A Nostalgic Farewell

We only have until the weekend in this house before moving to our new one, so I've been looking through my photographs of some of the plants and creatures that have made the time in the garden special.

Here's Charlie strolling up the path.  This was in the midst of Summer and all the plants are in full growth. One of my favourite plants is the Angelica which you can see in the middle foreground, with the large lime-green seed heads.



These Anemone de Caen were a gorgeous surprise.  I planted the corms not knowing what colour they would be and I was delighted.  I never knew flowers could come in such a shocking pink!  They looked stunning on the patio.

This is Esmerelda who lived in the greenhouse a few Summers ago.  She laid eggs and I saw all the little babies after they hatched - hundreds of them!

This is a beautiful climbing rose called Cecile Bruner.  I can thoroughly recommend it.  It's a strong grower, but doesn't get out of hand and it produces flowers in early Summer with a repeat flowering in the Autumn.  The flowers are gorgeous, especially when the buds are just beginning to open.  The flowers are tiny and produced in abundance.

Here's a very special friend, the robin who nested in our greenhouse and kept us company from early Spring right up to late Summer.  It was pure joy to work in the garden with Robin flitting backwards and forwards with food to feed its chicks.

A favourite fuchsia, 'Blue Heaven'.  This one is the closest to a blue fuchsia you can get, in my opinion.  It's a robust and beautiful plant and I still have one flowering strongly even though it's nearly November.

'Bart Comperen', my favourite of all fuchsias.  The dark aubergine of the corolla and the rose-pink sepals is an entrancing contrast.  If I could only grow one fuchsia, this would be it.

  

This is our friends, the collared doves.  They visit our garden daily.

This little nettle is one of my favourite wildflowers in the garden.  Growing at the base of a birch tree, it produces a neat bushy plant and the flowers provide early food for bees.  I think it looks very pretty, especially intermingled with the Geranium Johnson's Blue.

Robin again!

Seeing the garden like this in its full glory reminds me of all the happy days spent in it, or just watching the wildlife from behind the windows - the frogs, mice and all the different birds and insects.  The house we're moving into is smaller and will be more economical to run, but it has a garden to three sides of it and I know that we'll spend many happy years there too.  It's only a few minutes walk from this house so I'm hoping that we'll get the same birds visit us at our new garden.  I'm not sure what distances they travel to feed but I'm hoping it's within their boundary.  We have really appreciated the pleasure that the garden and its inhabitants have given us - I hope that the next people who come to live here respect and care for it.