Garden Acrobat

The Squirrel came back the other day and displayed his acrobatic skills. He climbed up the bird feeder pole and then leaned across to the sunflower hearts.
His back legs are gripping the pole like a russian gymnast.
He nibbled like this for about ten minutes before scampering off along the fence.
Its been a quiet day today. I got some seeds from Hometown seeds. Ten lovely packets to grow in the spring..
They have come all the way from Utah.

The Name Of The Plant

The little lost plant in flower is a Kalancoe, a member of the succulent family.It has nice thick rounded green leaves, and many terminal stems with masses of flower buds.
I hope my kitchen will keep the plant happy and induce it to flower lots.
The gritting trucks were out last night as it was forecast to be below freezing.The lost plant is snug as a bug in a rug!
New Years Eve is nearly upon us again. It has been a busy year for Snappys Gardens Blog with the garden, allotment, plant stall, Flower shows, and occasional trips to Harlow Carr.
The blog has become part journal, part educational, part photographic record, and a place to ponder gardening questions, and identify mystery plants.
The impending new year makes me look forward to making the garden more beautiful, and back as i remember the many things i have grown or tried to grow. I hope that 2009 is as good as 2008, and that the healing, magical garden inspires me to write, and for people to read, and comment when they feel moved.
Even in the cold and dark winter I feel compelled to look for interesting subjects to write about or to photograph. Nature has infinite amounts of colour and wander for me to write about.
Cat showed me how to make paper seed pots with my paper potter. It uses newspapers cut into long strips to make an eco friendly container to start seedlings off in.
That will be one of my first experiments to see if the newspaper pots work. Now I need to open my chocolate tins (one tin has flower seeds, the other tin has vegetable seeds), to see which seeds to try and the time to read seed brochures to plan next years flowers.

Rainbow Colours

I found my Seeds box, and pulled out the many packets...There are aproximately fifty packets of seeds on the technicoloured throw covered sofa. The African bag gardens came with six more packets of seeds. Cat has given me some Calendulas and Cats Snaps...Thats about Fifty Eight packets.
Now I have to choose which seeds to plant. It will be a challenge trying to raise as many plants as possible for the garden, so I only have to buy a few filler plants from the local plant nurserys.
There are lots more flowers than Vegetables. The Vegetable seeds I bought are mini or dwarf versions to fit into the Square foot garden approach.
The Bag Gardens will hopefully supply a good quantity of Salad and Veg. The only thing I cant plant is the Chillis. The Yorkshire weather will not let them grow outside in a shaded north facing garden. The instructions read grow in a greenhouse!
I hope the garden will be as colourful as the Sofa's cover.Like a Rainbow cover...

Rain And Reflections

I am off finally after four night shifts. The photo is of the Hellebore after the torrential rain that fell last night and this morning. The local rivers of the Calder and Aire are near to bursting their banks in places.
The soil is waterlogged in places. No early veg seed sowing for a while yet. Its made me think I want to raise the right border by a foot. If it does rain then it will drain away easier.
You can see the White flowered Heather, and the house warming Cyclamen behind the Birds sunken water dish.
I want a bigger water dish I think as the reflective element of still water is good. Its very calming the water reflecting plants and flowers below the real ones. The earthly ones above, and the magical shimmering reflected plants below. Very Heaven and Earth like.
Bird seed that has been left on the soil has germinated. I have a pot full of germinated bird seeds growing into some kind of grass.
I can see daffodils, tulips, and crocus pushing their way up out of the soil and windowbox. The big blue pot with the mystery bulbs has a baby Muscari. The small grape like flower bud is visible now after the rain battered the strappy leaves, exposing it at the base.
I saw my Robin today, but otherwise the birds have been hiding in the trees. I saw three Chaffinches fly to the fir tree and sit, but they moved away before my camera came out.
I have two days off to reacquaint myself with the garden and the birds. There is weeding to be done, and plans made to raise the borders. The African bag gardens are here and need some things buying so I can construct them for the pavers.
I will sort out my seed packets and photograph how many I actually have. I might even suprise myself with how many I actually have. Bought seed packets, and other seeds loose in envelopes and pharmacy brown bottles... like Calendula, Aquilegia's, Poppies, and Snapdragons I remember...
Thats my reflections after work and rain :)

Chrysalis?

I am wandering what this is? It is suspended under the top of the fence held on by fine threads and alien looking gloop!
I thought it might be a Chrysalis.. If anyone can recognise what it is please comment :)
The seeds arrived today from Mr Fothergills. Peas, baby carrots, cabbages, Spring onions, tumbling tomatos, Baby leeks, and Dwarf beans. Roll on March which is the sowing dates for most of these.
I have been visualising how to alter the right border to accomodate my Vegetable patch, the butterfly garden, and keep room for a table and chairs.
The mystery Chrysalis will not be the only thing being transformed this year. I will wait to see what might hatch from the suspended sac!
I checked my old photos and I can only see it from the 8th January onwards. I knew it was good to take so many photos almost daily! For doing Sherlock Holmes of working out how long the chrysalis has been under the top of the fence without me seeing it.
Chrysalis is an interesting word, It's old root word is Greek for for Gold, Krysos. They observed Butterflys coming from gold coloured sacs...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupa
I hope its a Butterfly and not something like a wasp or a moth that is wrapped in its own shroud. Developing under the webs and glue...It is growing right above a butterfly bush too.
I think the transformation of a Caterpillar, into a Pupa within a Chrysalis, then lastly into a Butterfly is a miracle of Nature. Beauty coming from two suprising life forms (The plant maiming Caterpillar, and the Inert but sticky looking Pupa).
Sometimes you can find Gold without mining for it.

What Came today :)