Epiphyllum oxypetalum Brahma Kamala ब्रम्ह कमल/ब्रम्हकमळ rooted cutting arrived !

                                       ............ and so it continued to rain ....

                                              ...... and rain ......

                                ........ and rain on the cocoa powder fields ......
                           

I had another dentist appointment in Truro at 2pm....just the hygienist and she's very nice ...so we were just dithering about really , this gloomy old morning and keeping an eye on the time .

 Great excitement ! The postman arrived with a parcel ! It was the Epiphyllum rooted cutting that I,d bought from a lady on Ebay for a sensible price !
 I have been trying to find this to add to my collection for a very long time .

 I took it out of the wrappers straight away and off to the wood shed , where I potted it up in the finest compost and perlite .
It originates from South America , but is now found in many places with similar climate .
   It has many different names.....Beauty under the Moon ......Star of Bethlehem....Queen of the Night ....but the one I love is is the one it is known by in India ....Brahma Kamala . It is named after the Hindu God of Creation .
     It is believed that the wishes of people who pray to God while the flowers are blooming will be fulfilled .
 The beautiful and fragrant flower is creamy white and only blooms once a year .
 The bud begins to open during the late evening , fully open it is between 8" and 10" wide . It sadly begins to fade away at dawn .

  Considered a Sacred plant , it is said , that it should only be given as a gift .

 I did have to buy mine ...  sigh .....oh well ...it didn't cost me very much .
When it becomes bigger I will take cuttings and gift them and hopefully that will make it alright .

        Oh ! Here's my Birdie Girl ..hopping in to ask for a grape ......

              She sits and makes little peeping noises until I give her a grape  .
If I leave the fruit bowl in the kitchen , she will come right in and help herself !

                                                Happy Birdie Girl ! 

I carefully carried my Epiphyllum oxypetalum Brahma kamala baby up to the North facing window-sill at the top of the stairs . This is where I usually start off my Epie cuttings and get the best results . I haven't given it too much water , in fact hardly any, it will have just the moisture from the compost as it comes from the bag...those are rain drops from Heaven as I carried it in from the woodshed .
  The lovely hand-painted cup is a charity shop treasure  . I just couldn't resist buying it at the time , but I found the pottery too thick to drink from .
So now I use it for flower arrangements or small plants . It is so pretty .

                                       So now it has a few friends .

                               Actually quite a lot of friends !   Hooray  !
             I am looking forward to the day this one flowers for me .

Rain at last !

From my bedroom window , I watch the sea gulls following the tractor preparing the field for the next crop .

             The earth looks like cocoa powder , it has been dry for so long .

During the night I lay listening to the rain ....I,m listening to it now  ....

                                At last some rain to refresh everything .

                                    The puddle where I wash my boots .

We have given the Tomatoes and Cucumbers their final sorting out , fixing up the rigging and spacing them all out along the bench in the Solar shed  .

          We had a fairly good harvest last year growing them in here .

          Fingers crossed for a bumper harvest this year . No Tomatoes yet .....

                                     .........but they're on their way !

The rain is thundering down now ! Good .....it will replenish the water-butts ! Hooray !
  A gloomy old morning though and cold too .  I,m tired and glad to take a break from the vegetable garden today .

Physalis - planted

 It has been the perfect day today for planting out my Physalis seedlings . Blue sky and warm , with a bit of cloud to take the edge off the heat while I finished the frame to give them some support .

 I,m sure my mother used to plant them into the ground and let them scrabble about without any support  ,and she would get lots of fruits too , but I am going to try growing them the way they do in the fields in Columbia and Peru . Rather like I also do my tomatoes  up in the solar shed , just gently winding the stems of the plants around the strings to give them support .

              The strings are wound around and over the cane at the top .....

   ..... the ends of the strings are knotted with very big knots which are buried into the ground .

The ground is so dry that I was unable to push the Hazel poles into the ground very far , so in the end I also used  bamboo canes to make the frame more rigid .

 It doesn't cling nor climb around the bamboo canes like Runnerbeans ,rather the stems and branches will be wound as to lean horizontally against and along the strings .
 My only worry is now I,ve heard that Physalis can grow to be eight feet tall ! If  it begins to look as if this is the case , then I will have to get some taller canes .

                           Look !  There are flower buds coming already !

      So I watered them in and spread some bark chippings around their feet to discourage the snails .....and fingers crossed they'll still be there tomorrow .

                  Then I watched the bees popping in and out of my Foxgloves .

This one looks different with it's stripey tail .
    I also spotted my first Humming bird moth of the year on the Centranthus rubra , more commonly known here as Cornish Valerian .....but try as I might ..I could not get a decent picture of it this time round , it was darting about our Cornish hedge so fast !

I do love our native purple Digitalis purpurea and I will let them be and flower where ever they come up , but I am also so happy that some of my foxgloves are white again this year .... I was worried that the bees would not like them as much as they do the native purple ones . I have started off a tray of Apricot ones for next year and the year after . I think my husband got them free with this months Gardeners World Magazine . Fingers crossed again for germination  ! I keep going to see if they 're coming up yet , lol !
  Lastly ,  .... Please God can we have a little rain tonight , my water but is empty and the garden is so dry ....Amen .
 

Mothers Union Mullion - Open Afternoon in St Mellanus Church

Well I got back from our trip to the dentist in Truro , just in time for my husband to drop me off to attend the Mothers Union Open Afternoon at St Mellanus Church in  Mullion .
 I met up with Wendy Williamson , who filled me in with all the history of the Mothers Union on the way in .
  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me , as I hadn't expected to be able to be back from Truro in time .
 It was very well attended by ladies of all ages and I noticed a couple of gentleman too .
 After a short prayer of thanks to God , we were invited to take some refreshment , cups of tea and cakes and to sit back in our pews and their was much friendly nattering , chattering and laughter .
 Then we all quietened down to enjoy the Mullion Hand-bell Ringers playing some lovely old favourite tunes . They must have played about 6 or seven pieces and  it was truly delightful ! I especially loved the old Welsh song The Ashgrove  .....that gave me the tingles , it was really lovely !
 This was followed by a Poetry recital by Doris R.Townsend . I loved the way that she introduced each of the three poems that she has written , as well as hearing her read them to us . That made it so special .
 I think that many of us who love  Cornwall , our gardens and the wildlife that come to visit , can relate so well to her poems .
 Doris has given me copies of her poems and has given me permission to share them with you here . I will give you the first one today . See below :)

 Then we were invited to take home some cake for a donation . Which was really nice to take some cake home for my husband , even though his mouth was a little numb still from the dentist, he still really enjoyed his piece of cake !
 What a wonderful table spread full of delicious cakes and biscuits ..we have  some great cake makers here in Mullion !

 Wendy gave me a copy of the Mothers Union magazine to read and the next proper meeting will be 20th June in Saint Mellanus Church .
 The meetings are always on a Thursday , which coincides with my dance class , but I might be able to go if no one minds me slipping away early to get ready for dance class ....not sure ....we'll have a think about that ....

                                 ........ and maybe I'll meet you there !

 Mothers Union is a growing international organisation with 4 million members around the world . United in prayer . Money raised going to help young families and projects both locally and far away .

So I sat in my kitchen with my cup of tea , reading the "Families Worldwide Mothers Union Magazine"
It shows a lot of what they do far and wide around the globe .
 I'd like to know more about what they do for our more local young mothers and families .
 I very much enjoyed the Mothers Union Open Afternoon ...thankyou to everyone who organised and also took part performing in it .

                                               ( Birdie in my kitchen )

 And now I will share with you Doris R.Townsend's - May Promises - poem .
 I think that many of us who love  Cornwall , our gardens and the wildlife that come to visit , can relate so well to her poems .
 Doris has given me some copies of her poems and has given me permission to share them with you here . I will give you the first one today .                 

                                                  May Promises

                                  The colours are truly amazing
                                     as blossom is promising fruit .
                                First rain- then sunshine is blazing-
                                  as seedlings send up a new shoot.

                               The blackbirds, now busily worming ,
                                      almost get under my feet .
                         Their nestlings are squeaking and squirming ,
                                  each wanting much more to eat .

                                The hedgerows are gently vibrating
                                      with bees as they set to work .
                                 Two jackdaws are loudly debating
                                      as they leap about with a jerk .

                               All nature is stretching and waking ,
                               the clouds overhead shed a shower .
                          The scent of fresh raindrops , thirst slaking ,
                            delights all who pass this moist bower .

                               As courgettes , tomatoes and runners
                               reach up with new shoots to the sky ,
                          the thunder-heads sound distant gunners ,
                                     and a rainbow arches nearby .

                                  I stand , with my prayers uplifted ,
                                   and wait for the Western blush .
                                 When daylight has faded and shifted
                                     it leaves a calm evening hush .

                                        by Doris R. Townsend

                                Birdie with her babies in my garden .
 So now I must go and do some more plant out my Physalis seedlings up in my vegetable garden .  I hope you are enjoying all this lovely sunshine  !