Day five of Fog

 Yep day five of fog . We need the sun to come out now and dry out the hay .

Our  Cornish Elm has really gone downhill with the Dutch Elm disease  ...sigh....the leaves have only appeared on the lower  half of the tree .

On my way to the greenhouse this morning , I'm thinking how lush everything is today . We had torrential rain over-night  . No need to go around with the watering can today .

Incy wincy has made a new web , but he's hiding , just watching and waiting .

So , in the greenhouse we go ......

                                         Oh yeah !  ☺️

                                           Oh yeah !  ☺️

      Oh my goodness !  Here come the Sweet Peppers !

  This year I'm growing one called "Snackbite Red " Sown in February .

           I am quite impressed with these so far . Looking good !

                      Cucumbers 🌿.......

          ........just doing what Cucumber plants do 🌿🌿🌿🐝

The Primrose like leaves coming up in the Ledebouria pot has not gone unnoticed .

I will have to sort them out later on .

This old Epiphyllum needs re-potting . 

  I think it is a gorgeous red flowering one .

This was from my mum's plant , who in turn had a piece from my Grandmother's plant .

 I have no idea from where my Grandmother acquired it . No garden centres back in her day . 

                   🌿🌿🌿            🌿🌿🌿           🌿🌿🌿

 I'll take off that yellowing Phylloclade . Not strictly being a leaf as such .....rather a modified stem having the function of a leaf .

I will make several cuttings from that .

 

                           Epiphyllum Curt Backberg ....broken ....grrrr.....  🐈‍⬛

 

             Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg flower .

🐈‍⬛I suspect a neighbour's cat has been in again and broken off a couple of branches from this Epie .  Grrr ......( it's not really a very safe place for a puddy tat in a cactus greenhouse ! )  🌵

      Oh well !  I gave these to a couple of friends at church this morning .

 I only give cuttings to people who I know have green fingers , will love them and can make them grow ! 

I fixed up netting to stop the cat coming in . I have also had to usher out the Robin who follows me everywhere .

   I rescue bees and butterflies with the aid of a children's rock pool fishing net .

                                      Oooh !  ☺️

   Kalenchoe ..I have several varieties and can't remember their names . 

               Mother of Thousands is it's more folky name . 

She is flowering right now and there are thousands of babies !

                  Gawd ! What am I going to do with them all !

      Let me know if you'd like one !

     Selenicereus chrysocardium ....... I call it my Whale's Tail Epie    🐋

It lives on my bathroom windowsill .

 It had some mealiebugs . I treated it and left it outside last night in the rain , to rinse it off .🌧️ Lordy didn't it rain hard last night !  🌧️🌧️🌧️

 It looks so much better this morning .  Refreshed !  

 I think the sun is trying to come out .☀️ Time for lunch and then off for a walk .

               Love and Peace 🕊️ Go and make it a great day !

                                         Love Debbie 💐x

Epiphyllums in the Greenhouse - update

 

                Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg beginning to fade now .

I always feel a bit sad when these flowers begin to fade and wither away .

                    Epiphyllum Clown

However , it will be exciting to see what comes from having crossed these two beauties .

The flower is withering away , but the seedpod is swelling .

                                       Epiphyllum Yellow

I also pollenated the bottom two flowers of this one . Named and sold to me as being E.Yellow , although it is actually very pale yellow on the outer petals and more ivory on the inner petals  .

  I would like to rename it Epiphyllum  Cornish Clotted Cream !

So I pollenated it with this one below ......

.....which was sold to me as E. Acapulco Sunset .  Sadly, as it turns out , I don't think it is Acapulco Sunset .  It is a Giant variety for sure and these giant ones are hard to find here in the U.K.

  These were the only flowers open at the same time .  I only pollenated the two bottom flowers of the one on the left. Epiphyllum Yellow . There was plenty of pollen .

And here are the seed pods forming .

The two unpollinated flowers dropped off completely . 

Very exciting to see these seed pods swelling !

The ripening can take between six and twelve months . Exciting ! 

 To be updated !  

                                          🌿💚🌿

Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg - midday update 🌿

 

          Oooo ...... my goodness ! .......I think it's going to happen very soon !

Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg - update 🌿

 

Apologies everyone , Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg is keeping us waiting !

It's a bit overcast this morning , he's waiting for the sun to come out !

There are actually two buds on him this year . 

So while we're waiting I'll show you around the shed .

Celery , kale, coriander and lettuce . Yellow sticky labels to catch compost gnats ....not sure they're working to be honest , but the plants are doing o.k. 

Moving up the bench - Only four of my first batch of sweetcorn germinated , so yesterday I sowed another lot in that propagator with the clear lid . 

 Another tray of Lettuce seedlings struggling in the heat . 

Epie cuttings . My new Echinocereus and Iguanodon 🦖 . Crambe maritima seedlings . Cardoon seedling (only one germinated !)

Lemon verbena and Helianthemum plug plants ...Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri rooted cutting ready to send up to my mother as I think she lost hers during their house move . It is a cutting that originally came from mum's which was possibly a cutting that was originally taken from the one my grandmother had on her windowsill .

 I'll show you my bigger one that I have on my kitchen windowsill later on .

 So then , more Epie cuttings ..King Midas and Marilyn Monroe .

Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe - not showing any signs of flowering this year .  

  She needs tidying up , she's climbed out of her plant support and wants to go rambling about !

             🌿🩷   Here are some pics of last year's amazing flower 🩷🌿

                              🌿   Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe 🌿

                                               Click twice 😊

                            🌿 Epiphyllum Marilyn Monroe  🌿

 

 Nice view over lovely new gate into the meadow , which I think , will soon be cut and baled  .

              I took the leek , beetroot and other seedlings  out of the shed now .

I'll bring them on outside for a while before planting them out .

 Giving everything a nice long drink during this hot weather .

 Three Furcraea longaevas waiting to be planted out in the new tropical bed . It's just been way too hot to start on that .

    I need to get these planted out very soon and sow some more Beetroot .

  The water barrel's are almost empty . Hoping we'll get some rain soon to refill them and refresh everything .

  It has been uncomfortably hot , too hot for me ....too hot in the greenhouse for some of my plants !

 I almost lost my tomato plants , but managed to revive them .

I fixed up some windbreak mesh to give a bit of shade in the greenhouse . 

 This morning it is a little bit misty and overcast , but that hot sun is now trying to burn through .

                                      🌿    Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri 🌿

         🌿 Pretty scarlet star flowers of Rhpsalidopsis gaertneri 🌿

   

       Hopefully E. Curt Backeberg will bloom for us later on .

              Take care of your plants in this hot weather ☀️🐝🦋

Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg - bud 🌿

                 🌿    Waiting for Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg   🌿

🌿Meanwhile Epiphyllum King Midas , one of my oldest Epies , is suddenly putting out lots of lovely new shoots . Lots of them !

 It hasn't flowered for a very long time . Maybe it will flower next year . It has a very pale orange flower .

I managed to knock a branch off , so that is now stuck into a small pot of compost and going to a friend . 🌿

I am about to label , repot and tidy up my plants .  Things got into a terrible muddle while the new leaky greenhouse was being built . 

Some of my plants were left outside through the winter and are really tatty . Sigh .....we'll see what we can do . 

Need -  black felt tip pen - plant labels - compost - perlite -grit - large square pots - scissors .

☀️    It has been fiercely hot here , almost lost my tomato plants 😱 , but managed to turn the situation around .  

Hot again , but there has been a bit more of a breeze and we have heard the odd rumble of thunder .

                                              🌿☀️🌤️🌩️🌿

 

Sunday - ☀️ 🐝🦋

It has been fiercely hot today . I did a quick check around the garden early this morning .

Runner-beans still looking o.k.😊 I noticed a couple of shallots coming up at last !

Courgettes , Butternuts and Courgette plants are still there .

 Thirsty plants ...I will water them tomorrow morning ...trying to encourage them to put their roots down deeper .

 I'm so glad I rescued my chives ( they had been nibbled almost to the ground by bunnykins 🐰) .

 

I planted them in with my Lavender and the bees and butterflies are loving them !

My Snap-Dragons are looking their best in their second year . Also much loved by the bees .

 I sat watching them ...listening to their busy humming as they climb into each flower .

The climbing and short beans are looking o.k too .

        This beautiful butterfly closed it's wings just as I went to take a photo .....

                 .......... then opened up again ......

              

                                     Painted Lady  !

Too hot to do anything today . Made a mental note of things I have to do .

      Mostly weeding . ..... maybe tomorrow morning early .

 I want to transplant a couple of Echiums into the front garden .

    Yep , maybe tomorrow .

Self sown Echium seedlings . 🌿

Impatiens tinctoria ...lots of buds ..this Impatiens stays in a well behaved clump

unlike Impatiens glandulifera also known as Himalayan balsam which is a real thug .

  Native to tropical Africa and I assume that parts of the plant can be used for dye ... I might try it when I get some free time !

 The flower of this is beautiful white and fragrant . Watch this space for an update !

                        Weeds !                                        Weeds !

  Need to earth over these exposed Dahlia roots !

 Left over hazel poles...might make another teepee somewhere else in the garden .

I have a couple of climbing roses that would look nice on it and maybe some more Sweetpeas .

Meanwhile in the greenhouse ......

                 Epiphyllum Curt Backeberg 

                      Epiphyllum Clown 

Everytime I look her bud is swelling !

              May be tomorrow ......maybe during the night .

I will have one more check on these later on . Watch this space !

                                          🌿🌿🌿

Anyway .....

I sat in the summerhouse for a while sorting out a vintage kit I bought on ebay .

 

 The colours were a nightmare to sort out , the instructions called one batch of greens " olive greens " and the other "forest greens" ..I'm still not sure which is which ! And pale brown and very pale brown very difficult to decide which was which lol ! but I got them all into their colour shades and into neat bundles and I think I'm almost ready to start  . 

Yes , the observant amongst you will see that the picture on the front of the kit has blue flowers  🩵🙄

   It's o.k. because after  going through the instructions several times I found this ...

                              

                                 🩷     Phew ! That's o.k then ! 🩷  

           Me separating the pale brown from the very pale brown and white wool .

I like stitching with silk but my hands are a bit sore with all the weeding so I thought I'd switch over to crewel wool for a little while .

                             So hot today !  The sea so calm .

It is going to be very hot again tomorrow . So I'll be up early to do the watering .

 I hope you are all enjoying a nice long bank holiday weekend and maybe also half term school break .

         Take care in the hot sunshine and enjoy !  ☀️

               Love and Peace  💐🕊️🐝 Debbie x