Monday 19 March 2012

No Sunday Post




This was because we were out in the morning and I never got round to it for the rest of the day.
In the morning we went to our local Auction House as it was a viewing day for a catalogue sale.
Tennants is called 'The Christies of the North' and I must say that looking round the stuff on auction at their catalogue sales you cannot help but be amazed by it.
Apart from the usual lots of lovely furniture, china, silver and jewelry there were also massive collections of butterflies pinned on to board and stored in cabinets, shells (hundreds of them) and - most horrific of all - a room full of stuffed animal heads. There were tiger and leopard rugs and then dozens of stuffed heads - who would wish to buy such things?

We usually stay and have a Sunday lunch in the restaurant but yesterday we came home because I had left a nice fat herb-fed free range chicken cooking slowly in the Aga. It was delicious.

The first dandelion has appeared in our lawn. We have a constant battle with them throughout the season but I must say that the first flower is always a joy to see. What a pity they are seen as weeds because they have such a lovely flower.

It is only a matter of time before the first buttercup also rears its golden yellow head among the flower beds - or, worse still, in the lawn. I don't know which is worse to remove - the deep, deep root of the dandelion or the creeping sneaky root of the buttercup. Apparently buttercup flowers make a good skin potion if they are warmed in vaseline. And of course, dandelion flowers make delicious wine and their new leaves are tasty in salads.

But if we leave them all then they will take over; and then where will our reputations be?

Do admire the lovely rose in the photograph. I try to avoid carbon footprints/air miles etc. But I do make an exception for Tesco's roses. These have been on my kitchen window sill for three weeks tomorrow (I took this photograph a few minutes ago); the bunch of ten cost me three pounds and they are guaranteed for a week. After three weeks they are still going strong and I cannot over-estimate the pleasure they have given me.

18 comments:

MorningAJ said...

I always like to see a few flowers in a lawn but dandelions get so tall they just aren't practical.

You can do a lot with them though.

Heather said...

Your rose is beautiful Pat. I have seen my first dandelion and lots of daisies, but not in our lawn as my husband thinks it is the best part of the garden! I grow magnificent buttercups and dandelions and once made a very nice wine with dandelion flowers.

Anonymous said...

That is a pretty rose, I don't blame you for buying them.

I love Dandelions, my tiny lawn has a lot of them in spring and summer and they look lovely.

Your chicken sounds delicious.

Bovey Belle said...

What a pretty rose. They have repaid your careful looking after them by staying in flower so long.

My mum made Dandelion wine. Once. She didn't realize you had to only use the petals and you would no BELIEVE the smell from the wine bucket after a week with the flower backs left on . . .

jeanette from everton terrace said...

What is your trick to keep flowers so long? Seriously, mine never make it more than 5 days or so. I'm in awe.
Auctions are 1 of my most favorite things to do ever. I skipped ours yesterday, would love to have been to yours. It sounds much more glam than mine usually are.

it's me said...

and just think of all the wishes we get when the dandelions go to seed...

the only thing that convinces me to trim the lawns a bit are the snakes that may be in the tall grass

Mary said...

....and please don't throw the roses out when they do fade, hang them to dry and they will reward you with another pretty display. Personally I love them even more when dried - however the stuffed heads you saw at auction would never hang on my walls. It's horrific to think people still actually go on safaris, paying thousands, to kill those beautiful creatures!

Yellow flowers popping up in the green, green grass of home - love the memory!

Off again on Wed. Too much travel but this year is going to be like that so I have to get used to it! My garden is suffering from lack of love - hoping Mother Nature is forgiving!

Enjoy early Spring on the farm - I envy you Pat.

Warm hugs - Mary

Dave King said...

I do agree with you re dandelions, both that they are gorgeous in their own right, but would run riot if left unchecked. I do worry though about garden ers who can't abide to see a few daisies.

BilboWaggins said...

First dandelion here today also. I'm torn between leaving the heads here for the bees or pulling them off before they set seed.

The Weaver of Grass said...

The roses from Tesco came with their own sachet of rose food - that is all I have done with them. They are in a fairly cool place too.

Glad you all seem to have a love/hate relationship with dandelions.

Crafty Green Poet said...

I love the cherrfulness of dandelions and buttercups, but they are menaces in a lawn! I used to gather dandelion leaves for our rabbit, never thought of putting them into a salad for myself!

H said...

No dandelion flowers here yet, but once they start...
Daisies and buttercups can flower all they want though. I also, quite deliberately, have a patch of cow parsley. I love it when it flowers :)

Eryl said...

The rose is gorgeous, and three weeks is a rather astonishing length of time for them to still be looking like that. I do like a dandelion too.

Jenn Jilks said...

We love bringing in flowers, too. And if you pay a bit more, they last, don't they? And that is the whole purpose!


Greetings from Cottage Country!

Pondside said...

When my daughter was small I often received huge bouquets of dandelions and have found them lovely ever since. Now buttercups are another thing altogether. The have invaded our lawns and I fear that eradicating them will leave me with a whole lot of bare lawn.

maryelizabethroche said...

The rose is beautiful! We have very unseasonable weather here and everything is blooming much too early, it's a little frightening!

Golden West said...

Ah, the colors in your rose are lovely - they remind me of a tropical sunset!

Everything Changes said...

I keep trying to convince hubby dandelions are our friends. :-)