Long Mizzle Garden

 Hello m' hot scrumpies,   Apologies for my blogging absence. It feels work wise, mentally and physically I have been living in a pressure cooker for the past month This coincided with the hottest June globally on record. Hello El Niño - you arrived too soon. The garden sat thirsty for weeks on end. Some of the luckier beds received buckets of used bath water. A hose pipe ban has been in place in the South West since last summer. The reservoirs are critically low and the water company is scrambling to set up the desalination of seawater. Most plants seem shorter in height this year. The roses however seemed to love the dry heat.  Dog on quay dutifully watches over sea swimming owner Now there are reports of a potential maritime heatwave. Since taking up sea swimming, I can confirm the sea is still officially flippin' cold to my skin. My brother says 'knees, hips, nips and tips' is the way to enter the water without shocking the body. The nips seems to be the hardest s...

 Hello m' sunny June berries, Please forgive me for my naughty blogging absence! Before May disappears in a purple haze, here's the garden turning slowly from starry blue to fiery orange.         Above: Tree Echium Below: Cordyline flowers   Forget-me-nots going over. Californian poppies and Sweet Williams coming into bloom.   Above: the 'Faraway Tree'   Poor sad frost damaged succulents - out for their summer hols! It's been a busy half term 'holiday' week, involving not one but two job interviews for me, together with the associated swatting & stressing. Aside from some sea swimming and a carbooty jaunt, we've mostly been pottering around the garden and enjoying the unseasonably dry hot weather. On Thursday, Long Mizzle had a very special visit from author Sue Kittow (Pen name 'SL Roswarne'). I know Sue from following her Flowerpot Days blog here . Isn't it lovely when bloggers can meet up in person for a proper natter!   We sat on th...

Hello m' shiny orbs, See here -  https://youtube.com/shorts/K3ohA8jAaR4?feature=share    Do you sing to your seedlings? I do, whether the like it or not. I did audition for a part in the choir singing 'Zadok the Priest' at the weekend's Coronation. I even had the right getup - teapot for orb, soup ladle for sceptre . I stole my youngest daughter's crown. Strangely I didn't get a part, but I thought I'd share my beautiful singing anyhow. The neighbours are treated daily to this mock operaticness reverberating from my bathroom. Just like Jimi Hendrix, that's my preferred practice space. So I might not be here next weekend. Monsieur thinks I'll be locked up in the castle for treason. I'll just argue that a fortnight of Covid plus cabin fever have altered my normally perfect state of mind. I also suspect the music used in the clip will flag a You Tube copyright strike, but we shall see.  I shall leave you with some lovely pictures of my convalescence...

 Happy Beltane, May 1st marks the start of summer in the Gaelic calendar. Here in our little Cornish corner things get a bit weird with crazed hobby horses running through the streets, colourful Maypole dancing in school yards and wickerman-esq bonfires out in the fields. The earth is alive with fervent energy. I simply cannot keep up. This past week I have been struck down with Covid. For three days I lay horizontally. In real time, I watched the trees form their green canopies from their witchy winter frame works.  It will be a short garden update today...     Before the lurgy... A seedling swap at a private creekside house. Each year the family open up their garden for charity and encourage visitors to bring spare plants for the table sale. They also sell delicious refreshments. Trachycarpus furtunei -offspring from Long Mizzle's 'Mama Fuzz' I took with me some baby Trachycarpus fortunei plants. The lady organising the plant sales was delighted at my plant descri...