Wordless Wednesday – Sundial and Shadows

Wordless Wednesday – Wedgewood Blue

A Fruitful Weekend…..

….and a couple of mysteries!

First, my new “toy”!
We decided to invest in a mini raised bed for our strawberries. We never have enough for our liking! The strawberry patch had become very overgrown and weed infested. It was a mix of runners from 3 different species, and we wanted to start afresh, as you should after a few years. Last year, we bought 3 new plants of “Cambridge Favourite”, which we decided we liked the taste of best. We planted each of them in a large terracotta pot, with the intention of replacing the “mass” of self-rooted plants, with runners of pure “Cambridge Favourite”. We didn’t want to replant them in the weedy ground, and so thought a mini raised bed would solve the problem, by raising them off the ground in fresh, new soil.

The bed consists of 4 black plastic boards, connected with pegs, giving a bed of 51x97x25cm. You can buy an additional fitted liner, necessary if you are using the bed on a hard surface. Easy! You see the bed in process of being filled with compost. Boy, did it need a lot! But we do love strawberries!

And now the finished bed!
It was hard, to dig up and throw away the old strawberry plants, no matter how much it was the right thing to do! I still saw disappearing strawberries! However, the 3 original plants are still in their pots, and hopefully, next year, we can expand the bed and have more strawberries, from the runners. And so on! Should be self perpetuating. That’s the plan!

Some of the gorgeous buds are now bursting forth.

A beautiful pink unknown Oriental poppy.

Nectaroscordum

And now to our first mystery! Although, by the time I’m typing this, the solution is starting to come to me! I thought this patch was of “Deep Black”, but when I saw the blue buds, I thought they were instead “Jane Phillips”. I must have muddled up my labels. The mystery was, that when they opened, they seemed paler than last year. How could that be? However, by now, the adjacent irises are now starting to open, and I am now recognising the familiar blue of last year. The solution is becoming clear! My “Deep Black”, which incidentally hadn’t flowered yet, was not, in fact, “Deep Black”! I must have been sold a mislabelled plant. It’s pretty (with a lovely scent!), but it’s not “Deep Black”!

And what do you make of this aquilegia? How can two different colours and forms of flowers come from the same plant? Or so it seems! I can only assume that I must have planted two different seedlings together. An interesting effect!

And the foliage goes on! Several of you admired the foliage pots I showed previously, so I thought I’d show you the complete collection!

That was a most enjoyable and satisfying weekend!

And this week is Chelsea! Another highlight! I love May!
So I’m off to the telly!