A quiet space

Visiting other people's gardens and reading garden magazines gives me lots of ideas and inspirations for my own garden. And one such idea was for a retreat area. A place to sit, to rest, to think, but also to awaken the senses.

I had a place I wanted to develop in my garden.  It was a seating area, a bit of a mess of crumbling concrete, but which we improved. We gravelled the base, were given a new seat as a gift (thanks to daughter for Mothering Sunday/Father's Day present) and we planted. I wanted scented plants in that area, so I planted lavender at the back of the bench, which tumbles over and releases its scent as we brush against it. In the area around the bench I planted pinks which give off a heavenly intoxicating scent. Around the bench in pots I have aromatic herbs, thyme, rosemary, mints, sage. Plants to just brush your hands across and release the fragrance. And there is also one big pot of Meadowsweet another lovely scent, beautiful but short lived. I just make the most of it while it's in flower. There are also plants in pots with gentle colours which are there to just enjoy.

My scented garden is a place to relax, to think, to take time out from gardening and appreciate the garden,  a place to have a coffee, to read, to watch and listen to the wildlife, a secluded place where I am  not overlooked by neighbours, a place to enjoy.
It is a special place for me.

July in the garden

The garden has looked lovely and colourful this month, in fact it's probably looked its best ever. We haven't had very good weather but on the days when it has been good, I've taken time to sit and enjoy.  Last Autumn we made some of the borders bigger and earlier this year I  rearranged the plants in those borders thinking more about colour.  So one border has a pink, purple and blue scheme and another is mainly yellows and oranges with some blue, which is a good contrast and looks great. We call it the yellow border although it does have other colours, but pink is not allowed there. In some of the other borders there is quite a bit of white from the marguerite daisies and a lovely white lychnis which I divided this year and planted around the garden.

The white looks lovely at night as it starts to go dark

I'm loving the blue of the veronicas and their pointed fluffy flower heads.

 One plant which had been lost at the back of the pink border before we extended it is the tradescantia.  I dug it up, divided and replanted it in a group in the middle of the border where it can now be seen, and it looks great. The astilbes have been good this month, I have white, dark red and pink ones and they smell lovely too.

The crocosmia lucifer is now in flower and looks very striking in the yellow border with its tall arching stems.

The recent rain has caused some of the plants to flop and look messy.  Even though I love the cottage garden style of planting, when it's wet outside there's nothing worse than trying to avoid getting drenched by wet plants overflowing onto the paths. So I shall have a good cut back of some of these plants in an effort  to tidy up.  I have been doing a lot of deadheading and cutting back as plants go over and I'm trying to keep the garden tidy looking as we shall be off on holiday soon.  Hopefully then the garden will not look too overgrown when we return.

My morning walk

When I've dropped my grandchildren off at school in the mornings I don't walk straight home down the road I walked up. I do a little detour  which takes me past our local park and playing fields. It's a little further than the direct route, but it's quieter, there's very little traffic, and it's more scenic.  There are views across fields over to the hills in the distance. I meet people as I walk along, some walking their dogs, some running, others walking. Probably  like me attempting to do a little  more exercise. It's a lovely little walk and the views are stunning, especially on a sunny day.  It makes me more aware of what a lovely area I live in and how lucky I am to have this only a few minutes from my back door. It's also a chance to think, clear my head of the busyness of the past hour or so with the grandchildren and plan my day.
Sometimes all that is needed is 10 minutes in the day to pause and reflect and then we can be on our way again.

Embarrassing moments

The other day our local radio station was asking people to phone in and tell them of any times when they had been embarrassed by their parents. This got me thinking about whether I have embarrassed my own children. Well actually I know I have.

One of my daughters who I regularly go out shopping with lives in fear of me knocking things off shelves with my bag, to the point where she often will not go in some places with me because of the fragile items on display.  And then there was the time last winter when we were in the Clarks shoe shop looking for boots.  Rummaging along the line of boots, I spotted a pair I liked then looked at the price tag. "A HUNDRED AND TWENTY POUNDS!!" I shrieked. I looked up to see my daughter looking horrified and embarrassed and realised there were only about 2 other people and the assistant in the shop who were all looking at me too. I had a laugh with them about me getting my own back on my children now I'm old, for the times they have shown me up when they were little.

I won't embarrass my children further on this blog by retelling stories of their childhood, but as I write this I realise that now I have grandchildren I'm experiencing all those funny moments again.

A few months back I took the 7 year old and 5 year old to our local flower shop.  All I wanted was a  bunch of spray chrysanthemums. I chose a bunch from the bucket outside the shop and whilst I was still looking at the other flowers, the two scamps had taken the flowers into the shop, plonked them on the counter and by the time I'd got into the shop they were in deep conversation with the shop assistant.  Having made friends with her, they proceeded to try to wangle all sorts of fancy trimmings from her like wispy sparkly thread stuff  (the sort that they decorate expensive flower arrangements with). I made a mental note not to take them in that shop again!

But the worst atrocity was recently on a family trip to visit the Cathedral in town. We were looking round an exhibition there when my 5 year old grandson grabbed my hand and said,
"Look, Nana." pointing to the shop area.
All I could see was a display of key rings.
"Err the key rings?" I asked, wondering what a 5 year old would want with a keyring.
" No, Nana!" he said exasperated with me, "That funny looking man!"
I looked across the the shop to see a man with a big bushy beard, nothing strange in that, but to a 5 year old maybe he was a bit 'funny looking'.
Engulfed with embarrassment, I took my grandson's hand and moved him quickly away, hoping that the 'funny looking man'  hadn't heard him.

Have you any tales to tell of children or parents embarrassing you?