the Spring Walk continues to give satisfaction.

From the Terrace Looking West – an introduction

I’m glad several of you voted for the view from the terrace as the view for me to show on Fridays during summer. When I looked back through all my photographs to show how it began and progressed to this point I found very few images. Now why is that? Maybe because it is the view I see from the sitting room window or because it is here that we usually sit for an aperitivo so I am so familiar with the view that I never photograph it. Or is it because it isn’t as pleasing as it could be; there are images of the setting sun; this is one of the best places to enjoy the amazing colours that fill the sky.

Foliage in May and The Slope on Thursday 22nd May

Welcome to GBFD, when I encourage you think about the effect foliage has on the overall design of your garden. You are welcome to write about any foliage, it doesn’t have to be a plant you have only for its foliage interest, better perhaps if you think about a plan that flowers for a limited time but its foliage is beautiful or interesting or makes an interesting form for a longer period.

Wordless Wednesday – A nice way to plant Banksiae lutescens

I saw these on Easter Saturday, it was a horrible day, raining so th eimages are a bit dark.

The Vegetable Garden in the third week of May

Yesterday was a lovely day for working out in the garden. It was overcast with only a very slight breeze. It is strange that one of the things I really disliked about England was that often the cloud cover seemed to be low enough to touch my head but here cloudy, dull days are so rare that I now actively enjoy them; but here the cloud is much higher so it never feels as oppressive.

I spent some time tying in the small sized tomatoes. I have to report that the hail on Easter Saturday did more damage than I had first thought; all of the leaves that had shown spot damage just after the hail are now yellow with huge black marks. I will definitely not plant out the tomatoes so early next year, even though the plants have put on lots of healthy new growth, I think they would be further advanced had I planted out larger plants later. Hail can happen at any time here so planting late won’t necessarily save the crop being damaged.