Sauromatum venosum

 

                                 It's arrived !

                                       And there are two !   Thankyou so much Toucan Tropicals ! 

I quickly got them potted up and some horticultural grit around them to deter the slugs .

I can't wait to see these put up their spotted inflorescences (flowers) .....but maybe I'll have to wait a year for them to settle in and just enjoy their gorgeous speckled peduncles (stalks) and leaves . Can you tell I've been reading up about them ?  🤣

This is a similar one called Amorphophallus konjak . This is one that I already have out in the garden .

                             Amorphophallus konjak leaves .

 ..... and this is the gorgeous Amorphophallus konjak inflorescence  ....... which has the fragrance of rotten meat .....but only for a short time .🪰 This attracts the flies which pollenate it .  🐜🪰🪰

 This one is quite hardy in the U.K.  I'm not sure about my new one Sauromatum venosum . I think for a while I might treat it like a Dahlia and bring it under cover and keep it dry over the Winter months .

Sauromatum venosum  has a spotty inflorescence ......flower . I will update you on it's progress  🙂

In the porch for a while until it settles in and I need to make plant labels .

                                 I am in love !   🌿🪰🐜

 

☀️Happy Summer Solstice Blessings ☀️

 

 

Another warm sunny day . Good for drying out the hay which has just been cut and tussled .

I  am busy trying to keep up with watering everything in the greenhouse .The water butts are empty again already .

 Rain is forecast to arrive tomorrow afternoon and hopefully  refill the water-butts ......but then on the other hand we want it to stay dry while the hay is being baled up and taken into shelter .

                     Hay-stacks in our neighbour's field ....ours will be next .

                     Smells wonderful !

 The Summer Solstice Strawberry Moon rising this evening . Happy Summer Solstice Blessings .

                                                          🤍☀️🕊️

Sunrise 5.11am this morning ☀️🌿

 

                                      ..........and the meadow has been cut .  🌿☀️🌿

🌿Tomato and Cucumber update 🌿

 

Another hot and sunny day ! The meadow is being cut as I write this .

Up in the greenhouse , the tomatoes and cucumbers are romping away ! Almost climbing out of the roof window ! 

They were a bit slow to get going but now there are lots of flowers .

The tomatoes are beginning to appear now too . Supersweet 100 F1 and Alicante .

I also decided to try a new for me variety called Roma . It is supposed to be a plum or egg shaped tomato .

It is quite a monster , growing next to the normal size Alicante , comparing the stems , you can see the difference . Roma has really thick stems and is growing quite aggressively compared to my other tomato plants . I am very surprised to see this and I started them later too . They have more than caught up with the others ! 

Femspot and Beth Alpha Cucumbers are also romping away ! My system for training them nicely up strings failed as they couldn't reach the height of the new greenhouse bench as I had planned , they had other plans to take over the greenhouse .

Their tendrils reaching out and latching on to anything .

We are already picking sweet crunchy little cucumbers . 5" -7" in size . Perfect for the two of us !

They are romping and scrabbling their way from the floor through the Epiphyllums and up to the roof and I don't mind ....the Epies don't mind , they prefer to grow in the shade anyway .

Sweet Peppers Toro Rosso looking very good . Husband will be very happy with these  !

                                        Hope the sun is shining for you .

"Walk and touch peace every moment .

Walk and touch happiness every moment .

Each step brings a fresh breeze .

Each step makes a flower bloom under our feet .

Kiss the Earth with your feet .

Bring the Earth your love and happiness .

The Earth will be safe   ....  when we feel safe in ourselves ."

                                                                                 Thich Nhat Hanh    🙏🏻

🌿Mostly Alpines and not much work done ! 🦦🌿

 

I got my tools out ready to begin working on tidying this shameful area of the garden . ..but it is so hot ...so I decided to leave it until after lunch .

procrastinating ....

I decided to play with my Alpine plants instead . I bought a bag of horticultural grit ,which was expensive , but really made a difference spread around the little plants .

I decided to leave the rose cutting in there , to give it a bit longer to establish some good roots . I'll probably take it out as we go into early Autumn and repot it .

           The sun came out and the Gentian opened her gorgeous blue flowers  🤍

 My Voodoo Lily is looking fabulous .My daughter  gave me another big clump of them which are now up by the Summerhouse , not flowering yet . 

💚I really love these and I have just ordered another one from a specialist nursery Toucan Tropicals . 

It will be quite similar to this one , only with wicked spots on it , called Sauromatum venosum. Very excited me !

              

                                       🙄Okay ! Okay ! 🙄

                                         

                                        

(editing controls not working properly on Blogspot grrr ! )

Rip off the weed-membrane and the surprisingly heavy as lead , dead Echium trunk .

Fork , rock , shove , lop and finally pull out this massive root of what was my beautiful Phormium "Red Robin" which had mysteriously died over last winter .

It was huge and took all my strength to pull it out .

Then I went in to lop out another huge Echium that had fallen over..and as I began ...

...this little chap came out and skipped lightly over my feet ! I grabbed the camera , but this time it was too close 🦦

I have decided to leave this job until maybe tomorrow as I don't want to disturb them . 

I think they might all be taking their nap in the bushes there .

I think that's all for today folks !

It's still sunshine and showers here on the Lizard ....mostly sunshine and very hot too when the sun comes out . There is also a very high pollen count and we are all sneezing .

I think the meadow will soon be cut . It's looking good ! 

🌤️☀️💛

.....and then there were three ! - Polecat adventures continued 🦦

 

I am quite a long way back with my camera , hiding behind the rockery wall . There are three Polecats in there frolicking in a sheet of weed membrane . They are loving it and  having so much fun rolling around and playing in and under it !

We are presently working on this little area of the garden  . The chicken wire is what I temporarily fixed up around our Dahlias on the left and on the right is the gravelled area , which needs tidying up and refreshing with new gravel . 

 So the weed membrane , there it lies , in a heap , waiting for me to summon up the energy to get on with it ! 

Unfortunately there is a problem on Blogspot at the moment and I can't enlarge my photos for you . I have reported it and hope they'll fix it soon . Meanwhile you can click on my pictures to enlarge them a little bit ........but not as much as I'd like .

I counted three , but there might have been four , they were moving so fast it was hard to count them .

There was even a bit of mating going on !

I took many photos , from behind the rockery bank . I will try and take a chance and sneak up closer next time for a better photo .

 I  just wanted to sit and enjoy watching their cheeky antics . 

I don't know where I thought Polecats lived , never really thought about it , Scotland maybe ?  I certainly didn't think they could be found here on the Lizard in Cornwall . In my back garden !

                              The rabbits had better watch out !  🐰🐰🐰

                                            

Polecat

 

..... and then we saw him again ! This time we are outside and I got a slightly better picture of him looking straight at me !

🎼🎶Pop ! Goes the ......Polecat ? ! 🎶

 

                  Very surprised to see this Polecat in our garden this morning !

We have occasionally been seeing cute little Stoats .I have yet to get a good photo of them , but this is definitely a Polecat ! Never seen one before ! 

             Feeling very honoured !  Well I'm blowed !  Made my day !  

                               Have a great day y'all !