Visiting with the houseplants

Had a wander around the house on Sunday realising that over the years, without really intending to, I've become a houseplant keeper. For years and years I said I didn't really do houseplants - I always said I couldn't keep them alive - but if that's the case then where have all these appeared from?

In the Living Room

This purple orchid is on it's fourth re-flowering in the year or so since I was given it by a friend, I'm holding out hope it's white-flowered neighbour might try again soon






The weeping fig came in the same pack as Bob about 25 years ago, and despite years of neglect now thrives on the windowsill.

This peace lily was part of another gift a couple of years ago and seems to just keep growing - mind you it has only flowered once.

In the kitchen

A bit of a mixture on the kitchen table at the moment - a baby Bob and a selection of succulents waiting for their forever homes, a scented geranium ready to be overwintered, our last Aloe Vera and a pot of sage cuttings waiting to be potted up. The dark red chrysanthemum was given to as a gift last Christmas and turned out to be four little plants in one pot - we split them and they've spent the summer outside. I brought this one in at the weekend to see what would happen and look how beautiful it is.

And then there's the white flowered orchid that was given to us a few years ago by J's cousins and the little seemingly ever-lasting cyclamen that was given to me the first Christmas I came to Stratford by a new colleague and has flowered every winter since, it's a gorgeous scarlet colour and brightens the darkest days beautifully. 

And then there's upstairs residents...

You've met Bob before and he certainly seems to have recovered from the pruning and propagating at the beginning of the year. All bar the last one of those babies has been re-homed.

And after a year in their new homes the succulents are looking great and it's their babies we'll be re-homing next. 

And dotted on windowsills all round the house....


there's the super-hot skinny chillis that have come in for the winter and the violas that are getting ready to move out and the lupin, sweet rocket, geraniums, verbena, penstemons and pinks that will all need to be potted on and over-wintered indoors until the Spring now.

And it seems that not only do we have a house full of plant-shaped memories and family and friends and kindnesses but lots of potential kindnesses to return.

Six-on-Saturday 19th October 2019

Morning Blog-land today is my October link-up with The Propagator's Six on Saturday meme. Please check out The Propagator's post here for instructions on how to join in and take a look at his blog for links to lots of wonderful gardens from all around the world, they really bring a spark of joy to a weekend.  My previous posts can be found by clicking on the #SixOnSaturday label and if you are on Twitter, enter the #SixOnSaturday hashtag in the search bar and you'll see even more beautiful images from around the world.

All these photos were taken in our little back garden yesterday morning before it got too wet and I had to head off to chemo. It then hammered down with rain for most of the afternoon and evening so I'm very glad I got a head start on the pictures. No real rhyme nor reason to the photos this month - although "work to do"would probably sum up the collection!

1. Mint Corner - the recent rains have done wonders for all the potted mints lurking by the kitchen door. Nearly time to cut them again and freeze for using over the winter, well all except the apple mint as whilst, pretty, isn't a flavour I particularly like.

2. Achillea "Cerise Queen". These two were runts of the litter that I couldn't quite bear to compost and I'm so glad I didn't as they are now nice strong plants that will fit in the borders next year and fill the late summer garden (and vases) with their dark pink blooms.

3. Fabulous fuschia fairies - gifted to the hospice as tiny baby plants that a local nursery couldn't use, and offered to patients and volunteers for a donation earlier in the summer. I've no idea of the varieties but they have been flowering for weeks and show no sign of stopping yet.

4. Wallflowers and strawberry runners awaiting new homes on the outside shelves.
All ready for planting out when the rain eventually stops - new plants for free always raise a smile in this house!

5. Still a chance of a few more rose blooms - raised from cuttings from my late Gran's garden this beauty opens pink and fades to a beautiful peach and is proving to be very long flowering so well worth the effort.

6. And finally, weather permitting, the job for the weekend - start to sort out what needs bringing in, what needs re-potting and what needs cutting for use over the winter - herbs, welsh onions, chillis, strawberries and flowers all jostling for space on the mini patio.

Have a wonderful weekend all, and I'll "see" you next month. Tx

Good day

For a chemo day it has been a good one. It all started with a lovely author on Twitter called Tom Cox pronouncing that I'd won a copy of his beautiful book  just because I'd retweeted his tweet - watch this space for photos and review!! It's been on my wish-list for a while and I nearly ordered it this week - I hardly ever enter these draws and have never ever won anything like that before - to say I am excited is an understatement.

Chemo went as well as these things can - the staff are wonderful and kind, J kept me company (after a very quick and soggy trip to the shops nearby to pick up weekend snacks), there was a rainbow to be seen in the sky and I now know all my appointments for the next month so we can make a plan - the treatment itself just happens whilst you sit there - I'll be really tired again for the next few days but that's ok.

The weather kindly decided to give us about half an hour of dry after dinner so J helped me have a potter around the back garden just to say hello to the plants and see all the jobs he did yesterday - shuffling tomato plants to try and encourage the last few beefy ones to ripen before blight hits, finally putting the sweet-pea plant out of its misery which meant a last few blooms to add to the living room vase and transplanting some old grape hyacinth bulbs out of a pot and into the pond bank so they will be little dots of amongst the ferns in the spring.

This week's rain has refreshed everything and the starry asters are now blooming too, the dahlias and roses are a bit bedraggled but nonetheless beautiful, the rudbeckia, monarda, verbena, fuschias and scabious continue to flourish and provide colour and all in all it's looking lovely out there out there at the moment. I could hear lots of buzzing and our wanders disturbed a few moths and other critters plus the odd cheeky slug and snail making the most of the damp and then time to wander back in and put our feet up.

Ivy round the back door flourishing

Verbena going strong and wafting beautifully

Gran's Rose still so very pretty and more blooms to follow

Go on you know you really want to ripen!

Starry asters blooming at last

Sneaky but rather pretty snail hiding in the bird feeder!

Little apples ripening

Bulbs added to the fern bank

Night all!

A little bit of potting on.....

Consultant appointment over and done with, we were home before 10 o'clock today. News is ok as these things go - concentrating on chemo for the liver and just monitoring for the head for now. Got to expect to be tired and not get annoyed when I can't do the things I think I should be doing... mmm ok well - will do my best on that one! Just having to remember all the strategies we used in the last round to manage the tiredness and the impatience. So back on Friday for second chemo it is then.

J has taken the rest of the week off work so we can potter together for a couple of days - wonderful. This meant that after a cup of tea, a slice of Mum's yummy apple cake and a rest we could move on some of the cuttings I took a few weeks ago and take some of the lovely scented-leaf geranium whilst he moved the heavy stuff and tidied up after me! So we now have 4 new penstemon plants rooted from water cuttings, 2 little fragaria moschata plants that have taken a long time to develop from seed sown in the spring but now look quite healthy and have taken 5 leaf cuttings of the scented geranium which we hopefully mean extra plants for the spring. Joy is definitely plant shaped today :)

lovely strong roots

four new plants - colour will be a surprise!

Need smelly vision to truly appreciate this lovely plant

Insurance cuttings now on the windowsill upstairs

Equinox garden

The natural wheel keeps turning no matter what is going on in a pesky human's life and the garden is taking on the definite look of Autumn now that we are arriving at the Equinox. I took a toddle round on Thursday evening and took these images in the front and back garden just as the sun was beginning to set. Still warm enough to be pottering around in a tee-shirt and so dry all the pots needed watering and some of the beds are stating to look a little parched but that definite hint of chill that comes with the last rays of an Autumn day. Refreshing.  As I wandered I found myself reaching for the mint leaves, the rosemary and the roses as well as the bewitching scent of a rosy/citrussy geranium gifted by a friend - my eyes are troubling me so scent is super important at the moment and I must take some cuttings of this beautiful plant as I really don't want to lose that scent. 

Gran's rose latest flush

Dainty fuschias

Tatty but still giving us joy

Soon there will be starry asters

Gentle Hermione delighting us still

Phlox in bloom

Dahlias delighting

Rudbeckia thriving

Today is the first of the new chemo days but that is later.

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

Six-on-Saturday 7th September 2019

Afternoon Blog-land today is my September link-up with The Propagator's Six on Saturday meme. I missed August but please check out The Propagator's post here for instructions on how to join in and take a look at his blog for links to lots of wonderful gardens from all around the world. My previous posts can be found by clicking on the #SixOnSaturday label.

Today was a trip to the allotment to see what we could harvest and to plant out the leeks, spinach beet and beetroot that has been languishing on the shelves here at home for far too long. We picked courgettes, Uchiki Kuri squash, dried beans, chickpeas, spinach beet, beetroot and apples plus a couple of lovely bunches of flowers. Then we had a look round to see what was to come.

1. Butternut squash doing well - 8 decent sized fruit on the now stopped plant. Cleared away the leaves to help them ripen.

2.  Some lovely sized eating apples on the small apple tree

3. The Borlottis are ripening well and in a few weeks they will join the bag of already dried beans that we harvested today .

 4. The first of the Achillea Cerise Queen has flowered at last adding their colour to the Rudbeckia rows in the cutting bed

 5. Their stems may be too short to cut but these sunflowers are still giving so much joy as bud after bud opens.

6. And in a sure sign of the changing seasons the sedum is putting on colour in the front border.

Bonus picture - we love our wildlife but it would have been really nice if the badger had left us just one sweetcorn cob to enjoy....grrr....