CATCHING UP WITH THE GARDEN AND BLOGPALS

Time for a garden catch up today.........the weather's been pretty awful and the garden looks a sodden snail heaven with few opportunites for taking photos without a waterproof camera!

The Schizostylis coccinea Major has now come into flower...(it does have a common name which is not very politically correct)......one of the reasons I love this plant is because it's a late bloomer and gives me something to look forward to ..............
Fuchsias don't seem to mind at all that the weather is gloomy and wet......my Fuchsia Thalia is loving it!

The Rincinus flowers are so unusual I just had to post another photo of one,,,,,,,,
The Pieris are really brightening up the garden and seem to be putting on a fresh batch of growth...............
Normally the Clematis Purpurea "Plena Elegans" would have flowered long before this but I moved it in the Spring and it's taken a while to settle down in it's new home.....
Both the white and pink Cyclamen are in flower now......both earlier than usual..
Another pot of lilies has started to flower now......there's been a lily of some kind in bloom for many months now................
The Cannas are really making up for lost time......unfortunately my neighbours Russian Vine is trying to strangle it. I'm going to have to rethink the bed along this fence next year to make it easier for me to get to the Russian Vine and keep cutting it back without stomping all over my own plants.
Despite the lack of sun the Rudbekia are bringing their own sunshine into the garden and always raise a smile.................

I also had to smile (and laugh) when I recieved an email from Elsie.....she sent me this brilliant joke....being a Grandma to teenage girls I can really relate to it......

A doctor that had been seeing an 80-year-old woman for most of her life finally retired. At her next checkup, the new doctor told her to bring a list of all the medicines that had been prescribed for her. As the young doctor was looking through these, his eyes grew wide as he realized she had a prescription for birth control pills. "Mrs Smith, do you realize these are BIRTH CONTROL pills?" "Yes, they help me sleep at night." "Mrs. Smith, I assure you there is absolutely NOTHING in these that could possibly help you sleep!" She reached out and patted the young Doctor's knee. "Yes, dear, I know that. But every morning, I grind one up and mix it in the glass of orange juice that my 16 year old granddaughter drinks... And believe me, it helps me sleep at night."

During my Blogarounds I saw this post on David's blog..................

"Here's some weekend fun for us to share. Every weekend, starting today, I'm going to ask you one simple question. Answer the question on your own blog, any time until Friday. Please link to this blog (or to this post) just so I can follow the progress of the notion. And the question is:What would you like to say to the girlfriend or boyfriend who first dumped you?"

and thought I'd play along....after racking my brains for hours trying to remember a boyfriend who'd dumped me...................I mean surely I DUMPED THEM!!!!!

Seriously though....yes I have been dumped...in fact my first husband dumped me for a younger model! I was distraught at the time but now I'm so grateful...if he hadn't I may never had met Mick! So to T. I would just say a heartfelt

"THANKS! To think I almost wasted the best years of my life on you!"

I remember, when I was about 15, my boyfriend E.; he was football crazy and I spent weeks knitting him a scarf in black and yellow for him to wear at away matches for his team (Chelsea)......the day before I intended to ceremoniously present it to him he DUMPED me.....I'd like to report that I said something brilliantly scathing or witty...but what did I say was ....

"But you can't I've knitted you a scarf!"

how pathetic!

I hope that if I met him again I'd say something more meaningful like......

"Hello, I'm sure we've met before. Didn't we go on a date once or twice? It must have been once. I never make the same mistake twice."

and old 'un but a good 'un.......LOL

If you'd like to join in with this pop over to David's blog and let him know.

I must mention another blogpal today as it's the Birthday of Jeanette; it's been a difficult time for her recently yet she's still had me hooting with laughter at all the fabulous jokes on her blog.

HEADING FOR AUGUST!

How exciting; do you remember I said the Ginger lilies were starting to bud....well look at one of them now...........and in a bit closer........isn't it lovely! The sun has also brought out the Agapanthus....this is a dwarf variety...much more suited to a small garden.....we don't get many flowers on them (I have a blue one as well that's still in bud) as really they prefer a south facing garden...but considering how poor the weather has been lately I'm pleased to see any flowers at all!

Over the weekend I'd noticed that the Rubekias were also starting to bloom................last year I had a few fasciated flowers ....I wonder if I'll get any this year??When I posted a photo of our first hibiscus bloom the other day I had an email asking which one it is.....In case anyone else would like to know it's Hibiscus syriacus "Red Heart"I'm sure I've done a couple of posts now with no beastie photos in them....... that's mainly because I haven't found any new ones in our garden lately.......HOWEVER....the other day in Manda's garden I found these...................
I haven't a clue what they are but haven't spotted them in our garden yet. Manda's garden is much "wilder" than ours and it could be that these beasties prefer that sort of habitat....
Wednesday is the 1st of August....this "summer" is flying past so quickly....on the 23rd August it will be this blogs 1st birthday....I can't believe I've been blogging for almost a year........ The worrying thing is it means that I will have blogged a whole gardening year....what on earth am I going to write about now....I guess I'll start doing what the TV does....endless repeats...LOL The funny thing is when I first started blogging I intended to do posts covering A to Z of our garden...I was convinced I'd find nothing much to blog about and thought at least A to Z will fill 26 posts.......now it's almost a year later and I've still not got further than "F is for..." and that post was way back in January.