Monday 30 April 2012

Flood alert

 We are on flood alert tonight.   Mr P is building an arc in the garage :)    Even the ducks are fed up.
The sun shone for a while today and gave me an opportunity to take some photographs.
Dicentra 'alba' shines out from a shady corner in the woodland walk.
Drumstick primula will tolerate dappled shade, and the rabbits seem to leave them alone.    I love the colour. 
 
Jacob's ladder (Polemonium yezoense 'Purple Red Strain')   is one of my favourite cottage garden plants.   It seems to have gone out of fashion, as I rarely see it in other gardens.    The leaves are a lovely reddish purple and the violet flowers are large and very beautiful.    It seeds freely, it has been in the garden for many years.....


Have a lovely evening.....time to go and check on that arc.

19 comments:

  1. Still hoping things dry up. When even the ducks are fed up it must be bad for humans. Lovely flowers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tku, me to!! I have never had so many ducks in the garden.
      Geese and other water birds are flying into the area every day :)

      Delete
  2. I won't worry about you until you tell me you are lining up in twos. It is wonderful to be getting all the rain. Too bad it didn't come in more sessions with less rain at one time. I don't hear any complaints though. Love that primula. The blue of the Jacob's Ladder is yummmy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa, that is just too funny.......can't stop smiling.

      We really do need this rain. It has been the wettest April since records began and yet we are still officially in drought.

      I love the blue/violet of the Jacob's Ladder, they look so pretty when grown in large drifts.

      Delete
  3. May the alert be just that and may you be spared.Your pics are so lovely Cheryl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It rained for most of the night and the drive is flooded.
      I have to go out later, so then I will find out just how bad it is....the river is at the end of our road.

      Tku for your kindness.......

      Delete
  4. What a lovely Jacob's ladder, it's a plant I also like a lot.
    Hope you don't have to sail away just yet. :)
    And I love the new look of your blog, very fresh and bright!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lucinda,

      Had a lot of rain last night and the garden sure is wet but apart from that all seems to be well.

      Tku, I suddenly realised how drab it looked. I hate black, I do worry about me sometimes :)

      Delete
  5. Nice to see a spot of sunshine, the photo of the Jacob's Ladder is lovely

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Cheryl,
    I tried calling the Rain Dragons off but they seem to enjoy the English countryside!
    The white bleeding hearts are so pretty. I bet the bees love the Jacob's Ladder....
    Stay dry...
    Sherry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Sherry,

      Thank you for trying. Please do not give up, perhaps you could tempt them with something :) I can understand their love of the English countryside....I am hooked.

      I love the white form of bleeding hearts......so ethereal.

      Hugs

      Delete
  7. Such beautiful flower photos - I hope that all is still well, it must be worrying to be so close to a river when the weather is like this. You've had the rain far worse than we have up here and even our rivers are running fast and high - the plank bridge over Blacka Dyke is under water as are the stepping stones where I usually cross. On Sunday they were too far under to even try but yesterday some had their heads above water and with the aid of my trusty hazel staff I made it across.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rowan,

      Hazel staff beautiful. I use a chestnut thumb stick for my walking, which a friend made when he was coppicing.

      The rain has stopped. We have a dry day tomorrow and then another day of heavy rain. I am getting a little anxious if that rain comes.....
      We have two rivers close by, one at each end of the lane.
      The flood plains are half mile from my home.

      Delete
  8. When it started raining heavily (again!) here last night I thought about you and wondered if the ark had set sail yet and the burning question for me was whether it would include two of those pesky bunnies? ;-)

    Lovely to see some of your cheerful flowers. The Jacob's Ladder is beautiful. I had one but as with so many of my plants it disappeared :-(

    Stay safe and dry Cheryl!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Jan,

    Ha!! What a good idea, Nella could round them up....I may just let more than two go on the ark :)

    The sun is shining at the moment. We did have heavy rain last night and we are expecting a day of rain on Thursday...I have to say I am a little anxious about that.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rain dragons, rain dragons fly away home. Your house is on fire, leave Cheryl alone!
    Ha! Did my spell work?

    Wonderful weather for ducks, they say, rain, rain, rain.... Do you remember that song from childhood? I guess you ducks have had enough. I like the pic of Mr. Mallard looking at his reflection in the water. It's so clear. And I do think your white bleeding hearts look ethereal. The Jacob's ladder is so colourful, I don't know why it's out of fashion.

    Hope you don't need the Arc after all. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Wendy,

      Ha! Will let you know about the spell...I live in hope that it will work.

      I do not know that song......remind me sometime :)

      The arc is waiting in the wings.....heavy rain expected tomorrow :(

      Delete
  11. No rain here Cheryl! I'm so far behind on blogging. I thought of you today as I was watering my pot with Nasturtium, Cerinthe and borage coming up! I also seemed to have planted nasturtiums all around the gardens. They seem to be coming up but may be a little long and spindly in the shady areas. I'll try to post a photo soon. How are yours coming?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Eve,

      Would you like some of our rain Eve....I am sure I would not miss it :)

      I emptied the troughs....I have to say at one point I wish I had never started, it was laborious.

      Cerinthe and Borage are in bloom (have taken photographs which I shall post at some point) Nasturtium are really slow and only just showing.......

      Tku for remembering Eve

      Delete