Garden in the rain…

The Poppies had been fully opened for the last few days…today they are closed and hanging low with the weight of the rain. Love their colour…so vibrant.

The leaves of Escallonia are super shiny in the rain. The forecasters say it is to rain all day today and tomorrow then nice again for the weekend. Fingers crossed they’re right.

Usually the Foxgloves are having lots of Bumble Bees visiting…but not today.

Lady’s Mantle is of course well known for how it holds the droplets of water. It also has medicinal use…it is astringent, styptic, tonic and vulnerary. Culpepper says that “It is proper for those wounds that have inflammation, and is effective to stay bleedings, vomitings, and fluxes of all sorts.”

Hostas also hold the water on their leaves. With all the dry weather we’ve had the slugs have’nt had a chance to devour them this year…so far.

The little pond in the big polytunnel is full again. I had to fill it fill it from the tap for the last few weeks as it was almost dry. You can’t see them in the pic but there’s loads of tadpoles in there…did’nt want them dying. Frogs are great for keeping the slug population under control. These seem to be at the tadpole stage for ages. Anyone know how long it takes for them to mature into frogs?

Weird and wonderful plant containers.

We use all sorts of weird and wonderful objects to make containers for plants. This one is a snare drum with a succelent in.

Two more drums from the same set. I think there’s two more left to be planted from the kit. Don’t worry Andy got a new set so he’s not without drums.

An old pair of wellington boots make a home for more succelents which are starting to spread nicely.

Old worn out boots are given a new task.

Metal dustbin filled with Ferns, Ivy and a Hosta.

Finally, an old cast iron stove planted up with succulents. Yes, I do like succulents. They are easy to care for, grow easily from cuttings and spread fairly quickly.