Category: Photography

Spring bulbs and Scabiosa in a vase on Monday

On By CathIn Flowers, Light and dark, Photography, Spring Bulbs, Weather and Seasons3 Comments

Scabiosa ‘Black Night’ is another summer flower which put on a growth spurt during the extra warm winter weather in June. Luckily it’s in a dryish sunny bed close to the house, so was sheltered from the frosts and cold rain which July has brought. I love this flower, and Penstemon ‘Raven’, which is growing in the same bed, along with Osteospermum ‘Buttermilk’ which is making a fairly unenthusiastic attempt at flowering. Crepuscule roses farther from the house are covered with drooping buds.

The first of the Dutch Iris has bloomed, and a dill is blooming in a well drained bed. Narcissi of all types are blooming in most places and smelling sweet.

It’s interesting to see that vases from all around the world today have calendulas – this one is a self sown one from an original sowing of ‘Snow Princess’. Osteospermum Buttermilk looks a bit the same in this photo, but it has the darker coloured back of the petals and a darker center which isn’t showing.

It’s another cold and rainy day today, and while I am shivering, it’s comforting to see Cathy’s Sizzling Vase and other hot weather flowers at Rambling in the Garden.

chrysanthemums salvia cut flowers

In a Vase on Monday, one month apart

On By CathIn Country Garden, Flowers, Photography, Vegetable Garden, Weather and Seasons19 Comments

It’s a month since I brought home flowers. Time is ripping past and there is so much to do on the house, in the garden, and at work that there just doesn’t seem to be time.
fruit and flowers with pumpkin
But yesterday I decided to pick some Mother’s day flowers for a close friend.
So here are last month’s flowers and yesterday’s flowers.
fall flowers and pumpkinsChrysanthemums are flowering now, the last of the pumpkins are inside, and the anemones are almost gone.
anemone roses and dahlias cut flowersWeirdly, I found the first of the Paper Whites flowering yesterday – although the weather is unseasonably warm.

vase of red and pink dahlias

Last Splash – In a Vase on Monday

On By CathIn Flowers, Light and dark, Photography23 Comments

The hot weather goes on and with it the dahlias. The bees are in the asters and the salvia, luckily there is a lot of it – this salvia leucantha grows willingly. I was going to say ‘like a weed’, but it doesn’t really, you have to plant it and then it grows where you put it.
dahlia akita
The dahlias are Akita, Profundo, the white and lemon grown from seed, and another pink one ‘Dark Horse’, which I thought I had lost.
dahlias akita and profundo
We are in the throes of harvesting, and have bottled another 19 pints of tomato puree tonight to add to the 3 or 4 dozen already put away, so it’s late and time to sleep. Congratulations to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for 6 years of blogging, and thank you for hosting IAVOM.

single pink miniature dahlia

In a Vase on Monday – Pink Posy with Roses and Dahlias

On By CathIn Flowers, Photography, Summer bulbs25 Comments

Right, these are more favourite Dahlias. Dahlia Profundo is the darker pink one. It’s not a big dahlia, but the little pink single is really tiny; it’s tubers are tiny too. It was a favourite of C’s mum, given to me by his aunt. Although it’s so small it has real presence, with the fully open flowers standing straight up and facing outward.
pink dahlias and roses in a vase

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dahlia bud

In a Vase on Monday – Phormium and Dahlias, Orange and Yellows

On By CathIn Flowers, Photography27 Comments

Often I only notice flax flowers when the Tuis are drinking the nectar, but this one is from a pot by the door of the greenhouse, so the deep orange of the flowers and the dark brown-purple stem caught my eye. It’s unfortunately disappearing into the background in my photo.
flowers in a vase
The single Dahlias with dark leaves are a mix of Keith Hammett Dahlias and their children. The bees love them the best, so I rarely pick them.

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field of buckwheat flowers with bees

Buckwheat for Bees

On By CathIn Bees, Flowers, Food from the Garden, Insects, Landscape, Photography, Weather and Seasons7 Comments

I am pretty happy with my buckwheat. After the extra hot spring weather brought early flowering on many trees and shrubs, I wanted to make sure the bees didn’t go hungry later in the summer. I sowed the buckwheat seed in an area of soil which had been dug and flattened for the septic tank runoff, but won’t be completed with the drainage until the plumbing is finished later in the year. We had a couple good rains, and 4 weeks later the first flowers were out and filled with bees every morning. A rainy and hot month later the plants are almost as tall as me and full of flowers.
honey bees on buckwheat flowers
Buckwheat only releases nectar in the morning, so the bees seem to be very business like and efficient in harvesting. They carry a good amount of pale yellow-green pollen as well.

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Red Dahlia Macro

In a Vase on Monday – Dahlias Again

On By CathIn Flowers, Photography25 Comments

I know this is repetitive, but the Akita Dahlias are doing amazingly well, and I had to rescue them from the lawnmower chewing them up for flopping onto the path. Here are a few different ages of flower, mixed with the dark red dahlias rescued from the dump. You can see how they get more yellow as they age, losing the contrast between the creamy tips of the petals and the dark base.
Red Dahlias in a vase

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Mid Summer

On By CathIn Country Garden, Flowers, Foliage, Landscape, Photography, Weather and Seasons6 Comments

I’m still madly busy, so much so that I spent a rare weekend in the city, worrying that the birds would feast on my first really big tomatoes. As it turns out, they left the really big ones alone, and there is plenty for all of us – we are really into bruschetta season now. It was raining all weekend anyway, we have had almost 4 inches – 92 mm of rain since we were here 2 weeks ago.
The first windows are in the barn house – so exciting! We are oiling more redwood weatherboards this week, and looking after vegetables in any spare time.
Here are a few photos – these are from mid January.

chard going to seed with plum tree
Ruby Chard forming seed by a plum tree. Great seeds for micro greens

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