My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...
So much colour, Dorothy! And such a range of plants. I would really love to visit your garden. I don't know the first plant - Pride of Barbados, but I really like the look of it. The Crinum here are showing no sign of flowering yet... their leaves are barely emerging from their bulbs!
ReplyDeletePride of Barbados is, as the name implies, a plant of the tropics, but it does well here in our subtropical zone - dies back in most winters and then comes back in the spring.
DeleteOh good grief! I just realized I forgot to plant zinnias!
ReplyDeleteMy Turk's Cap has not bloomed yet, and the deer at my Phlox!
Lovely Cypress Vine! I bought one at a plant sale; maybe I'll have blooms on it next month.
You have a beautiful garden!
Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Those deer can be voracious, can't they? I'm thankful I don't have to battle them.
DeleteSo many blooms...Lucky you!
ReplyDeleteThe garden is quite floriferous these days, but it's also in a bit of a mess because of all the rain we've had. I didn't show you the messes!
DeleteWhat riches. My plumbago is going strong. Yesterday I planted my herb garden. Heat wave coming. I hope it all survives.
ReplyDeleteI love plumbago. It is one of my most dependable bloomers. Good luck with the herb garden. Generally, herbs love heat, I find.
DeleteHiya Dorothy,
ReplyDeleteYou Abelia flowers earlier than it does over here - we have to wait at least another 8 weeks before its scent perfumes the air.
Doesn't the heavy rain make a mess of things though: I noticed on my walk this evening that all the campanula persicifolia was lying flat on the ground. Such a pity.
I'v never met a Crinum efore, but it looks very interesting.
Very nice to see all your treasures.
Crinums are a staple of southern gardens here. They are very tough plants. A famous horticulturist from the area once made the statement that no gardener has ever managed to kill a crinum! I can't prove him false.
DeleteGreat pictures. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting.
DeleteHot, hot, hot blooms. But some cool blues too, Dorothy. I love Convolvulus 'Blue Daze.' P. x
ReplyDeleteIt's become a real winner in my garden.
DeleteYou have such a wide variety of plants Dorothy and I especially love the blooms of the Brugmansia...beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteThe brugs have really outdone themselves so far this year.
DeleteYou can never have too many zinnias! It's hot here, too, which is good for so many plants in the garden, but not the gardener:) A lovely variety of blooms, Dorothy!
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly my philosophy regarding zinnias!
DeleteI am a bit behind with reading blogs and commenting, better late than never :-)
ReplyDeleteIt’s amazing to see how far your garden is compared to min, even though we are gardening in the same climate zone, 9a. This year we are really late, but even so, my sunflowers are a foot tall and very far from producing any buds yet. Lovely to see all the different flowers you have, and every time I see Turk’s cap I think that this is one I need to get….the same I used to think about beautyberry which seem so common over in US but not over here. Now I got my own beautyberry! Got it in January, can’t wait to see it in flower and with berries later on. But it is your Brugmansia that gets me really jealous, I sooo want one, just not sure if it will survive the winter when I have no greenhouse, but eventually I will have a go :-) Oh, and I have put Orthosiphon aristatus, I MUST have that one soon, so fun! Not sure if it is possible to get it here but I will try.
Thanks for the tour, so nice to visit your lovely garden again.
Thanks so much for stopping by, Helene. It's always good to see your comments no matter the time. If you can just give the brugmansia some protection when it gets quite cold, it could work for you. Mine usually dies back to the ground in winter but comes back in spring.
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