What better way is there of soldiering on than to order a few plants for the garden. So I have done just that. I have already been for my walk and had my lunch. My lifeline lady has been and we have had a good chat which has resulted in my paying a little more to have my 8pm to 8am slot transferred away from my son and on to the service. I do not like the thought of him being called out in the night and having to leave his invalid wife on her own. Now I find that for seventy pence a week I can change this and add the time to the lifeline service, so I have done just that.
Another Spring day although not quite as warm - there is a cool haze, I have ordered an aster Winston Churchill, 2 geraniums - Anne Folkhard and magnificum and Helenium Red Jewel. These will hopefully go into the bed which is down the side of the lawn at patio level where I can reach without any steps. Now I shall go over to the post box and post it off to Claire Austin in Newtown on the Welsh Borders, where I buy all my plants. I am determined to bring cheer to our lives - gardens make such a difference. Just walking round each day I see how folk are 'pottering' - doing a bit each day (we are mostly 'oldies' around here so it is a bit at a time).
Blackbirds were singing their beaks off when I walked round this morning. Not quite as good as a thrush but better than nothing. I have not heard a thrush (he sings his song twice over, lest he can ne'er reccapture that first fine careless rapture). since I moved here from the farm, although the farm is only two fields away. Similarly swallows and house martins are rarely seen whereas we had swallows building in the same nests in the barn every year and house martins under the eaves.
Well dear friends I shall be off to post my plant order. I might even go in my slippers - it is only across the road and there is nobody about!!
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23 comments:
Flowers and shrubs in the garden definitely bring joy. You will enjoy your new plants. Also, having them close and within easy reach will add to the pleasure of gardening. A cool wind does make being outside less perfect; especially as we all yearn for warmth and sunny skies.
Last year I chose a purple petunia for my hanging plant. This year I'll go back to red geraniums. The petunia didn't like the summer sun (as I mentioned to the nursery man when I bought it...but he denied it!) And purple color against the greenery didn't show that well from a distance. My porch can be seen from the "club house" aka the office and laundry room building across the parking lot. Thanks for helping me think about that, a month and a half early for our area!
Anne Folkhard is a really great geranium, you won't regret it, have grown it for years.
Really warm and cloudless down here, up to 18-20 degrees, barely seen a cloud for a week. Amazing how fast the ground is drying out though.
Sad at how once common birds are now becoming increasingly uncommon, Song Thrushes round here are almost rare but we have the first Lapwing nests on the reserve.
Flowers and birds always give me comfort. Though geraniums don’t grow well in the summer heat of Louisiana they are still one of my favorites.
The blackbird's song is one of my favourites; I hear it every morning and evening this time of year.
I dare say nobody would mind seeing you cross the road in your slippers, but maybe you are a little more steady on your feet in proper shoes :-)
It has been beautiful today, clear blue skies and not a cloud in sight. The morning was very cold (0 C) but it warmed up nicely to about 17C in the afternoon.
I adore barn swallows. I remember staring up at their nests in our barn when I was a child and wishing a baby swallow would accidently fall into my waiting hands. Thankfully, that never happened. All these years later, I still wish I owned a barn along with a colony of barn swallows.
Birdsong and flowers - no surer signs of spring
Your new choices for your garden sound beautiful! Isn't it wonderful to hear the birds singing in joy in the Spring?
Well as Thelma pointed out yesterday we are officially in Spring now so we must hope for some warmer weather,
It’s really springlike isn’t it, buds are cracking open everywhere and twice I’ve taken my jacket off when I’ve been out walking. However my balcony pots took such a battering the plants are only just starting to recover, be just my luck that we are off to Italy before they are anything like. Enjoy your purchases, such a good investment.
I too love the song of blackbirds, and Paul MCCartney's Blackbird, was always one of my favourite Beatles songs, but have only just found out it was about the Civil Rights movement in the U.S...I am incredibly slow on catching up with that one!
We are in Autumn now, but still have some days where we have the air-conditioning on because of the humidity...very unusual this time of year. Pam, Aust.
What kind of thrush did you hear on the farm? Was it a Mistle Thrush? Here in Washington State we have Varied Thrushes. I'm so happy that you mentioned thrushes because it prompted me to try to find out what our thrushes sound like. I've heard their distinctive voices before when I walk in the woods but never, until now, realized that I was hearing a thrush.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzIq2vPYRho
You've reminded me that soon I will be be buying plants for the small second-story porch of my condominium. The neighbor who lives directly below me has a lovely flower and vegetable garden in the small section of ground outside her living room, to the left of her door. I buy plants that attract hummingbirds and sometimes butterflies. I put out a suet feeder which attracts a variety of birds, including Northern Flickers. I've seen the first robin of the season. The Canada geese have arrived. The Bald Eagles are nesting.
I loved buying plants when I had a garden, and could always squeeze something new in somewhere. Another glorious day here, quite warm out of the wind. I have to make do with robins singing as most of my avian visitors are sparrows, seagulls, magpies and crows. I do see the occasional rook and jackdaw, and one day last week I watched a pair of buzzards circling lazily above the High Street.
Please tell me what the Lifeline Service is Weave?
I go the Asda round the corner in my pyjamas often enough...
Nothing says spring like plants in the post.
You scamp! Crossing the road in your slippers, oh my!
There's just not much better than planting something and see it do well and flower.
I love springtime!
After reading your title it's hard to get the image of soldiers marching in their slippers out of my mind. Gorgeous day here yesterday with birds singing throughout the day.
I am so glad you are welcoming spring into your garden Pat, not something I can do this year but I can feel the beat and pulse of spring and that brings happiness. Rather than bemoan world affairs, of which we can do little for, perhaps planting and feeding the birds will still keep the old system going. Reading a blog this morning and he was wondering whether to take a different approach to gardening because of the wetness of the fenlands. We adapt. And also please leave dandelion flowers for the bees! ;)
Lifeline Tom - I wear a pendant with a 'press button' on it and there is some kind of 'machine'on my coffee table. If I fall or there is any kind of crisis ((egwhen I fell and broke my hip)) I press the button and whoever is on duty aska what the problem is and then deals with it (eg rings for ambulance,sends round the warden, rings your contact. For this service I pay £30a mnth - worth every penny - I have used it half a dozen times over the last three years. Once a monththe warden calls for a chat
Si Pyjamas in Asda. Tut Tut
Thanks for calling everyone. Lovely Spring day again.
Lifeline sounds an excellent idea. I’ll be investing in it should I need help.
I’m pretty sure you didn’t end up going to the letterbox in your slippers! x
Anne - quite right - I thought better of it.
See you all tomorrow.
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