11 Jun 2011

The Saturday Snap: Wandering Around

Due to the rain, I was back indoors in time for Gardener's World yesterday evening. I don't watch it regularly but last night's was jolly good with Monty in his herb bed, dispensing good advice about which herbs will happily grow together, i.e. get the soil type right, one size does not fit all. I particularly liked how to tell the difference between french and russian tarragon, especially as I've just bought a tiny (labelled-as-french) tarragon plant. Carol Klein pottered around her beautiful garden at Glebe Cottage, gathering seed from Hellebores and taking softwood cuttings from a Black Elder (Sambucus nigra) shrub and honeysuckle. (I didn't know you could do that with hellebores.)  Catch up with it on BBC iplayer.

I've just been outside to see if I could find any seed to gather from the hellebores in the Secret Garden below my windows but, sadly, the rain has made the flowers mushy and all the seeds have already dropped. I'm probably a week too late but I'd hoped to photograph the seeds still attached to the flowers for today's Snap.

Wandering further along the path, some beautiful Hydrangea heads caught my eye, still glistening with the drops of night-time rain showers;  as I rounded into the veg patch, the sun came out from behind a cloud and, although there was a little breeze, I managed to photograph red orach, a yellow ladybird, the unopened centre of a sunflower and honeysuckle rambling through ivy.  All together a very satisfying start to the day but now comes the choice:  which photo to pick for the Saturday Snap?? I think it has to be

Yellow Ladybird

The photo feels so bright and sunny even though there are currently black clouds looming, it's going to be one of my favourites and looks lovely as a desktop background!  If you want to see the others, go to my Flickr page (link on the right).  I'm not sure how this works, but I think you can also download the photo to your own desktop (if you want).

Tomorrow's forecast is for rain ALL DAY so I'm off to put out tubs and containers to catch the water (good for the blueberries) and to get some more seeds sown.  I seem to remember parsley doing particularly well a couple of years ago, sown just before a downpour.

Good gardening everyone!  Caro xx

P.S.  If anyone would like to join me in the Saturday Snap, please leave a link in the comments box.  I'd love to see your photos! xx

6 comments:

  1. What a beautiful pic!

    I always watch my weekly dose of Monty on Saturday mornings after letting the chickens out and then sneaking back up to bed. I wish I could follow his advise about planting different herbs, but lack of space means that they're all stuck in the same bed, whether they like it or not! :)

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  2. Do you take your pics with a special camera or an ordinary digital, mine never look that good.

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  3. Terrific picture! I see lots of ladybirds on the plot but very rarely get a good photo of one.
    Flighty xx

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  4. Una, I'm very envious of the space in Monty's garden - rows of coriander! what heaven! My herbs are plonked in haphazardly but I may have to rethink where I resow them after GW this week!

    Elaine, I've used a Nikon or Panasonic compact digital up until recently (both with good lenses) but this pic was taken with my new Canon 550D and a zoom lens on macro. Strangely, it was easier to get good close up shots with the Panasonic but the background didn't blur so nicely. I did the same as you when looking for a new camera and asked other bloggers whose photos I admired. Karen, Garden Smallholder, was very helpful!

    Flighty, I can be very determined when I see a bug I want to photograph!!

    Una, Elaine and Flighty, thank you all for your compliments on this week's photo; It's nice to know my photos are appreciated. Caro xx

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  5. Well I was just going through these past posts and I watched the Carol Klein hellebore seeds thing too. At that time I had a vase of the seed head/dying flowers in the front room as I love the way they fade and noticed all the shiney seeds had dropped onto the table around it. I have them if anyone is interested. I would sow them but I already have too many plants and too little space....... Lucy ( from the farm Kentish Town )

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  6. Lucy I'd love to have some of your hellebore seeds! We can do a swop, my cerinthe for your hellebore seeds. See you soon at the farm! Caro x

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