Wednesday 10 July 2013

Incy Wincy Spider

Gentle Reader, although this photograph is not of the garden, it is of the sky above the garden one lovely summer's eve just this very week . . I found it intriguing the way the fainter "direction arrow" shape clouds look as if they are reflecting in the sky, like a landscape reflects in water.  What do you think?



Just yesterday, I found the first ladybird {ladybug} in the garden.  I am very concerned, for not only is this very, very late to be seeing the first one, it was only one!  I think the prolonged cold winter and lack of a warm spring may have taken it's toll.  I will buy some bamboo later and cut it up to make a bug hotel.

As I was going about moving some pots around, I noticed a leaf all curled up on itself.  I couldn't resist a peek to see what was going on, and deep inside the curl {almost at the base} I saw the teeniest tiniest green spider! I tried and tried to get a good photograph of it, and it was a struggle because the camera kept focusing on the leaf.  The spider is so tiny and so far down, it just didn't want to focus on it, but I persevered and these are the best of the images I captured~

First, a top view showing the curled up leaf, centre, and I measured it to be just under 1cm (so about 3/8 of an inch) across~


and this one shows the tiny spider lurking in his lair~


The pollinating insects are now out in force, as this busy bee goes about his business gathering pollen for the hive~


I love that the Field Poppies are growing and flowering well because I need to gather plenty of seeds.  I will scatter them where I want them to flower next year in the garden and I will also scatter some along the hedgerows when I take a walk along the country lanes~


The delicate, paper~like small pelargoniums have started to open.  Soon the green mounds will be transformed into pretty pillows of perfect pastel pink~


Carnations {pinks} are bursting forth and adding their clove~like scent to the richly fragrant air.  These beauties are from Whetman Pinks, a leading specialist in pinks, and oh! how I wish I could share the fragrance with you, Gentle Reader~and I am cutting small posies regularly for the house to ensure the blooms will keep on coming~


This is where The Gardener takes a welcome break, sitting on the deck chair, drinking a refreshing cup of hot tea, or later in the evening a glass of crisply chilled chardonnay~


The aconitum {monkshood or wolf's bane are some of it's common names} is now shooting up in purple spikes along the borders~


The Frances E Lester rambler is full to overflowing with pale pink blooms and the air is heady with it's deep perfume which fills the house too~


A close up of a bloom~


I think it is time to take a cup of tea now, I shall go and sit in deck chair in the shade of an old apple tree with Alchemilla mollis {Lady's Mantle} in the foreground.  It is a spectacular year for this most versatile and prolific of garden plants~


~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

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