rubykittyruby

  The hot weather continues, and Yorkshire Water's finally declared a hosepipe ban.  Frankly, they should've done that weeks ago given how little rain we've had for the best part of three months.  Anyhow, better late than never.   The catananche are looking so pretty, as are the hollyhocks.   Clumps of sweet marjoram on the allotment are alive with butterflies and bees.  That kind of makes up for the total lack of courgettes.  They need lots of sunshine and lots of water, and while the courgette plants have had the sun they've been starved of water.  Never mind, the local supermarket will have them in stock, I don't doubt, and there's always next year ...  At home, I've finished reading 'Scarlet Town' by Leonora Nattrass.  It's a terrific read.  She's one of those authors who are reliably good, and even a couple of pages into the book I had the feeling I was in safe hands.   Another kind of book.  I'm still ...

  Bank Holiday's come thick and fast at this time of year, which - if you're stuck in an office job or a schoolkid - you think is wonderful.  Short working weeks and time to kick back and enjoy yourself.  We've sunshine and showers over this long weekend.  The rain's arrived at last, giving the plants a desperately needed drink.   The rainfall hasn't been heavy, so no chance of the water butts being refilled, but I'm still a happy gardener.  Everything's fresher after a shower of rain.  Greener and perked up. I love how the water's pooled on these Valerian leaves.   The foxgloves are in a range of colours from white to cream, pale pink and a more vivid shade.  The bees love these, and it's so much fun to watch them feeding, buzzing from one bloom to the next.  Crawling inside the tubular flowers, sometimes having to squeeze in if they're a particularly chubby bee.   There are a few purple aliums dotted around, threade...

  Apologies for not posting anything for a while.  I get side-tracked.  Or lazy.  Probably a combination of them both.  It's been a lovely spring here in my part of West Yorkshire, and my tulips have bloomed like crazy.  I like the idea of having a restrained colour scheme in a garden, but in reality I got for the every-colour-under-the-sun approach.   Some of the flowers are almost ready to drop their petals.  They've got that blowsy, nearly-but-not-quite-yet look to them.  Other flowers are still getting ready to open out as they're in shadier positions in the garden.  But they're all beautiful and very welcome splashes of vivid colour.   On to other things ...  I finished reading this today, and it's a terrific spooky read.  Very enjoyable, and I could easily see it being adapted for TV or film.  Next up, I've got another of S.J. Parris' books, 'Sacrilege'.  It's set in 1584, and features the author'...

  I thought I'd start with these beautiful flowers.  A few, like the extravagant peony and the astrantia, are from my garden but most off the allotment.  I'll never make a flower arranger, will I? My technique is pretty much 'shove them in a vase and make sure there's water in it'.  I admire anyone who can artfully arrange flowers, it's a real skill to get the balance right. I've been doing a few crafty things lately, some more fulfilling than others.   This bundle of rags is actually a tangle of zips.  The clothes were from charity shops, and I've harvested the rest of the dresses, etc for my fabric stash.  I've been saving the zips, and finally got around to unpicking the material around them.  It makes sense to save them, not that I'm a dressmaker but occasionally I get the urge to make a zip up pouch or two.   There were several hooks & eyes too, squirrelled away for future projects.   Another charity shop purchase...

My first visit to Tatton Park Flower Show was on Saturday, and it was a great day out.  Despite at times heavy rain and mud underfoot.  There were plenty of clued up people at the show who'd arrived prepared, presumably having visited before, and I envied their sensible wellies and waterproofs.  But it didn't matter as there were lots of floral displays undercover to admire and covet.   The show cemented in my mind how much I love the English cottage garden look, a seemingly artless but actually highly accomplished mix of colours and scents.  Lots of white, pink, pale purples.  Tall salvias and exuberant echinacea.  Eye catching eremurus, the perfect spheres of aliums.   I tried to concentrate on taking pictures of what I liked and what I intend to grow myself, though didn't always manage to get the label with the plant's name included in the shot.   If I'd money to spare I'd have bought masses of plants.  As it was I'm ma...