Garden scrapbook

The first four pages of the garden scrapbook I'm making while the Olympics are on! They are intended to 'set the scene' as well as serve as a reminder of the story of "The Tree"!

 More may follow if I get stuck in!

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The Great Manchester Swim 2012

Today was the Great Manchester Swim - in Salford Quays!  No idea why they changed the name ... Jame again swam his mile - this time in 41 minutes - and again raised money for New College, Worcester - over £250 towards repairing Perkins brailers for the students.

The weather was dire - fine but copious rain with a stiff breeze - but a vast improvement on the horrendous confitions of last year.  And the water temperature - 13C last year - was an almost balmy 16C today!  Despite the wet, gloomy day my brilliant new camera came up trumps  and producecd exce

The green wave went off at 9.30 and as usual Jamie was issued with a contrasting hat for easier identification.

Acclimatisation is all very well for those who have never experienced cold water before, but I can't really see the point in getting wet, and then getting out to stand around for ten minutes getting colder than before you started!

Excellent canoe and kayak cover is provided with usually one or two C1s and several sea canoes.

The green wave assembled for the start - and getting cold!

Channel 4's camera boat

And the green wave is off!

Jamie coming through Mariner's Canal.  The Salford Quays course is easy for the visually impaired as you can't go wrong if you stay next to the wall all the way around.

  

Finished in 41 minutes

After the rain.

When I pulled back the curtains this morning it was to a world bejewelled with raindrops glinting in the low morning sun.  I couldn't wait to get out and take some photos.

Cotinus coggygria Royal Purple - otherwise known as the Smoke Bush.

Climbing rose Compassionis had been neglected over the last few years and was cut hard back this spring.  It's never flowered so well.

This wild rose sprang from the roots of a sad old climber that was in the garden when we inherited it 35 years ago. I had cut it to the ground several times bt the wild rose persists. I now leave it to ramble 20' up to the top of a neighbouring silver birch - causing much comment from visitors who have never seen a flowering birch!!

A rather fragile clematis which snaps when attempting to wind it into place, has eventally found its way with a lot of persuasion onto the patio trellis.

Geraniums are happy in the shade of the apple and birch trees

Fuchsia genii has startling colours which really zing planted next to a purple-leaved berberis It' supposed to need full sun to retain its colours but this plant is lucky if it gets a couple of hours a week!

The Fairy rose is a fantastic bloomer. This one has been in a dustbin for about 15 years and I think I may have fed it just twice in that time. It's so good that I'm buying another one for the front garden.

One plant in a large pot of lilies growing well in the shade of the cotinus

 
The plants below the kitchen window can only be seen from the garden, unfortunately!

A real camera again!

Today I bought myself a real camera! Not one of those so-handy little matchboxes that gets lost in the jumble at the bottom of your bag. Oh no, this is a REAL camera complete with lens cover, flash hot shoe and tripod screw hold! It has f stops and exposure times and all sorts of knobs to twiddle. And most wonderful of all it has a HUGE screen at the back so I can actually get some idea of what I'm immortalising! Here are the first garden shots from my new Fuji film X10.

 

Jamie always says the yellow daisy flowers are smiling at him - I know what he means!

My mother grew Sweet William from seed every year, but this is the first time I've grown it in the forty years since her death!