Saturday 20 May 2023

Aquilegias and kittens


Where a few Aquilegia seeds may have been strewn last year.  I have plenty cast around up on the bank too, but for the moment, we just have the lovely and HUGE wild ones, which came through after the hedge was hoiked out. (Photo below).



Now that the doors are left open, the challenge for Pippi to be the other side of one has diminished! They love it up on the bank and come and go as they please now.  Lulu still not as adventurous as little sis though.


This is I think a wildling Aquilegia - I certainly never planted it - and it is half the size of the wild one beside it in the bottom triangle.  I will get seeds - the colour is the darkest I have seen, such a deep purple-almost-black.


More of the ones I bought with me - I am delighted that the pink and yellow one survived and indeed has flourished.  I love the striped petals this year - a first again for me.





A naturalized Foxglove by the French windows, very creamy and slowly deepening to pink.



I've never had Azaleas in any of my gardens until here.  This was swamped by the variegated Holly behind it last year, so I gave that a good pruning and have been rewarded this year.  There are some gaps in the new bed I made last year - winter took no prisoners.  But I can look forward to some shopping trips to fill the gaps :)

Well, I am poorly as a poorly thing here today.  Keith woke me around 5.30, pottering around in the bathroom.  I thought he was getting up, so I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed - only to find he'd gone BACK to bed!  Anyway, I couldn't do anything before I'd had painkillers (Ibuprofen is the only thing to help) and believe me, I knew the moment they were wearing off and was counting the minutes until I could have some more.  No gardening today - everything hurt SO much this morning, all the muscles I'd used when gardening just a bit yesterday.  So a resting day with a book.  I began the day by watching most of Far From the Madding Crowd which I recorded the other evening.  It's not Keith's sort of film, so I settled down to enjoy it.  They changed the story line a bit - Bathsheba is shown tending the grave of poor Fanny Robbins and her child - in the book, the mention of the grave was that it was under a gargoyle, which poured rainwater down onto it . . .  I had a lovely think back on our Dorset days, and going to Thomas Hardy's cottage where, would you believe, some of my Ynyswen Aquilegias are growing.  I fell into conversation with one of the Guides there (at the time I was hoping we would move back to Dorset, and I could become a Guide too).  Anyway,  seeing there were Aquilegias growing in the lovely garden, I offered to and sent seeds.  I love that I have a connection with his childhood home.

Another weekendwhen Keith is struggling too - low BP, infection not really responding to AB's, medication not really working because of him being ill.  He sat in the sun by the French window for a bit and then it was difficult trying to get him off the chair, and to turn in tiny stuttering steps, to go back across the room with his stroller.  We are back to that again -a real retrograde step . . .

Have a lovely weekend all. Hopefully will feel a bit brighter tomorrow and can finally get around to the photos of the church (St Edmund's I think) at Crickhowell.


16 comments:

  1. It's a struggle when you are both poorly. Hope things ease and improve soon.

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    1. Indeed. I am struggling to stay awake till 9p.m. now - Keith is watching a gripping series and know he wants to see the episode out. I just want to crash in a heap in bed . . .

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  2. What a lot of Aquilegia you have, love that very dark one . There are not many here but one patch of tiny seedlings so should be more next year as long as they don't take over like at Clay Cottage.
    Sorry to hear you are both feeling rough - rest up and reading sounds best

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    1. Nothing like the number (100s) I had at Ynyswen, but I'm working on it. I am happy for them to go a bit mad, it's only for a short time each year.

      I did feel better for resting, but then had to get a meal and do the washing up and that finished me off.

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  3. What a rollercoaster you are on, of good days and bad. I completely sympathise and feel frustrated on your behalf. I wonder if doctors realise how lousy and exhausting an unstable BP is. I have never seen such large flower heads on Aquilegias, or as I call them columbine. I'm not sure if they grow wild here, have never seen them but it would be nice. Thank goodness for the beauty of nature.

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    1. I had gotten over the flu bug, then this! As for Keith, you're right - an appointment made for a fortnight's time (and in the meantime he has to keep struggling) hasn't helped matters. Roll on Thursday. I will take a close up of the biggest wild flower heads - and I have NEVER seen them this big in the wild in Carmarthen, where they grew along the hedgerows.

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  4. Sorry you are under par still. I know all too well the clock watching waiting for pain killers. This morning I've started on yet another pill! I hope they begin to work as my legs are so swollen and painful, walking is difficult now. Your aquilegia are pretty, and what a lovely story of Thomas Hardy's garden and your connection to it!
    Have you considered a respite week for Keith? It would give you a much needed break.

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    1. Oh I'm so sorry to be late replying to this comment, and sounds like your legs are really giving you problems. Are you on steroids at all? That causes Oedema. I hope your new pill works for you. Now I've had a change of BP tablet, I've got Racehorse Legs again BUT they are causing a heart arrythmia which isn't ideal. Seeing the Doc on Friday for that and am there tomorrow for bloods and wee sample. We know how to have fun don't we?!

      I love my connection with Thomas Hardy's garden too. I just love his work and have lots of biographies about him. Tam made me have a bit of a cull as she said "No one needs 35 biographies . . ."

      I could do with a break but because we have the cats, if he went somewhere I am still tied to the house, and anyway, I know he would resist "going" anywhere . . .

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  5. Always love aquilegia time, their variety is lovely. Sorry about the up and downers of both your illnesses, it must put a big strain on yourself.

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    1. They are my favourite garden flower, along with roses of course.

      It is indeed a huge strain being ill when you have to care for someone. I got quite short with him this morning and feel badly about that but when I am bedevilled with legs like chewed string and a brain which just wants to sleep, and we have to get somewhere at a certain time, it's not easy.

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  6. Beautiful Aquilegias - such lovely colours. So sorry to hear you are both feeling poorly - hope you can rest and read a bit and feel better soon and the GP can help Keith.

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    1. Hi RR . I am going to sit on the sofa today and try and read myself well! Pippi of course, may have other ideas . . .

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  7. So sorry to hear you are poorly BB. Do hope the sun is shining with you and you can sit in a comfy chair among your flowers and kittens with a good book today. Well, that is my plan but with birds instead of kittens! Hope you feel better soon. Do you use Epsom salts or something similar in the bath? I make tea with my young ground elder leaves (a natural anti-inflammatory) and lemon balm. In a minute I am going to make a Gwili teapot (£1 in the charity shop!) of raspberry leaf and mint tea and drink it sitting on the bench in the meadow while making a list of everything in flower on 21 May. I’ve had three consecutive days at work so feel I’ve earned my day of rest, especially as Friday and Saturday were exceptionally busy due to the Antiques Fair being held in Petworth Park. I am feeling very happy with my wild garden and I’m at the stage where the less I intervene the better it looks. S mowed the kitchen garden and dug out one of my compost heaps yesterday. A heap that was taller than me rotted down to fill three barrows of rough and ready compost which has all gone to earth up potatoes. That will do for this weekend’s gardening! I am reading Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Colombian author Ingrid Rojas Contreras and I am enjoying it very much. It’s for book group and not available in Sussex libraries so I ordered a copy through World Of Books and lo and behold a hardback and apparently unread copy from a library in Massachusetts winged its way to me. I am also reading Roger Deakin’s Waterlogged which I unearthed in my son’s pile of books. I have read it before but it is a lovely seasonal tour of the British Isles through wild swimming and I like Roger’s philosophy vey much. Wishing you well - Sarah x

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    1. HAVING to rest today - thought I was back to normal but no, I am far from that. Wretched fluey bugs don't want to leave the comfort of your body. Would the Epsom salts work for fluey type aches and pains? Must get some next time I'm at the shops.

      Ah, you have a Gwili teapot. Which pattern? I have two lovely Gwili fruit bowls on my stand these days, one by Pru Green, but people don't want to pay what they are worth (valued by an expert friend who sells a lot of it).

      You sound like you are on top of your garden. I was making progress but again, being ill has knocked me for 6. I was just getting back to several hours gardening a day, then got the next bug. Glad you got the book group book. Love Roger Deakin's writing too. I am currently reading my way through Andrew Taylor's novels which my brain can cope with right now. They are set around the Great Fire of London and very enjoyable. It's not a period I know much about.

      My lawn mowing man came yesterday and did the grass for me. Gosh, is that ever money well spent?!!

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  8. Beautiful garden photos and isn't it so much easier when kittens can start to roam outside a bit more, and more importantly use up some of their energy. Sorry to hear that Keith is really struggling again. xx

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    1. It's good that they can go out but that pest Pippi is a bit too adventurous. Lulu is never far away but Pippi inclined to Go Exploring, which does my frayed nerves no good!

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