Sunshine after the rain

Such pretty, sunny pics Karen. They all look lovely with the sparkly raindrops. You are really cracking on there ;O)

Thanks Annie :)))

But that was all I did today...run out of steam for the minute...but, pots tomorrow! OH can do all the tidying up on Saturday (I'm a very messy gardener) lol!! :)

wow! so many things out, it looks beautiful. i love that sorbet rose and the heucheras oh and the heron is fabulous

Its looking really beautiful Karen.....and so much further on than this cool damp spot........

Looking good Karen..I like the Sorbet Fruite more in this picture. I'm doing a few more pots tomorrow...

Hi Karen..
Everything sparkling after the rain.
Lots of lovely photos ..
Well done on your hard work :o)

Oh! Thanks Sticki, Pam and Pim! :))

You'll notice that they're all close-ups though...still many spaces to fill!

Thank you Pam...I know it's not the same Viburnum...but I, honestly, would not have thought about it had you not suggested another one. :))

Pim...do you want to come and do mine too? It's only small stuff...but the bags of compost are really heavy...and I'm running on empty tonight...! lol! ;)

Thanks TT! :)

I've worked harder than I ever want to again!!!

I just want to let it all grow now........ ;)

The class of 2012 is doing very well. All looking lovely, Karen. Gosh, you've been busy - and clearly enjoying yourself!

Thank you, Oji :)

I didn't really plan on this...thought I had a reasonably sorted lot! But, hey ho! The new girls are far out-shining the old ones (apart from the wisteria, that is)! :)

All looking lovely and refreshed after the night of rain Karen....you have some lovely blooms there - and lots more to come :))
Are you going to be able to sit back and enjoy now? Why do I think the answer to that question will be no!

Need I answer, Scottish???

But, there's an enforced period of rest approaching, which was a part of the battle to catch up!!
...OH...and other visitors for a week!!!

You can enjoy your enforced rest - you need it after all that work. You can always be 'scheming' in the background on what's next :)))))

I meant to say that Heron is fabulous!

...and I blame that bit on you and Scotsgran! LOL!! ;)))))

He was made in China, Annie...cheap!!
...but very cheerful! :)))

Looks very expensive!

lovely Karen we have that cat mint - nepeta no fowers yet though . Your heron is so elegant , sempervivums are such fab things too and lovely lovely Heucheras!!!!!! all nice though ;))))))))))

I love the heron too, and your viburnum Karen has lovely flowers 'dawn' really just as a gorgeous perfume....

Amazing how far on your garden is. The rain will have done them all good after their move.

And...he's been there for two years...and hardly rusted, Annie!! :)

Thank you, Paul!! You can get together with everyone else, and tell me which heucheras they are....one day!! lol!!! :))))))))))

Putting me to shame there Karen with all that hard work , very little inclination to get anything much done at present ( and little opportunity !)
All looking wonderful there , so pleased that you are settling back so well . (Good news on the JKW front too .)

Still looking very 'Bling'

first maybe purple palace, 2nd georgia peach, 3rd spotlight or electra - possibly all wrong as I usually am lol

Oooh! All tangled up! Where to start?

Thank you, Oliveoil...but, I can't take any credit for the weather...have given up on 'tropicals' and gone back to what's right for here. I've done it before, but was lulled into a false sense of security this time...

Pam...I could have ordered 'Dawn', but it would have been several weeks before it arrived...and...I'm toooo impatient - well, you know how it is? ;)
...and I'm very happy!!! :)))

Paul and Julia...the heron has been there for longer than any of the plants - dead or alive!! He was a great buy!! He came in three different sizes...and I was really tempted by the BIG one! Thank goodness sense prevailed and I went for 'medium'...lol! :)))

Paul...tonight, their names don't matter...they're planted!!! I'll be asking you at later date...when I'm not so kn*****ed!!! lol!!! :)))))

Thanks for your support, Driad...much appreciated! :)))))

Annie...this is the cheapest bling you could possibly find! €12.50!!! :)))

What a lovely colourful garden you have created. You could just scatter annual seeds and the result would fill all the gaps and give you time to choose what you want to put where. Well done. I do like that new begonia.

lovely load of colour there Karen. love your pond with that Heron there.. plus the raindrop shots i love :-)

What a wonderful and colourful garden you've got Karen, and all your plants are much more further on than ours here. I like your choice of Heuchera - they seem to be very popular plants with a lot of GoY gardeners. Think I'll treat myself to one or two at the weekend... ! Thanks for sharing your garden with us.

I'm coming to that shop near you Lol!!!!

Thanks SL...the raindrops were irresistable this morning - so sparkly!! :)

Thank you, Petaltracey...
...but have you seen what my garden looked like two weeks ago??
It's a big about-turn for me...and, I'm a newly converted heucheraholic! lol! :)

Lol! Annie! I'm sure Monsieur B would love to have another 'belle dame de les fleurs'!!!
But, I think that you would just acquire the same problems I have! lol!! :)))

Sg...that's a really good idea...in my place, and knowing my sunny and shady spots...which seeds would you scatter?? :)

You have a lovely garden Karen, you seem to be working on it all the time! I keep on seeing Hercheres in everyones gardens, they seem to be one of the 'in' plants, so many different ones. Pretty please could you send us some sunshine :)

Calendula, Cosmos, Larkspur, Nigella, Scabious, Cerinthe or a mixed packet of summer flowering garden annuals will give you lots of colour and flowers to pick if you like them indoors. I'm sure there will be plenty of other suggestions of annuals to sow direct in the garden now. I don't think that the shade will be a problem because they need the soil to be warming up so they can germinate. You probably get some sun in all parts of the garden at some time during the day.

Great colour there,Karen...I am dazzled! Good idea to sow a few annuals...some nice suggestions there..Hope you are feeling refreshed this morning,like your plants...slow down girl..and enjoy :o))

Hi Suzy! It has been that way...since a week past Tuesday!!! But it had to be done...I can slow down a bit now...phew...!

I'd love to send you some sun...just as soon as I'm sure that it is here to stay for a while! It was raining here all day on Tuesday, when I did all this planting...but, it saved me having to water them in. :)

I think that I saw some seed mixtures in Lidl, Sg...I'll go and have a wee look and let you know what I get. When I was there yesterday I bought an edible solanum, a tibouchina, a passion flower and a datura...all for €2.50 each. So, that's what I'll be doing today.

Good morning Bloomer :))
I slept in this morning until 8 o'clock...that's not like me! Cleaning lady coming this morning to help with everything I haven't done in the house... lol ;)))

All looking fbab K! I thought you had put one of my paintings up lol..;\0

Thanks Pix...is that the title of one of your paintings?

I was thinking, 'There's gonna be some sunshine after the rain...there's gonna be bluebirds flying over the whatsits again..' tralala... :)))

Some of my heucheras suffered a setback. Nasty vine weevil grubs ate the roots..........
Two tiny pieces of stoplight have survived their roots being scrubbed and three were unaffected

Yes K
http://www.freewebs.com/the_pix/apps/photos/photo?photoid=47822047

:)

Pamg These vine weevils seem to be everywhere nowadays. I had never seen one until a neighbour gave me some Pacific Giant primulas to sell at one of our open days. As you probably know primulas and heucheras seem to be prime targets for the little horrors. I hope you have saved your plants. I put the soil in the bin after squashing as many as possible but its just another hazard of gardening.
Karen an edible solanum sounds like a potato or a tomato I hope you post a picture soon. I had a quick google and apparently they are used by the aborigines in Australia. Are you planting the tibouchino in a pot so you can take it indoors in winter. The datura will need to come in too I think. You are going to need a conservatory. The passion flower grows outside here in UK. You do get fruit but its not edible. It all sounds very good.

These are all for pots, Sg...I will start the green-house griping (sorry I meant hinting) at a later date. ;)

The solanum is muricatum (I've never heard of it before), also known as 'pepino melon'. It has strange yellow and red fruits. I got it because it looks interesting (and it was cheap!) and if they taste nice, it will be a bonus!!

I have had passion flower before, but it took over the whole garden and I had a devil of a job getting rid of it - this one's going in a pot!!! I don't really like the fruits - but the flowers are so nice, and it might be just the thing for a quick scramble up a trellis (hiding the septic tank filter bed from a different direction).

People do have datura in the ground here and they're enormous - at least they were before this past winter...
I'm not willing to risk it...

More and more grounds for that green-house, I think!!! ;))

I've been digging up chafer grubs all day...last count - over 70...urgh!!!

Pix - I've been and had a look...and I think I left a comment. Not sure though, it kept telling me that I'd done something wrong! It's a really nice painting and you've captured the light and the water so well...

...but go and see if my comment registered, hen, it was a bit better than this one!! x

That is beautiful, Pix...you've captured the light so well! I love the way you've made the water sparkly, with the hills and the sky...

Did you used to go paddling there when you were a bairn? xxx It worked!

No I didnt ..lol
I was driving to Kenmore one day..there was a thuderstorm.,. i stopped by the side of the road for a smoke..watching it,,then the rain and thunder stopped, the sun came out and i ran down the hill to this wee stream..the smells were amazing and the colours so vibrant..i jsut stood on a rick in front of this., arms outstretched soaking it all in..took some pics but more than anything soaked up the atmosphere did a wee sketch too..then came home and started to paint..never got to Kenmore yet! Its a huge painting! :)

oh and thanks you so much for the comment :))

True inspiration, Pix...and it shows!!! :)) x

When you say, 'huge'...what are you talking about??

btw...I've done that road to Kenmore and never got there, either...

...and another 'btw'...I've got a friend in St. Andrews who's a bit of a mogul and wants to set up an internet gallery - would you be interested...on the usual gallery terms?

About 4'x 3' thats huge for me lol
Might be interested..what are the terms? Each gallery is different ))

That's huge for most of us!!!

I dunno exactly...but, she's serious. She's already turning over more than a million a year with what she's got going...and she wants to get into something she'd 'enjoy' more. I said I would ask around... :)

Cool sounds good! :)

okay, hen...! x

I've just had a look too,Karen..a lovely painting..I have looked through Pixi's art before..stunning aren't they ?

Am blushing! :)

Shouldn't be,Pixi..it's a fact ! you are so talented..x

They're all very pretty Karen. I wonder if the one you don't recall ever seeing is a Lewisia ?

:)

Just looked it up, Hywel...and it does look very similar.
After seeing a few on here, recently, too!!
Once it flowers, I'll know for sure, thanks! :))

All looking very fresh and beautiful Karen. Gives you a good feeling doesn't it? :-))

Hello Muddy and thank you! :))

It does indeed...a little more sunshine in the mix and all will be well in the world :)))

Not much here as yet//more rain..more wind..more rain..more wind..sigh :(

Rain here too, Pix...
...but going to Bordeaux today - which is never fun when it's too warm...

Oh well sounds good! Have fun :) Actually since i posted the comment rain has stopped and I even thought I saw a wee bit of sunshine there..oh wait..maybe not..

It just got worse here...but never mind...

:(((((((

a bit late karen but lovely when the rain has refreshed everything i think, lovely plants :o)))

Thanks San! That 'catching up' thing is really hard, isn't it??? ;))))