They Bloomed in June

A quick selection of some of the flowers that have delighted our eye in the last couple of weeks

Electrifying the compost

It is three months since The Dowdings neared completion

and time for the first turning

These are of course multi-purpose compost bins

including tool store and eighteen square metres of rain collecting roof.

With rain in short supply at the moment and The Lake looking rather low

it is just a matter of moving the water 150 metres down there.

Gravity is on our side but a bit of captured sunlight

A bit on intelligent energy store

and a couple of wires

lets’ a pump give things a bit of a boost

and off it goes

First down to the duck butt

and onward under the meadow through a pipe we put down a few years ago

and out into The Lake

These irises will be happier

Cherries in June

Four years ago

we planted a cordon cherry in the polytunnel

It grew and bloomed

Now it is harvest time

June Acceleration Part 3: The Blue and The Purple

If June so far has been a bright swathe of Yellow and Green punctuated with White fluffy bits then plants that can manage Blue make themselves stand out

in this case the Ceanothus behind the Lake

Also happily in that location is a burst of Green Alkanet

Happily that is for us – it has also put down roots below one of the polytunnels and never ceases to arise and invade the vegetable beds.

Here it can roam as much as it likes

As we remarked the other day, the flavours in the meadow change each year. Right now there seems to be more luscious patches of Clover than in the past

Not sure how we feel about this as we are trying to reduce nitrogen there.

Sure it will work out ok once the Yellow Rattle has finished its root sucking – that too is more widespread than ever this year.

The Comfrey is starting to flower, to the delight of this bee

We have pea flowers in a range of whites, blues and purples. Wonder if this will be reflected in the colour of the peas.

The Orange Tips are enjoying the Aubretia

There is always a bit of sadness looking at a Lilac in full bloom (How many plants have a name which is also a colour?)

It is not complete without dozens of Peacocks, Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals.

The Wisteria on the front of the house died last year (it has been replaced but it will take time to cover the same area) The Clematis has expanded to take advantage of the extra space

This Iris moves us back from Purple to Blue

To end with with the Rhododendron

Like the Green Alkanet, very nice in its place

June Acceleration Part 2: The White

We are looking for the pause button on June, or at least the slo-mo setting that makes it last for, oh ever…

There is a hedgeline on land near us which has grown into a row of mature trees and right now the Rowan and Hawthorn have have turned it into a wall of White.

Looking at one of our Hawthorns

we can see how the blossoms cover the branches, completely covering the leaves

our bees are happy.

The high light of June casts sharp shadows

and emphasises the secret shady places

Our orchard mini-meadow, where this tulip flowers

is so vibrant that some of last year’s seed have migrated to a hard gravel path next to a shed. This Ox-eye daisy is currently about five feet tall and still going up

Promise of peas

More white blossom

Claire is a Speckled (with White) Sussex and is proving an excellent mother (again)

and our Silver Fox rabbits really show off their Silver in the June sun

June Acceleration Part 1: The Yellow and The Gold

In April we freeze-dried, we spent May under a cold shower, and then came June

A visit from young helpers

and all living things accelerated and sped off. We have been running non-stop trying to catch up with them – not much time for writing here.

So a quick wizz through some June pictures. Part 1: Yellow and Gold.

Basically everything has been golden

but the pièce de résistance is the Meadow

Each year it cycles through dominant species in different ways. Right now the Meadow Buttercup holds sway

Beneath the buttercups the Yellow Rattle has spread further than ever, busy sucking at the grass roots and just starting to flower.

The Laburnum commands the orchard

and beneath, the tulips

are being slowly swallowed up

The golden beech is spreading its branches to catch all available light

Irises on land

and water

where Jessie has to cool off

She has seen the Yellow Poppies everywhere

and has decided to have her own clump by her hovel