Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

I haven't done the ironing yet. The sun came out, didn't rain.

The Rose Group secretary has written to us to ask if we would like to order some roses from a rose nursery that she has found near Angoulême. I think it is run by English people. They have offered a discount 15€ a rose instead of 21€ for the Garden Club. Some of them are David Austin roses. She has sent a long list of all sorts of roses. I couldn't resist. I have ordered 11 roses. I have spaces for 6 of them but no room in any bed for the other five. I am digging a new mixed oval bed between the shrub bed and the round rose bed. I had canes 90cms long so the bed is 3m60 long and 1m80 wide with rounded ends. It's marked out and I've dug out half the edge so far.

 

You have been working hard as usual @Busy-Lizzie. Sounds as if you will have a lovely display possibly next year. You will have to time your visits to France to appreciate them. I am quizzing tonight so will wish you all an early good evening and I'll see you all tomorrow.

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You're all working hard in the garden.
I've been in the greenhouse. Older dogs know better than enter... Gin, no.... hello Mum.
He's a blumin one dog demolition derby. If he's not eating it, his tail's demolishing it.
Then zoomies round the garden, chomp on a windfall... he'll sleep well tonight in a muddle with the other 2.

 

Utterly exhausting start to the crafty sewing season this afternoon so I'm having a flop this evening. Apart from anything else, I've spent the last 4 months wearing flip flops and occasional smart but comfy sandals so a bit of a shock for my feet to spend the entire afternoon in shoes cos it was cooler today. On parade all afternoon welcoming new ladies, passing on information, handing out the "cadeau d'inscription" which everyone gets at the start of their subscription to the club year, official admin for the council and bank, organising dates for my patch machine classes............

No gardening then but OH has been out and bought the bags of manure I need for my new rose bed which I hope to start planting on Wednesday. Leeks to plant tomorrow and a banana ginger cake to make for Friday's coffee with neighbours cos it needs to mature.

@Penny_Forthem Bonzo was dangerous at both ends too - gannet mouth and destroyer tail which always wagged with gusto and took no prisoners.

@Busy-Lizzie Fess up. What have you ordered?

@Goldenlily - a quiet potter is good for the soul. i hope you find your parcel and that son and DIL have managed all they needed to on this visit. They'll have earned their hols in NZ and I hope they enjoy it.

Have a peaceful evening, those who need it, and a successful evening for all those out to play.

 

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Well what a funny night was had last night. Nobody from our opponents contacted our Captain to say that they couldn't raise a team so we didn't have a match! We will get the points though and we amused ourselves by having a little quiz amongst ourselves. That was the last quiz night of this season but we don't have a massive break as next season starts towards the end of October.
I do hope that your parcel turns up @Goldenlily26. Legally the company you bought the item from has responsibilty so if you haven't already contacted them I would do that. Evri used to be Hermes and under that name they were known for their poor service so nothing new there then!
@Penny_Forthem they was a item on the Beeb this morning about Police dogs and they was a delightful Springer high lighted who is being taught to be a scent dog. One dog was trained to find electronic gadgets which I have to admit was something I was unaware of. All fascinating dogs.

 

Good morning. I'm on parade early as OH stayed up near the golf course - t'other side of St Nazaire - so that he's rested and fresh for his 9am match and then gets home in time for dancing and doesn't feel ragged. Possum left at an unseemly hour to get to La Rochelle - the opposite direction - for a day on the Bénéteau stand at the boat show.

Admin for me this morning then a date with a big bunch of leeks in the veg plot this pm. No rain expected today but only 15C. The chooks will enjoy the leek planting.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

 

Good morning all.

The weather is turning chilly. OH has lit the wood burner in the sitting room.

@Obelix-Vendée said " Fess up. What have you ordered?" Do you really want to know? I'm a bit of a rose fanatic but it might be boring for those who aren't!

Anyway - Nostalgia, Hot Chocolate, For Your Eyes Only (have one in Norfolk and it's super), Chandos Beauty, Chippendale (which I think is Duchess of Cornwall in the UK), Rambling Rosie for the arch, Eyes for You, then 4 small Persica roses for the rather dry Donkey Paddock border, Bravo Babylon Eyes and See You in Apricot.

Persica roses, single flowered mostly, with a dark eye, were bred from wild desert roses so they are OK with dry soil. The first five will go in the new bed.

Which ones did you buy for your new bed Obelixx?

Think I'll try to find the rose chat thread.

 

There must be something in the air. I had a fall in the garden yesterday. I had to think outside the box to get back onto my feet, I am a bit sore and stiff this morning but no bones broken. I have also missed the last step of my stairs and made a rather unelegant descent to ground level.
The kids called in for a cup of tea in the afternoon, happy with the way the ceremony had gone. It was a beautiful day, the location is apparently lovely, lots of wild cyclamen in flower everywhere,
My ex's brother and his family joined them and they all went for lunch together before heading home to Devon It was sad saying Goodbye to my son knowing we will not see each other for at least 6 months.
I put two loads of washing out and it all dried. It was when I had taken a bucket full of veg. waste down to the compost heap, I was on my way back to the house when my 'floppy' foot caught, and I was tipped over. I had plannned to make a fish pie for dinner but ended up with salad and a ready made quiche. A couple of fresh figs and a nectarine for dessert.
It is another glorious day, I have my bed sheet and duvet cover in the washing machine already, hopefully they will dry outside.

 

@Busy-Lizzie I've been looking at Persian roses but would need a whole new bed to start on those, or a major re-jig of an old one so not going there yet. I didn't buy any roses specifically for this new bed but have bought some just cos I fancied them and grew them on in pots, waiting. The new bed is about 11m x 1.4.

I have Astronomia, Entente Cordiale, Falstaff and Lovely Lin bought in plus Breathless Charm and Fighting Temeraire grown from cuttings and big enough to plant out and another 7 or 8 given by garden friends who also grow them from cuttings and aren't big on labels. I'm also growing on my own cuttings of Geoff Hamilton, Malvern Hills and Teasing Georgia from late season cuttings last year. I'll be trying more of those this coming week as they seem to do better than the ones taken in spring.

Plenty of R&R needed today @Goldenlily26

 

Hello everyone! Belated greetings to those that have had birthdays and anniversaries, it looks like there were very tasty meals taken!
Put the summer duvet back on the bed last night, what a change in the weather, the wind is quite bitter.
Had to go to town this morning to the hearing aid shop as one had broken, that was soon mended then popped along to the hairdressers to make an appointment for a cut as my hair is too long to manage with my bad shoulder. I have an eye appointment tomorrow and of course physio twice a week.
OH is still battling on trying to finish the tiling outside, he is now wondering why he decided to do a curved edge to this area!
I have a lemon coloured Canna that has popped up in the garden, I wasn't certain what it was until the flowers opened, I presume a bird has seeded it there as I haven't grown Cannas for years and not in that spot or colour.

 

Morning all.

Pity about your quiz, @Ladybird4 . If you watch the quiz programmes on TV you must spend a lot of your time shouting at the telly... I like "Only Connect", but can rarely do more than solve the odd part of a "wall" or answer the occasional question, apart from the missing vowels section, which I can generally do providing the category is something I know a bit about! That success comes from a family game played when I was a child, to keep me and my sister from getting fractious on a car journey; we competed to see who was quickest at making a word from the letters on the numberplate of a passing vehicle, using the letters in the right order.

Take care, @Goldenlily26 !

Those roses sound lovely, @Busy-Lizzie & @Obelix-Vendée . I don't have nearly as many as either of you... and this year my 2-year-old "Wollerton Old Hall" has had really bad black spot. Such a shame as the flowers are gorgeous, but I guess it's not a fan of high humidity. I'll persevere a bit longer, I think.

I finished the scything yesterday! It's 3 years since I did a scything course, and I'm at last getting quicker, with more even results. It's good for the waistline, too!

Hope your weather is as beautiful as mine. Only 0.8 overnight though. Frosts are on their way here, I think.

 

Lemon coloured cannas were on sale in LIDL a couple of years ago @floralies. Mine have only just made it into the ground in my new bed and have flowered their socks off this summer. There was also a rich pinky shade of deep red that has been fab too at the other end.

I hope all your physio works and you get your shoulder back soon.

Some of my roses are getting black spot now @Liriodendron and I'm going to try the purin de prêle - horsetail tea - on them to see if it helps. It's a general fungicide and, they say, is not harmful to anything else except organisms that reproduce with spores so not good near mushrooms or ferns. I used some on Sunday to spray my apple and pear tree trunks as the Cox looks to have a bit of canker on its trunk. Not good on a young tree so fingers crossed.

I like Mastermind but find Victoria Coren tiresome so don't enjoy Only Connect thos she's fine on QI and HIGNFY where she's unscripted. Don't like University Challenge with the current presenter. Getting fussy in my old age.

 

"And asking the questions - Bamber Gascoigne!" is the only UC intro that makes sense to me @Obelix-Vendée

 

I don't like University Challenge with the new presenter either, he mumbles and speaks too fast. I often can't hear the question.

I had some of those roses at my old house @Obelix-Vendée. I gave some to my daughter and left some behind when I moved house and now some have been discontinued by David Austin, like Falstaff and Teasing Georgia. I could do with the Malvern Hills and the Lady of Shallot that I gave my daughter.

We have found a new baker in a local village. His bread is how we like it. Most of the bread here is sourdough with a very hard crust and lots of holes inside. We like yeast bread with a doughy middle. I bought several loaves and put them in the freezer.

 

If you like I have a baby Teasing Georgia and/or Malvern Hills I can post @Busy-Lizzie or I canhang onto them if you're going back to the UK and send them more bare root later on. Falstaff isn't ready for cuttings this year and I don't have Lady of Shallot.

Not that keen on French bread either. They don't do proper wholemeal or mixed grain. For OH's golf butty and an occasional garlic bread we like Maya baguettes from Leclerc in Luçon which includes mixed grains with maize flour and chia seeds but none of the others round here do it. Don't like ordinary baguettes or bread or full on sourdough so when I need bread I make my own using a slow rise technique that starts 2 days before baking and I add chia, flax and sunflower seeds.