SUMMER SUN AT LAST

It certainly was a wonderful weekend weather wise, Saturday and Sunday were glorious and I spent most of them outside making the most of it. The picture above is of my marvel-of-peru (mirabilis jalapa) which was just starting to open in the afternoon sun. It is one of my favourite plants, mainly because it opens late afternoon so you have the blooms to look at in the evening, and flowers quite late in the summer - or at least it does where I live, so out lives many other plants, and long after the flowers have died the leaves live on so you still have some nice greenery.


The plants are just starting to make their seeds now, and I have collected quite a few, so if anyone would like some please send me an e-mail - (uk only I'm afraid as I don't know the procedures for sending seeds through customs).


I am not a great expert on gardening, but I believe that the seeds and parts of the plant are poisonous so perhaps not suitable for gardens with small children. They also seem to be very drought and flood resistance and like the full sun. The plant is very generous and will give you extra plants every year if you don't deadhead before the seeds appear. I started off with 10 seeds 3 years ago and have left the plants to do what they will in a bare corner, they have now filled a 2m x 3m patch, with their heights ranging from about 6 ins for the first year plants to 4ft for the 3 year old plants.

The hens also enjoyed the weekend sun, and I caught a group of them dozing by our fish pond, happily sun bathing. They like to drink out of the pond, even though they have water left out for them, I'm not sure what the fish think of this though :)

Autumn must be coming as the hens are putting themselves to bed whilst it is still light. In the summer they are still scratching around the garden at 1o o'clock. I'm not sure what the significance of the season makes to their bedtime but it must be something. You can see Lily using their house as a platform to fly into the tree.