September afternoon in the garden

Had a quick dead-heading session in the front garden this afternoon which turned into a "ooh that looks pretty where's the camera" and "that weed needs to come out of there" session followed by an "ooh that's got a bit warm and swimmy-headed from hanging upside-down and now I need a drink and a cool spot to catch my breath" - where would I be without my perching stool and J to grab a glass of water for me!

Anyway mission accomplished and a few splashes of beauty to share on this Friday afternoon.

Blue scabious continuing to provide food for the soul as well as the bees

These white dahlia mignons are proving popular with a whole host of bees and bugs

Gentle Hermione on her third or fourth flush of flowers

Flowering currant now giving berries for the birds

We thought we'd lost all the plants from last year -  I think they are phlox but here it is quietly coming into bloom and adding more late colour to the bed.

Happy Friday folks

September is the season for shuffling

After the pot-shuffling at the weekend this week has continued to be about tidying the garden and preparing new plants for the coming season. Tuesday was a spot of pot weeding, cutting back gone over shrubby plants and herbs and generally tidying up the patio pots. It was also an impromptu slug and snail hunt as every pot I moved or emptied seemed to be offering up a hiding place for the hungry little beasties. Yesterday we pinned down a dozen or so strawberry runners to replace our ageing plants - strawberries will last several years but according to the experts their productivity drops off after two or three so we always try and generate our own plants from existing stock. J then emptied the coffee sack planter that was threatening to spill all over the patio and retrieved 1.6 kilos of lovely clean potatoes ready for cooking over the weekend and then weeded some more of the pots before ducking indoors to avoid a passing shower.

Pinned down and ready to root

You can never have too many strawberries

Tidy lettuce pot - should get one more meal from these

Today is a bit more house-related as Mum arrives to stay for a few weeks which we are really looking forward to but I did pop outside briefly to take some photos of the flowers in the sunshine and was rewarded with a newly minted Red Admiral and what I think could be a Tawny Mining bee, but my ID skills aren't brilliant even with the aid of the excellent Field Guide book by Steven Falk.

Red Admiral and friend on Rudbeckia Marmalade

Bee on perennial wallflower