A Mossy Wig. :)

I just noticed in the last couple of days that our little Buddha statue is growing a fine covering of moss. I'm not being disrespectful, but doesn't he look sweet..... even with that little half smirk, caused by the effect of weather and erosion! Mother Nature must know how fond I am of moss.

These two photos were taken during a quiet five minutes before planting potatoes, sowing pea seeds, potting on dozens of plants from the greenhouse, planting in the garden, wrapping items for eBay, striding up to the post office to post the said packages, walking the dogs...... after all that, I couldn't face dragging out the vacuum cleaner so I disappeared off to the allotment knowing full well that hubby would do it when he came home from work! I know, I'm shameless! lol

If you click on the second photograph to enlarge it you can spot the butterfly on the purple plant. I was just about to take a close-up photo of it but it fluttered off.

Garden-induced Insomnia!

It happens every time round about now. From Spring onwards the insomnia begins! I'm sitting here like a pop-eyed zombie after having had about three hours sleep last night. Yesterday was fantastic though. I spent most of it in the garden..... moving plants to new spots in the garden, potting on in the greenhouse, sowing even more seeds, pruning, etc. etc. Before I knew it tea-time had arrived. Not to worry.... hubby had everything in hand and the potatoes were simmering nicely in their pan.

Then I made the mistake of sorting out a pile of gardening magazines to browse just before bedtime. I tried to go to sleep but ended up thinking of all the projects I have in store for the coming year..... a container bog garden with heavenly irises and a miniature water lily, adorning the shed roof with a living green carpet of sedums, turning over part of the lawn to a miniature wildflower meadow, deciding which climbing plants to train over the metal gothic gazebo (when we save up for it!)........ constructing a series of underground caverns and grottoes draped in lime green lichens and spongy bottle-green mosses. No hang on, I'm getting carried away here and besides, we live on a previously mined area which means the house and garden would probably be swallowed up in one great black hole!

Who said gardening was good for your health?!

l

Oooooops, I've been tagged! :D

This is the first time I've been tagged so I hope I get it right. Well that's no.1, the announcement. The person who tagged me was QM. Explain the rules..... ha, I copied and pasted and here they are! lol

1. Announce you've been tagged. 2. List the person who linked you with direct link 3. Explain the rules 4. List 6 things that are of no real importance 5. Tag another 6 person with their direct links 6. Notify that they have been tagged


Right, now for six things of no real importance.
i) I have a Fuchsia flower tattoed on my left shoulder ~ the variety is 'Winston Churchill'. :D
<----------- Fuchsia Winston Churchill

ii) My left foot is a size 6 and my right foot 5 1/2 (U.K. sizes) This used to seem important to me and caused me much stress because all the shoes I liked never fitted properly.... I've given in to it now and go barefoot much of the time!

iii) I love fried bananas!

iv) I like worms and spiders and snails...... not to eat though!

v) In his younger days, my father was a football referee..... he once had a game cancelled because members from both teams kept using foul language. The fans were none too pleased and he was chased all over Glasgow (Scotland)! I'm glad to say he survived. :)

vi) When my mother (in her younger days also) played the part of the wicked stepmother in Snow White, she forgot her words and fled the stage! My parents did a lot of running in their early days! lol
Now I have to tag six people. Hmmmmmm, let's see.
Nancy
Greenfingers
Searching Soul
Debbie
Small Footprints
IB

All that remains for me to do now is to notify the people I'm tagging. Off I go. :D

A gift from Mother Nature?

Although Lucky's cage looks empty, he spent most of the day out of it. :)

Four Summers ago our family was blessed with a lovely little visitor, a small bright yellow canary that flew right into our house. It was a lovely evening, dusk was falling and I was leaning against the patio doors just daydreaming. My attention was drawn to the tiny yellow bird that was perching on the garden fence. Realising it was an escaped pet bird, I went to the kitchen to get some seed to see if I could entice it in. No need. As soon as my back was turned, it flew in upstairs into our daughter's bedroom! My husband and daughter were in her bedroom at the time and got quite a shock to see a bright yellow canary land on the dollshouse. Our daughter called it 'Lucky' and he was indeed lucky as, no doubt, he would either have succumbed to the cold or been snatched by a bigger bird. We know it was a male canary because it had the sweetest singing voice imaginable (female canaries don't sing) and he gave us lots of pleasure over the last four years with his gentle lullabies.

Sadly for us, on Tuesday evening (10th March), Lucky passed on. We made him a lovely little grave in the garden and said a prayer of thanks for his life and that we got to share it. On his grave, we planted some violas, which you can see at the bottom of the photograph. Lucky was the perfect pet...... the only fault with canaries though, is that they just don't live long enough.

A fairy in my garden.......

This delightful little fairy was a gift from my parents. I didn't want to put her just anywhere where she would most probably be overlooked, so I made her her own special 'garden' in a large pot that now sits on the patio. She's in a prime spot and we can keep our eye on her from the sitting room.

I got the moss from the grounds of a nearby hotel that was knocked down some months ago and didn't feel too bad helping myself to it, knowing that the area is due to be cleared soon to make way for new shops and houses, so really I acted in the name of conservation. :D

In the pot there are four different kinds of moss, but I don't know any of their names. I did try to get a book on mosses, lichens and liverworts on eBay but was outbid! lol I'll try for another one because mosses fascinate me and I'd love to learn more about them. I've seen a fabulous book by George H. Schenk (Moss Gardening: Including Lichens, Liverworts and Other Miniatures). It's full of advice on growing moss, identification, etc. with glorious colour photographs ..... maybe I'll put my pennies aside until I can get that one.

Also in the pot is Sisyrinchium californicum (pronounced sissy-rin-ki-um) - that's the plant with the small swordlike leaves. From May onwards, it produces masses of yellow star-like flowers right up until October. The blue flower, although not clear in the photograph, is the blue form of Anemone blanda. It's a daisy-like flower. If you look closely at the top right-hand side of the picture, you'll see a twig. That is actually a baby tree with a couple of buds waiting to open. I pot up tree seedlings from the garden especially for projects such as this.

I may have to offer the mosses some protection in the form of fine netting, just until it gets established as the blackbirds have already thrown some of it out the pot. I stuck the moss on the stone with margarine!