Today’s guest picture comes from my Somerset correspondent Venetia. She looked out of her window at just the right moment to see a sparrowhawk visiting her garden.
The most exciting thing to visit our garden today was undoubtedly Dropscone, who came for coffee. He is always welcome, especially when he comes bearing home made scones as he did today. Regular readers will be checking their calendars to see if it is Friday, as he usually comes on a Friday. This week however, in a daring move, we are going out to coffee on Friday, so he came on a Thursday. The scones were just as good.
I had all sorts of plans for the day after he left, but somehow or other, the plans just melted away as fast as I made them. I was feeling a bit tired, perhaps after the unusual excitement of getting together to play music last night.
In the end, I spent most of the day pottering about in the garden, watching Mrs Tootlepedal work, mowing lawns, doing a bit of shredding, weeding the drive, and naturally, taking pictures. If you don’t care for pictures of gardens, today’s post is not for you.
I took my first lot of pictures before Dropscone arrived. It was rather grey all day but there wasn’t much wind so at least the flowers were standing still.
Our yellow potentillas, normally covered in flowers, have been a bit quiet this summer but our white potentilla has done its best to make up for them.
I keep thinking that the lovely blue salvias are going over, and they keep surprising me by putting out a lot more flowers behind my back.
The dahlias continue to delight.
More large yellow daisies appear each day.
Mass colour is provided by phlox and French marigolds.
And the little red roses have benefited from some careful dead heading by Mrs Tootlepedal.
Our neighbour Liz gave Mrs Tootlepedal a packet of wild flower seeds to throw down on her mini meadow on the drying green in spring. A few of them are beginning to show and Mrs Tootlepedal was very pleased to see this phacelia.
After coffee, I mowed the front lawn, picked some gooseberries and then went round with my camera again just before lunch.
Icelandic and Welsh poppies continue to appear in spite of some benign neglect when it comes to dead heading.
A day lily made its fleeting appearance too.
I couldn’t photograph any more dahlias because insects kept getting in the way . . .
. . . so I turned to a snapdragon instead.
They continue to be very good value in the flower borders.
After a pretty quiet morning, I was determined to pull myself together in the afternoon and leap into action. Foolishly, I sat down for a moment to watch the unfolding stage of the Vuelta for a minute or two, and I was still there when the stage finished a couple of hours later.
Then I went out and mowed the middle lawn and looked for butterflies.
The were several peacocks on the old buddleia, and I got a glimpse of a small tortoiseshell and a red admiral on the new buddleia. It wasn’t quite the rush that I had hoped for, but it was better than nothing.
I liked this neat hoverfly on the lone dill plant near the old buddleia..
I took pictures of two of our fuchsias because I know my sister Susan likes them. I like them too and they are doing well this year.
It was a very quiet day for birds at the feeder, perhaps because there were cats about in the garden. I didn’t get a single picture through the window but I did see a rook on a neighbour’s roof.
The day brightened up slightly later on, and I went out to see if more butterflies had arrived. Alas, it was too late for them, so I took a picture of the shy dahlias just poking their heads out . . .
. . . and finished my floral day with the nasturtiums which are gradually swallowing the front gate.
As I said, there was no chance of a flying bird today, so a nearly flying hoverfly will have to do.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
The header photo is absolutely lovely and while the dahlias may be shy, the depth of their colour is quite striking.
I agree. It is so odd that the plant hides its own flowers but they are getting a bit more exposure now.
Thanks for including not one but two pictures of fuchsias. The colour in your garden is a delight for sore eyes.
Being a lover of all things horticultural I especially enjoyed today’s post..some fantastic floral shots especially the red (or is it pink?)rose, and very healthy,well done Mrs T 👍
I think that it is red but it is on the pinkish side of red. Mrs T fed it well this year and it has paid her back well.
I’ve never heard of phacelia so I looked it up and found that farmers plant it to attract insects to their fields. It is said to be a bee magnet.
I’m amazed by how fast those marigolds grew and filled in around the chimney pot.
Great shot of the hoverfly.
Yes, and phacelia is used as an underplant by farmers here to improve the soil.
A perfect photograph of the hoverfly – and it is always pleasing to see how many pretty flowers there are still in your garden, despite a comment a while ago that Mrs T thinks it is ‘going over’.
It is definitely going over as a whole picture but there are lots of details still to enjoy.
I like the gate in the nasturtiums…very pretty
It is lucky that we don’t need to close the gate.
A fine guest picture of the sparrowhawk.
You have a splendid range of colour in the garden. The salvias are very striking with their bright blue.
A fine garden set. You may have noticed that we have some nasturtiums swallowing up our compost bins
I’ll will look again as I may have overlooked that it my amazement at all the good things in your garden.
No worries
I checked back and see what you mean.
Thanks
As it is well known: The best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray. So why you should be excepted? – Beautiful flowers and especially the title picture are totally to my gusto. Thank you
I felt a lot better today so maybe the rest was needed. I am glad to have provided a picture to suit your taste. 🙂
Never get tired of garden pictures. The last one is especially fine. One to frame.
Thank you for your kind words.
Another beautiful series of the floral splendor in your garden, thanks for sharing.
A pleasure. I find it very easy to wander round the garden taking pictures. 🙂
Your salvias are still looking in good shape. I’m hoping to take cuttings from mine for next year as I know they won’t survive our winter. Nice shot of the rook!
Mrs T grew these from seed and will do the same next year.
I’ll give that a try too.
I have been very much enjoying all these colorful blooms, birds and bees! The blue salvia is an unusual shade of blue, almost an “electric” blue on my screen.
I hope coffee out went well this morning. Enjoy these days out and visits from Dropscone while you can. Gather ye dropscones, while ye may. May the virus and its variants stay far from your door.
We have a lot of cases still but we are all double vaccinated and are being careful and avoiding large gatherings.
A delightful bunch of flower photos with butterflies and other flying creatures to add even more pleasure. Snapdragons have done well here too…going to buy more seeds next year! Love the header photo.
Mrs T will go again next year she says.
Last photo is a knock out. So is the almost black dahlia. The gate looks charming with its nasturtiums.