Hello again!

[Lulu-amongst-the-blooms]

Thanks stefanie, i would have tied them all in with out that advice!

[Lulu-amongst-the-blooms]

Harkness's joie de vivre, my early spring bargain rose. She is small but so generous with her blooms!



Lady of shallot, just opening here. I adore this rose. She is like pat austin but both more zingy and more delcate imo.

That said, pat austin, who sulked After her late move is happier this year even if her shape will need attention when its time to prune




I love this shot of a not quite salmon enough aBraham darby with a holly hock. I am really happy with some of my planting schemes and moments like this make me grin

[Stefanie]

What lovely summer photos Lulu. May I beg for some of the Hollyhock seeds please.

The foliage your roses looks glossy healthy too, well done!

Your garden must look splendid. Apparently there is a heat wave going over Europe but England seems to be spared. Our daughter phoned this morning at 9 to say that the thermometer already reached 29C in Hamburg…

[Lulu-amongst-the-blooms]

Originally Posted by Stefanie

What lovely summer photos Lulu. May I beg for some of the Hollyhock seeds please.

The foliage your roses looks glossy healthy too, well done!

Your garden must look splendid. Apparently there is a heat wave going over Europe but England seems to be spared. Our daughter phoned this morning at 9 to say that the thermometer already reached 29C in Hamburg…

Of course you can, also have some postcards to send you I think, i can combine. I am excited i have something to share!!

I cannot guarantee colour though. In that border they are all salmon apricoty colours, supposedly...but some are raspberry sorbet colour too.....some things you just cannot control!

[SerenaSYH]

Lulu, I'm loving the roses and hollyhocks and have been keeping up with your eye condition! so glad to hear some hopeful news. However I haven't been able to write or keep up online! Tons and tons of photos to download from the camera and hundreds of photos to color-correct. My Canon needs flash or tripod settings to take indoor shots where flash is not allowed. Fancy cameras are not! forgiving whereas cheap automatics are ironically verrrrry forgiving! Irks me to a tee about trillions of photos wacked. Anyway, many hugs and prayers and hoping the good news keeps up too! Well let me know how things go with the eyes and am so happy you are able to be out-and-about! and at least YOU've got colorful lively photos. I've got quite a murky dark mess! Grrrrrr-rrrr! and basically James also says my photos are wacked too. He and I are very finicky about the way our photos turn out, and he basically said mine were crapped!

Oh, Stephanie! I did not! get any postcards for anyone, eeeee-eeee! Lulu, your thoughtfulness puts me to shame! Gyaaaa!

Well I will write later! Cheers Lulu! and to everyone!

[Lulu-amongst-the-blooms]

Serena, my laptop died in winter and DH bought me an iPad because we will be getting a desk top again soon (hurrah) and we decided i would only need a tablet sized thing. All the pics i have been posting are just ipad snaps. Its by no means as good as the other camera, but its so darn quick.

As i have never pretended to have any photographic skill it does just fine for me to share with you and send snaps to dh through the week.


The wreck repairs are coming on and though its slightly behind schedule its been going well. I love the builders and will miss them when they go, as will the critters. We think they are absolutely wonderful. That dodgey corner has all been rebuilt now, turns out there had been a well underneath it!

[Stefanie]

Those iPad takes darn good photos Lulu! I looked at them and would love one too but they are a bit out of my price range and as my little notebook is still around it would be utter luxury to replace it before it’s broken. However we might pool together and get one for our daughter for Christmas. She will be studying by than and I thought it may be better for her to lug and iPad around than a whole heavy laptop. Can you recommend the iPad?

I don’t mind if the hollyhocks don’t come out true in colour. I just love hollyhocks and each year I try to painstakingly rear them indoors to plant them outside a little later in the season. They are not available as seedlings here (only once or twice did I see them in nurseries). At the moment there are about 20 seedlings of hollyhocks that live under a little make shift plastic greenhouse upstairs in front of a window sill.

Originally Posted by Lulu-amongst-the-blooms

The wreck repairs are coming on and though its slightly behind schedule its been going well. I love the builders and will miss them when they go, as will the critters. We think they are absolutely wonderful. That dodgey corner has all been rebuilt now, turns out there had been a well underneath it!

Oh dear, a well underneath a house! Did you keep the well? At least it will supply you with luxurious water. A friend of my mother is an architect and every so often when they demolished old farm houses he had to go out and find the old wells before building the new house. 9 out of 10 times they are treated as an asset.

I’m looking forward to the postcards (somehow I did not get very many this year ) and the seeds Lulu

[Lulu-amongst-the-blooms]

I would not recommend ipad as an alternative to a lap top for students, no.

It would be fine as an asjunct to a desktop i think, but even then, i think a lap top more usedul for days and long evenings in the library.


We could not keep the well because it really was more in the house than out. But we know where we might have luck sinking one now!

[Lulu-amongst-the-blooms]

Lady of shallot is really getting my recommendation i think. She is just a long from pat austin, in a less great spot yet is just performing and performing. I think of the two, ina very similar colour bracket, she is my favourite.

That little joie de vivre from harkness rose is also a trooper. She should be nearer the front of the border than i put her, but she has fired out blooms all summer long really.

Shropshire las is going strong, with lots of buds still emerging.

My white border is covered with deadly nightshade. Its where the builders are so while i have been desperate to sort it out i do not feel i can. I really need to sort out some sort of mowing strip too, its a niggly bit of garden maintenance for me, edges!

[Lulu-amongst-the-blooms]

Stefanie, this weekend I hope to be harvesting those hollyhock seeds and will post during next week. .

I don't think I remember a time before the rain. A time where gardening was fun and a time when we had top soil.

The weather has set the work on wreck's north side back, so no autumn landscaping for us it looks like. We will however be hedge planting where the front hedge has been damaged so much my machinery our plans to replant with yew have been prioritised.

In getting ground levels right for the building and also to drain to the ditch when the weather is ...well, like this!, the soil level has dropped well over a foot in many places, so now I guess that means lots of tedious digging out of clay by hand and replacing with top soil and muck.

I have however discovered the ultimate solution to ground elder, presuming there is no ground cover planting.....

The little chickens....chicks, bantams and a couple of rescues who are too disabled to go out with the robust chickens, have rampaged through the rose gold/sunset border this year and picked out every single bit of groudn elder, they cannot get enough of it. Other weeds are still a by hand job, but I think that's fair enough!

We have already had one frost, but it's back to wet, wet wet now, and we are struggling to get to the borders to weed and mulch, partly because I am still pacing my self because of health, but mainly because of compacting the water logged soil.