Bees and Boogie Woogie

We are making the most of these days and it seems like the insects have the same idea. We have seen butterfiles and bees out and about today, despite cooler weather. They are loving the Michaelmus daisies.

We have had our first frost albeit very mild.

There are so many jobs to do, it is quite hard to decide where to start. But start we did.

I completed the first flowerbed ... full of weeds and unfortunately couch grass. I got out as much as I could find.

 

 

 

Only four more flower beds to go !!! But they all still look lovely.

Next I continued with the barn path which is like a jungle.

Ferns, brambles, nettles, comfrey, angelica, buttercups, willowherb, elder seedlings.

I suppose I cleared a third of it, saving all the good things..

Steve started at the other end after having cleared one side of the polytunnel, ready for broad beans.

We had a delightful teabreak in glorious sunshine, during which I broke up some rotten wood to burn.

My final job was another section of raised bed, whilst Steve sieved our own compost.

Lots of flowers still looking good.

Tithonia which has taken its time this year.

Dahlias from seed still going strong.

Boogie Woogie which I moaned about earlier in the year, as Steve keeps reminding me. There`s nothing to moan about now.

Salvia "Amstrad"

All in all it was a very productive morning.

 

Flowers Green Nursery

My niece Hazel introduced me to this nursery. I thought I knew most nurseries in a radius round our home but this one was a most pleasant surprise. Our first visit was earlier in the year.

Today our aim was to stock up on plants for a new area we are developing in our front garden. Whilst redesigning I did save quite a few of the original plants, splitting and dividing. And we have a new rose which was an anniversary present and two hydrangeas. But we need more. 

The colour theme is manifesting itself .... pinks and deep reds, including foliage.

I tried to keep focussed but oh my goodness it was so easy to be distracted and there were a few impulse buys.

Here is just part of the range to choose from.

 

It was drizzling but we didn`t care. 

I think it was Robert who came to help us. He runs the nursery. A very nice, helpful and knowledgeable man.

Oh we had a lovely time making our decisions.

 

I love this nursery.

The plants are healthy, strong and such a choice.

We chose low growing asters, salvias, heucheras, cyclamen, veronicas.

The prices are VERY GOOD.

 

In the uncovered area there was a spectacular pumpkin display.

 

And an amazing array of violas and pansies.

 

 

We loaded our purchases into the car .....

 

..... and set off for home feeling very happy.

I highly recommend this lovely nursery. 

We will be back.

 

Flowers Green Nursery,

Church Road, 

Herstmonceux,

East Sussex.

BN27 1RQ 

Oh and did I say

I LOVE THIS NURSERY.

The Real Firecracker

At some point in autumn last year I wrongly labelled a whole pile of dahlias. Instead of "Firecracker" I got "My Love" which rather messed up a few of my colour schemes. "Firecracker" is fiery but "My Love" is white.

This is the real "Firecracker." It is a dinnerplate size and quite spectacular.

After a shaky start the dahlias are coming into their own.

For the local coffee morning I was able to make up four bunches as well as a bouquet to congratulate Tim on his cycle ride  .... London to Paris, during which he raised £5000  for Farm Africa.

 

Well done Tim. 

 

Here are some other dahlias.

 

We had a lovely afternoon at the garden. I strimmed all the bed edges and pulled up lots of dead things. I weeded a patch of raised bed and spread our own compost, before covering with old carpet.

In the meantime Steve was busy harvesting in the polytunnel.

The aubergines are getting bigger and the peppers are changing colour at long last.

The green manure is growing well.

Our last job was to hard prune the buddleia by the entrance.

As we arrived home it began to rain. I`m sure there was great relief for Tim and Anne who had just completed putting all the yurts away for another year.

Old Perithia 10 Years On

One of the most popular posts on my blog is one about Foros Restaurant in Old Perithia, Corfu.

We last visited in 2014, so it was very interesting to see the changes. 

Funnily enough it was spitting around a bit as per last time. This was much to our advantage as wild cyclamen and colchium crocuses were growing alongside the ancient road edges. But it put an end to the efforts of the water colourists dotted around the main square.

 

We set off on a long walk right round the outer reaches of the village. We did not walk so far last time and I think perhaps part of the road we walked was newish. It skirted the village giving beautiful vistas of the old buildings. Unfortunately some viewed through burnt trees. There had been a pretty bad fire close by though I haven`t established quite when, though obviously some time ago.

At the highest point of the walk, we were delighted to come across the bee man with some of his 400 beehives, in a beautiful garden.

 

We had a good chat with him and he told us that he had lost 70 hives in the recent fires. His mother looked after the garden. It was full of French marigolds and zinnias.

We bought some of the thick spring flower honey and bee balm and set off once more.

As we trod the ancient road my mind was full of the people and the lives of those who had walked before. What was it like for them so far away from the coast. Safer? The long twisting road to the coast is miles away. And what about supplies? Were they completely self-sufficient?

Here are some of the ancient buildings which I now gather are listed.

Making our way back to the main square where we had earlier booked a table at the Foros restaurant, we were very happy to see Tomas, who we met last time. I was sorry not to be able to show him the blog entry which had proved so popular but on reminding him of our last visit, he promptly brought us a raki each ..... fire-water!!

We had a delicious meal .... lemon lamb and rabbit stifado.

We made our way back to the car park, where we found ourselves all but wedged in by a jeep safari. Steve managed to back out with our huge old, geared (!!) car, with me and Paula on either side directing.

The changes we saw ....

lots more people

the bee man

walking groups 

painting groups

BUT

the car park was as bad as it was 10 years ago!!

 

I wonder if we will ever visit again.