One Day in May

Loads of pics from yesterday in random order!! Having a tough tme getting the text to sit with the correct pic !!! but learning what happens all the time. though suddenly nine have vanished !! So let me start over again with a new post ! Meanwhile, here is a different view of one of the decks on the top terrace.

Mellow Yellow...

After all that purple the artist in me needed a complementary colour !! Though it does remind me of a garden I visited when studying for my garden design diploma ... a much publicised small garden which was stuffed FULL of yellow and purple foliage and flowers..... hardly any green or white to counterbalance......I found it quite sickly and have been careful to limit both since then..... ...... but these are now both blooming..... Tree Peaony Ludlowii (bought it when I first moved here in 2002 'cos Ludlow was just up the road.... though I dont think that has Anything to do with it !) and the scented azalea.... name forgotten.. Both have been moved around ENDLESS times..... and even the tree peaony doesnt seen to resent it .... suprisingly ...... The do work quite well with the golden bamboo stems at this time of year.. ..I have about 17 different varieties of bamboo scattered about all four terrace levels !!!

A Paint Job....

Brilliant sunshine all day (Monday) so decided to finish painting 'white' bench to match the dominant Copper Beech and neighbouring trees...... and the plants in the garden that link through and bring the eye down. one of these is the acer near the pond I showed recently. I deliberately shaded the paint ( which I mixed from red and blue) so it dint look one solid shade.. I imaging folk will think its a bad paint job !!! Note the watering can painted to match... well it was a fluorsecent metallic blue when I bought it from eBay While I was at it turned the black metal table tops and chairs into a dark denim colour ! I should have known better than to try this at temperatures of almost 90F ....... the chairs in particular dont stand close inspection.. but then they are to sit on !!! Also spent 4 hours watering..... ridiculous in early May .. but a mini heatwave was doing the transplants no good at all !

Granny Bonnets

The Aquilegia /Granny Bonnets/Columbine are coming out in the warm sunshine. Most, like this bi-coloured one, and tall white shaggy one are self seeded. They appear in all sorts of places and in all shapes and sizes; I leave the rich darks and pure whites and pull out the anaemic pinks.

Underneath the Arches...

I've been building trellis arches..... and finally erected the last one today. I bought eight from eBay.. ....exactly what I wanted but a virulent orange, so each has had to be toned down with green stain ... and will now be allowed to weather naturally. This shot, of the sort-of-oriental-pond-terrace ( second one diown), is taken sitting on a single seat under one arch looking through another. Eventually they will be covered in scented or unusual climbers. Note the Acer by the pond ! There are 2 x 2 seater benches in this area... which is cool and shady for quite a bit of the day... you can just make out the second one to right of the terrace.

Gardens forever, Housework whenever ......

I probably spend more time in my Herefordshire garden than anywhere else - especially at this time of year, late Spring - and have my camera at my hip at all times ( except when I REALLY need it for that fleeting once-in-a-lifetime shot !) Close ups, panoramas, stages of growth, pictures to paint - I post some on various art forums - others languish on my hard-drive, so starting this blog is a bit of self-indulgence that others who enjoy seeing or painting my patch can share. The photos are all MY COPYRIGHT but friends from www.wetcanvas.com and www.paintingfriends.com can feel free to paint from any that inspire them... ... just send me a link, please, to where you are posting your painting. Photos wont be in date order... even YEAR order......but as I feel inspired to add them !