A little bit cooler today 🌤️

               A tad cooler today .

 I decided to tackle the Acanthus mollis /Bear's breeches .

              It is a very handsome plant with very stately flower spires .

Very elegant until it begins to form these fat green spiny seed pods .

 This is the time to cut it down . Get rid of those seed pods , which if left become dry , crisp and even more spiny . 

 Acanthus from the Greek word meaning thorn ...mollis from Latin meaning smooth and soft . I really don't understand why as it is not soft or smooth .

 Bear's breeches ..... ? No idea ....and why would it be spelt breeches and not britches . Maybe it's an American/English thing .  🐻🧸

I allow it to grow here on this north facing area of the garden , but it is at this stage every year , that I cut it all down and clear it away , every last seed pod of it .

Some years I dig out some of the roots . mainly because I don't want it spreading it's roots underground and coming up in the drive .

   So I climbed up and allowed myself no more than fifteen minutes to slash it all down and a bit later on I raked it all down into the wheelbarrow .

 

         It's not perfect but I will come back and do a bit more tomorrow .

              

Meanwhile Ricardo - Lord Protector of the Spud Tubs is feeling pleased with himself once again ! We still have another tub to tip out and he's planted more to have in December .

 In the greenhouse , I had thought that the Cucumbers were just about finished . but I found two more hiding ! 

                         Very pleased !

So I had harvested all of the remaining Sweet Peppers and I had thought to throw the plants out , but changed my mind and thought it might just be worth a try to cut them down  and see if I can encourage them to produce a few more .

 I cut them all down by a goodly half and intend to give them a bit of tomato feed .

I can see new shoots coming at every point where a leaf is beginning to yellow and drop . It's worth a try , nothing to lose !

Flowers for the table -

 There really isn't much  choice right now , everything is so dry .

                 I didn't want to take too much , but found a few things .

 Hydrangeas  , Pittosporum , Cotinus coggygria" Royal Purple" , Agapanthus and a small piece of Buddleia " Black Knight " and I think it is called Euonymus , a pretty variegated one to fill in the gaps .

            

                                       Looking pretty on the table .

Last but not least .... There's going to be an eclipse next week  ☀️🌑Wednesday 12th August starting at 6.15 pm - 7.10pm 

                        Get ready with your eclipse goggles !

                                    Hope you're having a great weekend !

                We're off on a picnic now ...... bye  !

                      Peace and  Love 🤍🕊️

                                Debbie 💐x

Hosepipe Ban Cornwall

 Hosepipe ban as from 3am this morning ......  drat ..... drat and triple drat !

Although it is only a short walk up to my vegetable garden , it is a very long way up there carrying two watering cans !

               Here's hoping the rain returns soon ......sigh .....

                                                  🌿☀️🌿    

Tree Fern - Storm damage and Ivy

 Here is my gorgeous Tree Fern ,last year , looking it's absolute fabulous best , above and below with it's magnificent full skirt .

                 🌴     This is how I love to see them .  🌴

Unfortunately it was badly damaged during Storm Goretti . The silly thing had already started to push up it's new croziers . Also Ivy had crept in and started to smother the trunk .

 So I had to go in quite hard with it this time . I especially did not want the ivy to smother the crown .  

   So I spent pretty much a whole day ,  just carefully working away on it .

We'd had a lot of rain over the winter months and the Ivy was loving it ! 

In this picture , you can see how the severe gales had ripped off the tips of the fern fronds ...... very sad  😔🌿

Anyway it's "all tidied up" now 😔I hate "all tidied up " tree ferns and cordylines !

  It should start to look better next year , if we don't have such a harsh winter .

Good news  😄

Amorphophallus atroviridis  - update  💛

        I am nearly bursting with excitement to see these lovely new leaves !

                                                   🌿 🤗 🌿 

In the greenhouse , the Cucumbers are slowing down now . We have had a great harvest of cucumbers , very happy with them , but I think these two might be the last of them . I was very mean with the compost  ....so damned expensive !

              The tomatoes are still coming and ripening up . 

The peppers are really looking quite sad now . We had a fabulous harvest , they all came at once and all now sliced up , open frozen , bagged up in the freezer .

  I pulled off the last five this morning and I'm thinking of having a big clear out now in the greenhouse . So that I can now enjoy all my other plants .

                            Still waiting for rain !

                                            Peace and Love 🕊️

                                            Debbie 💐x