A common man marvels at uncommon things. A wise man marvels at the commonplace. CONFUCIUS

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Garden Pleasures

Il faut cultiver notre jardin. VOLTAIRE

We've seen whirligig beetles, pond skaters, water boatmen and other bugs in our newly-refurbished pond — plus the first frog yesterday evening — so it seems to be in good health. A water lily leaf shot up from the bottom in just a week. It still looks a bit sparse, but it's early days yet... 


Roses are some of my favourite garden flowers, especially climbing roses...




I've been spending a lot of time in the garden recently — as an escape from stress, I think. Gardening is such a relaxing and pleasurable activity. (Now, I wouldn't have said that when I was younger!)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just take care when you are climbing roses ;)
Seriously, though, it's lovely to see your pictures. I'm waiting for the overwhelming scent of the Himilayan Musk which has smothered one of our apple trees. It - like everything else - is very late this year.

Andy

The Weaver of Grass said...

I love climbers too - especially ramblers Robert (you seem to fit into both categories). I have Alexander Girault rambling over the calf house. He only flowers once a season but what a show he puts on. I have Albertine, possibly my favourite rose, in the front garden. Sadly she is very prone to blackspot and mildew. When I asked an 'expert' for advice on how to get rid of the blackspot he said dig the rose up and buy another variety. I can't bear to do that so am tackling it head on this year.

Dominic Rivron said...

You can never be sure WHAT you're going to find popping up in a pond...

(see Facebook)

am said...

Just as I was looking at your pond, a bell rang!

http://www.fungie.info/bell/#

The bell reminds me to step away from the computer every 30 minutes and take a break. I was looking for a stretch reminder program for Macs, and realized I could set this mindfulness bell up instead.

Although I don't have a garden except for plants on my porch, I definitely need to find activities where I truly give myself a break.

Thank you for sharing your pond and roses. And the first frog.

Ruth said...

Very beautiful! I just love the design of your pond. I think it already looks fantastic.

I like am's idea.

Laura said...

A beautiful garden! We also have a pond and I recently added some goldfish. I highly recommend watching fish as a stress reliever.

The Solitary Walker said...

Thanks, everyone, for your lovely comments. I do enjoy reading them.

Dominic – I think Nessie may have laid eggs! Or does she live birth? I get confused.

The Solitary Walker said...

Laura — we had fish in a previous pond, and a heron ate them all! Decided against fish in this one, as we don't want to obscure and uglify with heron-proof netting...