The more traditional Scottish summer weather has returned this past week. It is much cooler now; there have been a few more rain showers, and the garden has rehydrated and is greening up again. Earlier today, I was having a look back at my garden post of this time last year; several of the flowers I featured then are well and truly over by now due to the heat and dry of the past few weeks.
There seem to be plenty of bees (and butterflies) in the garden this year which is very good news. The Goldenrod and globe thistles were alive with sound of buzzing while I was capturing these images. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed quite so many different kinds of bees and flying insects as I waited to capture the pollen collecting action.
The poppies add a brief splash of colour when they bloom. The fragile petals are like tissue-paper. Once in full bloom, each flower head looks radiant for about 24 hours before the petals are shed, on by one.
Just as fragile looking are the Japanese anemones, but although they look so delicate and pretty, the flowers last for many days, if not weeks, and seem to be able to tolerate any wind, rain, heat and chill that a Scottish summer has to offer.
Year after year, the back garden flowerbeds become packed out with the long stems and leaves of Crocosmia. The weight of several flower heads per stem means that they do appear to grow horizontally, particularly in the sunshine; in the shadier parts of the garden, the stems hold their heads higher as they reach for the light. For me, it is the bright orange flowers and lush green foliage of this plant that represents the peak of summer like no other.
My final images are of another orange flower in the garden: very tall and elegant tiger lilies. I love the way the petals fold back so neatly at the back of the bloom, just like a beautifully tied ribbon. Until next week, my best wishes to you 🙂
My Virtually Free-from Kitchen 
You have managed to catch the right moment for the bees and poppies, Kathryn!
With the heat wave that we have had, the wild blackberries that grow along our small country roads are already ripe. I don’t recall ever picking them before the end of August: it was usually done just as school started. Who knows, Kathryn, maybe your gardening blog will be a reference to climate change in the coming decades, just as Samuel Pepys’s diary tells us of the Great Fire of London!
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Thank you as ever for your kind words and for raising my blog to the esteemed level of Mr Pepys’ diary! I remember going brambling towards the end of the school holidays when I was a child, so that would be the end of August. Mum would make them into bramble jelly. Delicious. They are very early this year; I saw on social media, blackberries picked at the beginning of the month in the south west of England. I haven’t found an easily accessible place to pick since I moved to Scotland; the wild berries are so much better flavoured than any commercially grown crop. I hope you enjoy your free food. It just goes to show how little water fruits in the wild needs to survive. I think we over-water our crops in the garden, they must be so much weaker for it. Have a good weekend 🙂
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Kathryn, have you ever heard of Pierre Rabhi? A very unusual philosopher, a man who left Paris to farm with his wife in a region known for its dry unforgiving soil, he managed to actually make a living from it. If you can, go on YouTube and look him up!
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Sounds interesting. I will do some research. Thank you 🙂
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What beautiful flowers you have!
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I love the white Japanese anemones, I have the purple ones too, but the only white I’ve seen are in a private house that’s been abandoned, but I still can’t…rescue the flowers. Your garden looks fantastic and the photos are beautiful.
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Hello there. Good to hear from you again. Thanks for getting in touch. Yes, the white anemones are particularly beautiful – so pure in colour. They came out slightly later than the pink and last a wee bit longer. Once you do get them established, they will flower year after year. All the best to you and your garden 🙂
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