Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life. The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent. Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.
Like River I usually run with a theme. We have had some grey days this week, and some welcome rain fell on Friday night and Saturday morning. In a break in the rain, I headed outside, and went for a wet wander through the garden. It smelt delightful, and I do like looking at rain washed plants.
The first photo is of the spot where a glorious crab apple grew. Sadly the heat and the drought over summer killed it. A helpful (not) person from the street 'pruning' it with a chainsaw to get a better view for himself didn't help either. Over the last little while I have been chopping down the crab apple (grieving) and weeding under it. Then planting. There are now many, many bulbs waiting to blaze. As an aside I finished planting all our bulbs this week - and the skinny one ordered some more. There will be over 2000 squeezed in, and I am hoping for magic.
As always clicking on the photos will magically embiggen them.
The next photo is the evidence of my industry. I have found ripping, tearing, pruning and weeding remarkably cathartic. There is some more to do yet (isn't there always?). When I finish (or more likely give up) I will hire a skip (dumpster).
And the final two photos are of the sky. Both yesterday. About two hours apart.
The first was shortly after my morning walk.
And the second just before I headed out to do more weeding. More rain was predicted - and fell.
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life. The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent. Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.
Like River I usually run with a theme. We have had some grey days this week, and some welcome rain fell on Friday night and Saturday morning. In a break in the rain, I headed outside, and went for a wet wander through the garden. It smelt delightful, and I do like looking at rain washed plants.
The first photo is of the spot where a glorious crab apple grew. Sadly the heat and the drought over summer killed it. A helpful (not) person from the street 'pruning' it with a chainsaw to get a better view for himself didn't help either. Over the last little while I have been chopping down the crab apple (grieving) and weeding under it. Then planting. There are now many, many bulbs waiting to blaze. As an aside I finished planting all our bulbs this week - and the skinny one ordered some more. There will be over 2000 squeezed in, and I am hoping for magic.
As always clicking on the photos will magically embiggen them.
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| A grevillea - which I didn't think would bloom for another month or two |
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| Euphorbia |
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| Abutilon |
The next photo is the evidence of my industry. I have found ripping, tearing, pruning and weeding remarkably cathartic. There is some more to do yet (isn't there always?). When I finish (or more likely give up) I will hire a skip (dumpster).
And the final two photos are of the sky. Both yesterday. About two hours apart.
The first was shortly after my morning walk.
And the second just before I headed out to do more weeding. More rain was predicted - and fell.
Really sorry about your tree. I never thought of a chainsaw as a pruning tool.
ReplyDeleteAt least your flowers look great and you're cleaning things up.
That last shot is great!
Alex J. Cavanaugh: I think a chainsaw is only a pruning tool when you don't care what happens to the plant. We were amazed when we realised what he had done. Amazed and more than a little peeved.
DeleteI remember Don Burke used a chain saw to prune roses years ago and the result was amazing. Beautiful healthy bushes the next season so chain saws obviously have their use in the most unexpected places., but not in your place unfortuantely.
DeleteMimsie: I can remember him doing that - and wondered whether others had the same success. I suspect not.
DeleteIt looks really rather lovely, other than the lost tree. And I know exactly what you mean about the catharsis of ripping and tearing out "stuff" :-)
ReplyDeleteYour sky shots are tremendous, and only two hours apart, but worlds of difference. :-)
DJan: There is something invigorating about destruction - some days at least.
DeleteLovely flowers! I am discovering the ease of bulbs, and many more will disappear into the dirt this fall. Especially anemones.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Noragon: Bulbs are wonderful. Set and forget plants - which breed. A lot to love in that.
DeleteI'm fascinated by the grevilla. It looks like a bunch of pretty snails. Really like the second to last picture too. Take care, EC. I'm thinking about you and yours.
ReplyDeleteRawkynrobyn: We have several different grevilleas - and I love them all. Thank you for your good wishes - just for a change we have (he has) another set back. His poor face looks like a well stuffed chipmunk at the moment - on one side.
DeleteLots of new to me flowers..pretty. And I loved the changing sky shots.
ReplyDeleteSue in Italia/In the Land of Cancer: Which flowers are new to you? Our garden is crowded, and eclectic. Which is the way I like it. The skies were a joy yesterday. It is gently raining at the moment (yay) and very, very grey.
DeleteI never heard of grevillea and abutilon. I thought I was being productive planting 100 bulbs..
DeleteSue in Italia/In the Land of Cancer: I love them both - and they come in a variety of colours too. And my bulb planting is excessive. Very.
DeleteYou have been really busy. Such work!!! I really love that last picture of sky and trees!
ReplyDeleteBookie: I headed out to doing the weeding, looked up, and came straight back inside for the camera. I really loved that sky.
DeletePruning it with a chainsaw. Yes, very helpful I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI love a rain-drenched garden too. There's something so magical about it. Love the pics.
Wendy: His pruning was uninvited and unwelcome. HIss and spit. And yes to garden wanders in the rain.
DeleteSuperb flowers you have, look after yourselve.
ReplyDeleteBob Bushell: I am hoping that in a couple of months the garden blazes with colour - reward for the blood, sweat and tears (not to mention money) which have gone into it.
DeleteCrab apples are the most beautiful of flowering trees. What a shame. All those bulbs sound like back breaking work, but probably worth it come spring.
ReplyDeleteAndrew: That particular crab apple was incredible. The neighbour across the road (not the chainsaw maniac) used to hold morning tea parties each year when it bloomed so that his guests could see it too.
DeleteLater I will plant another. And yes, my back is currently definitely broken.
What a wonderful variety of plants you have, EC. We had some rain yesterday; not heavy, just showers throughout the day, but it was most welcome. We need it; and I'd love to see us get more, but fine days are predicted until mid-week if not further into the week.
ReplyDeleteHave a good week, EC. :)
Lee: We needed it too. We didn't get a lot - but it was very welcome. The skies are clearing again now though. A great week to you and the furry tyrants too.
DeleteYou'd told me the crabapple had died - you didn't tell me it was murdered! Okay, maybe your nitwit neighbor didn't commit a pre-meditated Chainsaw Massacre, but he's certainly guilty of negligent arborcide with a deadly weapon. And what view could be better than one of an old crabapple friend, especially when it's covered in glorious, perfumed blooms, or casts welcome shade in the blistering heat?
ReplyDelete*sigh* I'm almost too distraught and PO'ed to admire your flowers - and they're gorgeous, so that's saying a lot! They look refreshed and relieved, covered in those raindrops. So pretty!
I hope your bulbs come up gangbusters, the new crabapple sapling grows big and strong and UNMOLESTED, and that your neighbor sees the errors of his ways! Also, that your aching back gets some much deserved rest.
Laloofah: He didn't kill it outright - but it didn't help an already stressed tree. And he didn't ask either - just did it. If we had realised at the time he would have been stopped. I am not certain what sort of crab apple to replace it with - but replace it I will.
DeleteI know, that's the only reason I reduced the charges against him to negligent arborside (a word I probably made up). And I can't believe he didn't even ask first. That sounds like such a Wyoming thing to do! (Was the tree on anyone's property or was it communal?)
DeleteLaloofah: It was on OUR property. Nothing communal about it.
DeleteAs you know I adore cloud watching
ReplyDeleteThat final shot
I would have loved to have watched .. For a long time
John Gray: I spend a LOT of time watching the weather come up from the valley. And there are a kazillion photos from just that angle.
DeleteIf a neighbour ripped into my trees with a chainsaw I'd be very inclined to turn it on him!
ReplyDeleteIt's raininh up here.Soft, drizzly rain so I may continue weeding...
dinahmow: We didn't realise what he was doing. Heard the chainsaw, and saw him saunter down the road with it over his shoulder. It was some hours later that we saw his work. And he isn't an immediate neighbour - not even sure where in the street he lives. Or words would have been said.
DeleteOur rain has stopped, for the moment, but the garden is very, very wet. I might have the morning (at least) off.
oh I'd be in heaven for a walk in your garden, just lovelyl
ReplyDeleteLinda Starr: Thank you. Too often when I look at it I see what needs to be done, rather than what is there. Wandering around with the camera is a good way to shift my focus.
DeleteLovely drops of water - your plants look happy! We had 4 days of torrential rain last week, to the point of closing schools etc - for 36 hours there were ferocious winds, as well. Today there has been a heavy frost, the second this winter so far. As you can imagine some of my treasures, planted last winter or spring around the new house, have suffered. I've lost a hibiscus and 2 dwarf pohutukawas, and the passion fruit and citrus trees got hit, although I'm hopeful they will survive. The joys of being a gardener...
ReplyDeleteThank you for the beautiful flower pics, and the clouds. I won't mention the crabappletree-murderer!!
Alexia: I am so sorry about the damage to your garden. Fingers and toes crossed that the passion fruit and the citrus recover. Rain I always welcome - because we never get enough. Wind? Not so much. It makes me as feral as any young child. Itchy skinned and irritable.
DeleteI hope you plant an ENORMOUS tree to block the view...er, replace the tree you lost. :) I can't believe someone would do that without asking - and with a chainsaw?
ReplyDeleteRiver Fairchild: We live on a corner - and he no doubt justified it by saying that he was improving road safety. Just the same, I will replace it. Perhaps not with an enormous tree - but it will be replaced. And the not asking stuck (sticks) in my craw too.
DeleteBeautiful as always. I love the greville. Not sure but it looks like a snail vine we have here. (annual) I will have to look that one up.
ReplyDeleteTeresa: Grevilleas are Australian natives - and perennial. They come in a range of colours and are bird heaven.
DeleteY'all have such pretty flowers, glad you got some rain!! Nice cloud in the last pic
ReplyDeleteKim @ Stuff could...: Thank you. The rain was more than welcome - and the cloud spectacular.
DeleteOooh, that very last shot had me shivering with delight at it's beautiful broodiness.
ReplyDeleteVery, very sorry about the crab apple. I would grieve too, they are such lovely trees. I like to see them be allowed to ramble into whatever natural shape they want to be, with only very minimal pruning if/when necessary.
I hope there is an explosion of colour to commemorate it, in Spring.
I love Grevilleas, and especially the soft, creamy pink of new blossoms. Sadly here, it's too deep, heavy and waterlogged clay (metres of it), and too shady.
Mine always grew well in W.A. Such glorious plants. And the birds come from miles around to drink nectar from them.
Your hard work is always rewarded, EC.
I well remember such mounds of tangled branches and bush after a good clean up. Very cathartic.
And, your garden always makes me sigh :)
Wishing you and SP a wonderful week.
Vicki: The soil in our gardens wasn't good when we moved here. Most of it now is rich and humus filled and lush. And yes, I do mourn that crab apple. But will replace it.
DeleteThe garden is an obsession - but one which pays dividends.
I've read through the comments and found the answers to the questions I had about the chainsaw person. Really. Some people. I actually thought it was illegal to cut something on someone else's property. And if he thought it was a danger to traffic he needed to go through the right channels, starting with the owner. Cripes. I feel like Laloofah, above - nearly too wound up to enjoy your wonderful garden!! You are a patient person, EC. And a dedicated gardener.
ReplyDeleteI also caught your comment about SP's swollen face - is that normal after a biopsy or are there new things going on? I do hope things settle down, and you have an unremarkable week ahead.
jenny_o: It is no doubt illegal to take a chain saw to vegetation on someone else's property. Sadly we don't know who he is - and the damage was done. A dedicated gardener I am - patient I am not.
DeleteI don't know whether the swelling is normal after a biopsy. Given the extent and the pain I am guessing not. And really, really want him to see someone about it.
Beautiful blooms EC! How lovely it must be to have flowers in winter. I am not a prolific bulb planter, but come spring, I do go overboard with the annuals and perennials from the garden centres. Your sky shots are terrific, sunshine and rain, what more could anyone ask for!
ReplyDeleteKaren: There is usually something flowering, somewhere in the garden. And this winter things are confused, and spring flowering plants have burst into bloom. I go overboard in spring too.
DeleteYou've been so very busy and now the skinny one has ordered yet more bulbs??
ReplyDeleteI shall hiss and spit on your behalf over the crabapple. I remember when you first mentioned it was dying.
I love that grevillea! Which variety is that please?
And I love the sunbeams in that first sky photo.
River: He has *only* ordered another 85 bulbs!. I cannot remember which grevillea it is. I will have a look and see if it has a tag left.
DeleteAnd the skies were a delight.
I think it might be Grevillea arenaria (Nepean Spider Flower), but will have to look when it opens more fully.
DeleteI've not heard of a Gravellia, they look pretty awesome before full bloom actually. I had a neighbour who cut down the pom pom tree a few tears ago. I'd been at the shops and when I walked into the lounge I could see him finishing off the last of it. Barely a couple of sticks left. He was in his eighties, so I didn't go outside all guns blazing like I might have done. Instead when he told me he thought I'd be grateful as it was so messy and he was trying to help, I told him not to ever cut anything in my garden without permission again as it really looked like he'd deadened it. HE looked hurt lol. But one look at my face was enough to have kept him far away until the fence finally went up. I found it to be a horrible feeling seeing someone had done that. And I wouldn't mind but it wasn't blocking any light out of his windows either tsk. Helpfull people really piss me off at times hahaha.
ReplyDeleteKeep on with bugging the smaller portion about seeing someone, he doesn't need to be letting anything else turn into a condition. Stubborn isn't he? What with him being a bloke. *ignores all the people shouting about how stubborn she is and pegs it.
All Consuming: Grevilleas are stunning plants. Pricky leaves often and incredibly intricate flowers. And an incredible range of colours too. The oxygen thief would laid into my crab apple only had to ask - and I might have trimmed some of it. Carefully. And his hacking didn't kill it - but I am pretty certain it hastened the demise.
DeleteAnd I am nagging my heart out. I am stubborn too - but not over health issues. Well yes, them too. Sigh.
Seeing all your photos has made me realise just how much work I have to do in the garden. I love all your close up shots of the flowers. Now just don't work too hard!
ReplyDeleteLL Cool Joe: There is ALWAYS work to do in the garden. And thank you - it amazes me how much is blooming at the moment. And they all look at their best rain washed.
DeleteThe structure of the grevillea is truly beautiful Sue. Glad you gave had some rain. It has been cold and wet here today ~ wet for over a week now but particularly cold ~ no sun :(. That is an awesome job you have done with the pruning etc!
ReplyDeleteCarol in Cairns: The grevillea is beautiful isn't it? A small perfection. It has been on the cool side here today too. The furry fiends demanded to go out early - and lasted less than half an hour. Pruning and weeding still continue. Mountains of the stuff.
DeleteBeautiful photos - I don't have a green thumb but the water dripping from the two abultilon flowers is a work of art!
ReplyDeleteKath Lockett: Some of my digits are decidedly brown (which sounds wrong, but is true). Water works its magic on a lot of things.
DeleteLots of hard work there. The photos are lovely.
ReplyDeletelynners: Lots and lots of work. With (hopefully) an equivalent number of benefits to come.
DeleteBeautiful garden photos. Pity about the crab apple though. Do you know I've never seen a crab apple tree but I think Phil speaks of them in England. Are your daisies in flower now? Ours are only just coming through or perhaps you don't pull your old plants out but just prune them? Each year we wait for the new plants to come through.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in another couple of plants I'd not seen before as well. I do wonder if your weather is perhaps kinder to some plants than ours is although your last summer was a stinker wasn't it?
Love the sky photos and glad you got more welcome rain.
Mimsie: We got some rain at just the right time, and a very, very warm autumn so things are flowering that we don't expect to at this time of year. Crab apples are beautiful. Ours was a soft pink, but there are deeper ones as well.
DeleteI'm pretty sure that second photo, top to bottom, just said somehting to me! :-) It's so strikingly beautiful. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
A Cuban in London: If that daisy spoke to you, I am sure it said 'Welcome. Come in and stay a while...'
DeleteSorry about the crab apple tree. I love the flowers. Good luck w/all the bulbs you've put in!
ReplyDeletemail4rosey: I am hoping for an explosion of colour and scent in a few months.
DeleteOMG - I cannot believe a neighbor hacked into a tree on your property! That's just unbelievable, even if he had actually been pruning properly. But the flowers are beautiful, I especially love the white and yellow ones.
ReplyDeleteJackie K: He really, really needed to go to 'good neighbour' classes didn't he?
DeleteMmmm I can smell the fresh air looking at these photos!
ReplyDeleteGuyana-Gyal: It was fresh. Fresh, invigorating and wonderful.
Deletesad about your tree and the neighbor (grrr)
ReplyDeletebut glad about all those beautiful blossoms
singing out their bright songs:)
Thanks for sharing a generous piece of your sky,
Jennifer
Jennifer Richardson: Losing the tree is a sadness, but there will be others. And the garden gives me solace all year.
DeleteGlorious Flowers & Sky, Sue.
ReplyDeleteI continually enjoy clicking into your universe, dear. xxx
PS. our summer is just beginning. I wish it would last for eternity.
My Inner Chick: You are welcome to summer. And, if I could, I would give you ours as well.
DeleteRain washed nature is SO healing and so fragrant - as are your lovely pics today, S!
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= <3
Cloudia: Healing magic.
DeleteDear Sue,
ReplyDeleteI visit and Immerse myself in the magic of the photos. A positive distraction for which I'm grateful. Although, weeding and garden maintenance is something I shall soon be no longer doing. Mixed emotions about that.
Hope you had a peaceful weekend, dear friend.
Gary
klahanie: Dear Gary, I am very, very glad to have brought you a positive distraction.
DeleteHugs.
So sorry about your crab apple tree! The gardening sounds cathartic and I look forward to the pictures of blooming bulbs.
ReplyDeleteLynn: The gardening was cathartic. And I too am looking forward to the 'blooming of the bulbs'.
DeleteDaisies have never been the same for me since I learned that they were really a bunch of flowers.
ReplyDeleteJ Cosmo Newbery: I guess that is the innate writer in you. I don't care (and often don't know) what things in the garden are called.
Deletenice shots :)
ReplyDeleteAuthor R. Mac Wheeler: Thank you.
DeleteSo you also have your yard nazi of sorts? The sky photos, especially the last one, are very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteStrayer: There are idiots the world over. Self-entitled idiots - but the skies help my mood. A lot.
DeleteSorry to hear about your tree. But the flowers are just lovely.
ReplyDeleteladyfi: I get so much peace and solace in the garden.
DeleteSorry to hear about your tree. Nice pictures!
ReplyDeletewww.modernworld4.blogspot.com
Gina Gao: Thank you - and welcome. Loved your latest post too.
DeleteHow should a neighbor be allowed to chainsaw a tree you planted? Especially if it was on your property, that ought to be a legal violation. I'm sorry for the loss of the beautiful tree.
ReplyDeleteJohn Wiswell: He undoubtedly didn't have the right (legal or ethical) to do it. But did so. Hiss and spit.
DeleteI would love to see your garden in person in each season. I'm sure it's stunning. Plus there are so many flowers I've never seen before. And gorgeous birds :)
ReplyDeleteCarol Kilgore: It is a work in progress. Always. And I am not certain that stunning is an accurate description - but thank you. And the birds are a boon.
DeleteI am always so fascinated by your flowers and birds, and everything else that is different from what I normally see in my part of the world!
ReplyDeleteBECKY: Snap. I love looking at your world too. The differences, and the similarities.
DeleteBeautiful photos. I also find weeding very satisfying - being destructive and productive at once! What more could an OCD Virgo ask for? :)
ReplyDelete2,000 bulbs - wow. Magic you shall have, I think.
Riot Kitty: I am a Capricorn - but do understand the joy of being destructive AND productive. Very, very satisfying. And I am a greedy gardener just as I am a greedy reader.
DeleteReading your post always renews me. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kane: What a lovely, lovely thing to say. Thank you - and I am glad.
DeleteA chainsaw? Just let me grab my horsewhip and I'll be right down!
ReplyDeleteJaquelineand...: You, and your horsewhip would be more than welcome.
DeleteWhat a beautiful place! Those flowers are just lovely. I totally agree--gardening and yard work is so cathartic. I always say there's nothing that ails you that good ol yard work wont cure.
ReplyDeletePk Hrezo: Gardening cures quite a lot of ailments - but causes a few others. Worth it though.
DeleteI agree with Pk - there is something so therapeutic about gardening and getting your hands in the soil. That last shot of the storm moving in is just amazing. Your photography keeps getting better and better!
ReplyDeleteDeb: I do love my garden - and frequently have the dirty hands, knees and face to prove it. I am attached to my point and shoot camera too - thank you.
DeleteOh I wish I could take a walk through your garden! Those daisies ( i think)-- so beautiful! And the photos are great. Rain just makes everything so much brighter, it seems.
ReplyDeleteRaquel Somatra: Thank you. The daisies are an undemanding joy. And flower prolifically. Rain is WONDERFUL.
DeleteDear EC, I've never before seen a "grevillea." The bloom is so handsome. It looks quite content in its essence and beauty. Thanks once again for sharing your garden with us. I had two very old and tall crabapple trees in my back yard in Stillwater. They were there, full-grown and reaching for the sky, when I moved in 32 years before I moved away in 2009. And they just kept getting larger and more beautiful. When they bloomed each spring it looked as if clouds had some down and settled in the branches. Lovely. And awe-inspiring. Peace.
ReplyDeleteDee: What a perfect description of the magic of crabapples. They are indeed, just that beautiful. And ours always had birds singing from within it too.
DeleteSo sorry about your crabapple tree. I love mine although my neighbour makes sure that I don’t let it grow over his wall. But I would probably kill him if he tried to chainsaw it.
ReplyDeleteFriko: I loved ours too. And it didn't grow over anyone else's property. I wish I had known what he was doing...
DeleteI LOVE the contrast between those two sky photos. Wow. Isn't the sky a source of unimaginable beauty? I love how the clouds are never the same at any moment. Even five seconds later the wind will have shifted the shapes. It's the only thing in nature that is constantly changing.
ReplyDeleteOptimistic Existentialist: Never-ending, always changing magic and beauty. Which delights me. So yes, I am definitely with you there.
DeleteSo much change in just a couple of hours. Have the same thing going on here: Minneapolis is in the grips of a four-day sun/storm/sun/storm sort of thing that has us all carrying umbrellas and muttering about whether or not we should start the grill.
ReplyDeletePearl
Pearl: We are, mostly, wearing our woollies with an umbrella at hand. And then it shifts. And shifts again. And I love it.
DeletePretty flowers, all. You are very industrious...I need to get busy myself..but seem to have hit a lazy slump. LOL
ReplyDeleteTerri @ Backward B Ranch: I am very, very familiar with lazy slumps.
DeleteThis morning I woke up early enough to see the sunrise, and you know what? I thought on you. Probably it was those pictures of skies you have been sharing here. I sent positive energy your way. I love the flowers too. Dragon Hugs!
ReplyDeleteAl Diaz: Thank you. Positive energy is always welcome - and is flowing back at you. With interest.
Delete