Rain Drops And Flowers

   The great British rain has returned over the past few days. The occasional sunshine has encouraged a whole batch of flowers to bloom. This is the Chinese Tree Peony bloom from the window side. It is a delicate pink and almost white. It has lasted quite well despite the wind and rain.

  The first Rhodie flower of 2013 is the Rhododendron Sappho. It seems to have thrived in the pot, and is covered in flower buds just short of this stage. They are quite compact green leaves, and the flowers are impressive.

 The Native British Bluebells are flowering under the Apple tree. Cat thinks they are scented, but I cannot detect any scent. Maybe you need a whole carpet of them to get the Bluebell wood effect?

  This jolly Welsh Poppy has bloomed in the planter behind the Rose bench. I love the sunny yellow colour, and the green centre. It was curved downwards like an umbrella so the rain ran off it.I lifted the flower up to get the photo.

 The Centauri Montana has bloomed over my nights. The beautiful sky blue petals are held out from the purple centre, and black stamen. The flower buds remind me of little hand grenades.

 The rain drops give everything a clean glow, and a shininess. This is the Hybrid Tea Queen Elizabeth. The leaves are tiny compared to my Shrub Roses.I hope the pink flowers are compact and scented, to compliment the leaves.

 The Hosta's are loving the cool wet conditions. All the containers are bursting with vigorous growth and new strong leaves. They have lovely waxy leaves that hold rain drops above them. They also funnel water down the stems into the base of the plant. Like a green pin ball machine. It is fun to pour water near the leaves stem and see how it runs it downwards to the base of the plant.A perfect design of beauty and function.

 The cold weather has played havoc with the Mexican Orange Blossom plant. Its leaves keep getting damaged by the frost and snow. It has flowered this year. The white flowers smell like almonds, a Bakewell tart smell. If only I could grow a frost resistant plant.

   The Pink Thistle plant is re blooming. The pink flower is like a fraggle, from Fraggle Rock. The sea of green is behind it and beneath it.

The last photo is of the newly blooming Geum Mrs Bradshaw. It is a lovely red flower with a golden centre.
  I'm running out of time to blog. I have 11 days left until I go to New Zealand. Cat may have to take photos of the garden for most of June.
 The rain cannot dampen the gardens enthusiasm for flowering.