FLOWERS, PLANTS & TREES – Page 4 – ROLLING HARBOUR GALLERY

COSMOS: THE FLOWER (with white-tailed bumblebee)

Published on August 11, 2013 by Rolling Harbour8 Comments

NOW YOU SEE IT… …NOW YOU DON’T

A SECOND BUNCH OF FLOWERS FROM DORSET

Published on July 19, 2013 by Rolling HarbourLeave a comment

A BUNCH OF FLOWERS FROM DORSET (2)

Published on June 27, 2013 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

Here’s a second bunch of flowers from a Dorset garden in June. Those few who kindly sniffed the first bunch may have wondered why none was labelled. That’s because, for most of them (apart from the obvious ones) I have no idea of the names. Or did once, but have forgotten them. And for familiar ones, I feel putting “Pink Rose” isn’t much help if you really want to know if it’s a Rosaflora Grandiloquens “Dame Edna Everage” or not. If I name 2 or 3 but not the rest, it still looks a bit… wrong. So it’s just ‘flars’, as Eliza Doolittle might say.

A BUNCH OF FLOWERS FROM DORSET (1)

Published on June 25, 2013June 27, 2013 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

GARDEN FLOWERS IN 10 MINUTES OF SUNSHINE (LONDON)

Published on June 22, 2013June 23, 2013 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

HONEYSUCKLE

WEIGELA

OH YOU KNOW – IT’S A CARNATION… OF SORTS… ISN’T IT?

WHITE FOXGLOVE

CANTERBURY BELL

BLUE NONCOGNOSCO [Cornflower ‘Centaurea’ – thanks Amelia]

PINK FOXGLOVE

MINIATURE RED ROSE

(replete with whitefly – a job for the weekend)

PURPLE IRIS

THAT USEFUL PLANT THAT GROWS BETWEEN PAVING STONES [= Campanula – thanks again Amelia]

ARUM LILY

DON’T WORRY. BEE HAPPY…

Published on June 19, 2013June 19, 2013 by Rolling Harbour2 Comments

A strange yellow disc appeared intermittently in the sky today. It is warmer. Time to venture into the garden. First stop – the lupins. Bees in residence? Check. Looking closely, I notice that they part the individual pods with their legs to get at the contents. There’s certainly bags of what they are after, to judge by the leg pouches.

Next stop: the nice pink flowers that are called… well, if someone wants to remind me, please use the comment box. They came from a nice house in Kent and have flourished on my regime of benign neglect.

Now that blue thing – Canterbury Bell, is it? Bee inside? Tick.

The foxgloves seem popular with the bumbles today. Only the purple ones, not the white ones. Such pretty patterns close-up, and such long hairs inside. The technical term for these is… forgettable.

GOOD GRIEF! When I pressed the ‘publish’ button, this turned out to be my 100th post on this ramshackle, poorly curated website. Thanks to the select, small (but slightly increasing) numbers who turn up to have a look from time to time. This isn’t my main project, but it’s a place to put a few nice pics from time to time. Merci, all. RH

SPRING IN THE CITY = BLOSSOM ON THE TREES

Published on April 24, 2013 by Rolling Harbour4 Comments

At last we have Spring in London. The birds are ‘twitterpated’ (©Walt Disney, Bambi – classic child-friendly euphemism). Suddenly there are things to be done in the garden, largely neglected during a long winter. The sun is out and I can tell the time on the sundial (last time I looked it said ‘November’).

Spring 2013 3 DWARF WHITE CHERRY BLOSSOM
SPIR[A]EA

A RANDOM COWSLIP IN THE LAWN

CAMELIA

TULIP

DAFFODIL SPECIES BORROWED (ahem) FROM THE WEST COAST OF IRELAND

FORGET-ME-NOTS (‘ground cover’ – i.e.saves weeding)

PINK CHERRY

SNAKESHEAD FRITILLARIES (my favourite)

AMELANCHIER

MAGNOLIA STELLATA

FORSYTHIA

SOME MORE CHERRY FOR LUCK

SPRING IN DORSET: BETTER LATE THEN NEVER…

Published on April 22, 2013April 23, 2013 by Rolling Harbour7 Comments

Spring arrived in mid-Dorset last week. On Tuesday evening, swallows appeared for for the first time. On Wednesday, they were joined by housemartins. That evening, the unmistakable sound of an attempted break-in at the back of the house turned out to be a male partridge landing on, and strutting round, a corrugated roof. His mate then set off a security light, to her great surprise. Last year they raised 13 chicks. On Saturday morning, I was fishing for wild and wily brown trout, when a sandpiper flew up from the water’s edge. Plenty of people have been posting lovely Spring pictures. I certainly can’t beat them, but I’ll join them with a few photos from the last few days.

Buds are bursting The partridges are back, and other birds are out in force

The spring flowers are at their best

Baby blackbirds are already fledging

The rooks are pairing up, and nesting in the oaks

The alpacas are enjoying fresh grass and the warmth of the sun (attractive they may be, and useful mowers, but they were looking the wrong way when brains were being handed out to the animal kingdom)