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[CLKD]

everything is lush   

[Minusminnie]

Woke up to some overnight rain here which has helped.

[CLKD]

1 loud clap of thunder about 3.00 p.m. but no rain although the sky was grumpy.

[CLKD]

Our 1 rose 

[Minusminnie]

Here’s my first flower on a ladybird poppy.

I take photos on my phone now of flower heads as they come out.  Something colourful to look at in the winter.

[CLKD]

FabULUS! tnx for sharing.  I can't grow any poppies other than Welsh, I've tried those that should return each year, Californian don't like it here 

[Minusminnie]

Off to a National Garden Scheme open garden today.
Very thankful for this scheme as some lovely gardens and spaces in our county.

[CLKD]

Was it good?  Our village opens gardens every 2/3 years, I did it once: woke feeling so anxious and it took weeks of preparation.  The day was extremely hot so I was handing out glasses of iced water and finding seats in the shade for the elderly  fortunately no one fainted.

Roses smelling lovely  . 

[sheila99]

I have given up on no mow May today and mowed it before the rain comes. Has anyone successfully turned their lawn into a wild flower meadow? I only seem to grow weeds.

[CLKD]

Weeds!  right plant, wrong place  .  It depends on where you are in relation to allowing lawn to grow.  We got rid of ours in the 1980s, I try to keep areas for wild flowers.  Everything that we buy is F1 from wild flowers anyway.  I find that poppy and fox glove seeds grow better having gone through our composting system. - in the dark then as the sun and light hit the seeds they germinate. 

A wild flower meadow needs a lot of plants that will outgrow any grasses - and may take 3-4 years 2 become established but the results are worth waiting for 

I have corn cockle in a pot as that has a history of spreading  . 

[Minusminnie]

Was it good?  Our village opens gardens every 2/3 years, I did it once: woke feeling so anxious and it took weeks of preparation.  The day was extremely hot so I was handing out glasses of iced water and finding seats in the shade for the elderly  fortunately no one fainted.

Roses smelling lovely  .

Have you gone to an NGS garden at all rather than open yours ?

Thursday visit was what we needed.  Old house, farm buildings, barn that is wedding venue, plenty of space, some very old trees,
a run down walled garden....... etc.   Not your RHS or National Trust perfection and all the better for it !

[Minusminnie]

I have given up on no mow May today and mowed it before the rain comes. Has anyone successfully turned their lawn into a wild flower meadow? I only seem to grow weeds.

Think i would sell the turf, get some top soil and sow a wild flower meadow.  I think you can plant wildflowers into the lawn but never done it.

A neighbour has wild violets in her lawn which look lovely when they come out.

[CLKD]

I may have mentioned that we have Devon violets from a plant brought to MinL from Devon in the 1970s.  As well as small purple and some white violets .   

We do have NGS around here, usually it rains, is too hot or falls on a MotoGP weekend  . We had builders here recently who were pleased with our efforts ........ we all had ice cream on the patio mid-afternoon to give them a break so that they could enjoy the flowers etc..

[CLKD]

Ermine moth webs, everywhere  .  In the last 3 weeks we've removed several from the spindle trees here.  Trees locally are covered from root, all the way up the bark into the tops - will be interesting to C whether they do in fact recover.

I heard a thrush singing earlier 

Bluetits feeding nestlings, they are taking an age to fledge 

[CLKD]

Self-set sunflowers - attracting insects 
Evening primrose have grown over 5ft tall - attracting insects - watching the petals open at dusk is quite eerie 
Froglets found in damp patches around the plot 

The ground is rock hard