Look Up

I spent quite a lot of yesterday looking up. It was so lovely to return to sunshine and blue sky after a few days of feeling rather Autumnal, and it feels too soon.

I have a few very welcome days off making it a very long Bank Holiday weekend.

The weather yesterday was perfect and we enjoyed our lunch on the plot.
The birds were very chattery in the hedgerow, which is full of berries. The swallows are still gathering and swooping, preparing for their Winter Sun - lucky them. Meanwhile, between looking-up-sessions, we were deadheading, feeding and watering the plants - of course. 

The sweetcorn cobs are growing and I only appreciated the other day that the tassels, which develop from the female part of the plant, are each literally connected to what will become the kernel, if it’s pollinated. Obvious really, but I didn’t quite appreciate the link until I read this one. Anyway, the smell of sweetcorn pollen on Thursday, which was a rather drizzly day, was so strong I hope it made it to the tassels and is doing its job.

The bees and other insects are really enjoying the flowers, perhaps even as much as I am! We saw a Hummingbird Hawkmoth yesterday (they seem to be out in large numbers this year) and the other day we saw a Hornet Mimic Hoverfly - the UK’s largest hoverfly. No photos unfortunately but I’m keeping a watch to see that beast again.

You can see that the clouds started to build during the afternoon and it was very muggy.

When the clouds covered all the blue we decided to call it a day.

And as this is a Summer 2022 blogpost and that is the silhouette of a zinnia, How can I not share some of the beauties from their better angle? They have made a delightful bright display in front of our bench.

The wildlife plot has cheered up a bit since we had the rain. It had begun to look rather dead, though one section is thick with birdsfoot trefoil which has remained green and flowery throughout the dry Summer; it’s provided such thick ground cover it must still be wet underneath - hopefully our little froglets are living there. We’ve had to keep watering the bog garden (luxury of a borehole on site) and these lovely bright red flowers (Hesperantha coccinea, I think) have been pretty constant throughout the Summer. We saw a large dragonfly zooming around the plot the other day; it would be good if it laid some eggs there.

Various seedlings are emerging so I hope they’re preparing for next year’s growth (and are flowery plants). The teasels have had a second flush of flowerheads. We haven’t seen any birds eating from them yet, but there are lots of goldfinches around so we live in hope….

We have the HAHA Bring-Your-Own Picnic on Monday, after it was previously postponed because of the heatwave. It’s also measuring day for the tallest sunflower so it should be fun with prizes for that and the Plotholders Choice award. One of our sunflowers (we managed to grow two eventually) is tall but not in the running for a prize. Actually ours are meant to have giant heads, not tall stems so that’s a bit odd. Well, let’s blame the weather!

Song title is provided by Joy Oladokun. Stay chirpy and keep looking up.