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Tuesday 2 June 2015

Early summer days



This photo sums up the last few weeks in our area. Unsettled weather, intense sunshine, pouring rain, amazing clouds and colours. I take this back route home from our village shop, and the farmer has just cut a path through the grass. I can hop over the fence into our back garden.



The first thing I see in the garden is our old plum tree, now dead, but covered in these white clematis flowers. This is one of the first things that I've done in the garden which has actually gone according to plan! It has taken about four years to scramble over the tree, covering it with foliage and flowers. 



In the veg garden we have lots of rhubarb at the moment. I've been stewing it with orange zest, brown sugar and a little water, and serving it with baked ricotta and honey, a recipe I found in my Riverford recipe book. I highly recommend this combination. Last week, I bought English strawberries on the market and added those to the rhubarb before poaching, the flavour was fabulous.




I am supposedly decluttering (again) and I have managed to move some of my stuff along. But I saw this chipped, crazed old blue and white bowl in Age Concern for £2 on Friday and could not resist it. Despite the high winds and rain, seasonal flowers are everywhere. It's always this time of year when a house in my parents' village puts out bunches of lupins for sale. I look forward to them, as they are such a burst of dramatic colour and shape. When mum rang me to say that she'd seen the lupins and bought  me a couple of bunches, I leapt in the car to go and collect them. Lupins don't last long, and they probably look best in the midst of a cottage garden, but I had a go at painting them to preserve the memory. I had a lovely couple of hours doing this.



Incredible shapes and colours.



Just love this time of year, when even some of the most neglected corners of my garden look almost pretty.



And you can pick a posy from the garden in a few minutes. 





11 comments:

  1. The blue bowl is amazing as are the lupins!

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  2. So many lovely images on this post. It is a beautiful time of the year. I have caught myself just standing at the window, looking down on the garden. The blossom seems exceedingly lush this year, even if I don't have any lupins.

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    1. Hello, yes, I agree that the blossom is very lush this year. I am also spending more time just looking and making the most of it. Thanks for your kind comments too :)

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  3. You have such a talent as a painter and photographer. The lupins are a real delight as is the garden chair, that would look amazing with a plant on it.

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    1. Thank you so much, and yes, I should put a plant on that lovely old chair. I have grown a few flowers in pots from seed this year, but they've yet to bloom. When they do, I will post a shot!

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  4. Love the blue bowl. Those lupins are so pretty, I have several in my garden.. but going to sow more for next year. Your posy you picked from the garden is beautiful :o)

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    1. Did you grow them from seed? I'd love to have a go!

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  5. lovely painting - lupins aren't something you often see used in flower displays but they should be - they look beautiful.

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  6. Mmm! Rhubarb and strawberries sound lovely. I must try it. And the lupins are beautiful. I have tried growing them but have never had much success.

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  7. Lovely photo's Fiona! What a beautiful painting and I would not have been able to resist that blue plate either.

    Madelief x

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