FLOWER FRIDAY FROM THE HCB'S GARDEN

I want to keep a record of the flowers blooming in our garden this year, so decided to make another collage after wandering around the garden in my pink robe after I’d had my shower this morning.

We have lots of beautiful hollyhocks, most of them grown from seed by Mr. HCB,and the ones just above the Paul’s Scarlet climbing rose at the bottom right are the subject of much discussion in the HCB household.  Mr. HCB wants to dig this rather large plant out and put it somewhere else but I like it where it is at the moment. Watch this space to see who wins!

At the top left is our Clematis “Blue Angel”, which I cut right back in February and wondered if I had gone a bit too far, but it seems to be OK and is blooming well and the bonus for our lovely neighbours is that many of the flowers are at the top and spilling over into their garden.

Next to that is a honeysuckle, from another part of the garden, near the pond, which we can’t remember planting, but it flowers year after year and is covered with flowers again this year.  I just wish I could upload the perfume - it is amazing especially in the evening!

At the top right is Clematis, “Viticella Valour” which I blipped a couple of weeks ago and which is now blooming even more. It has been a real joy, especially as it's another one in my favourite colour, and again, one that has benefitted from a good prune.

I have no idea where the pink poppy at the bottom left came from but we shall be collecting the seed heads and scattering more seed in the garden and in our wild flower beds to keep them going.

The pink carnation in the middle is another of Mr. HCB's, grown from seed and nurtured by him.  His Dad, Harry, would be so proud of him, as after his retirement, and having had a heart attack one Christmas, he pottered around and propagated and grew lots of carnations both in his greenhouse and his garden.

I may have told the story of when Mr. HCB's parents went on holiday, his Dad giving him strict instructions to look after his prize carnation that he had propagated but which needed TLC whilst they were away on holiday for the week.  Sadly, Harry had another heart attack in Llandudno and died while they were away - a great shock to us all.  The carnation was almost blooming when Mr. HCB's mother got home and she was thrilled to see it looking so good and of course, it was a bittersweet moment to see it in full bloom a few days later.  When she went to the Chapel of Rest to see Harry a couple of days before the funeral, she put the carnation in with him - such a lovely gesture and one we shall all remember.  Our younger son even wore a carnation to his grandmother's funeral twenty years later and when a family member asked him why he was wearing a carnation to his Nan’s funeral, he said proudly, "That's for my Nan and Gramp!  Gramp loved carnations - and this is for both of them!"

“Flowers always make people better, 
     happier, and more helpful; 
          they are sunshine, food and 
               medicine to the mind.”
Luther Burbank

P.S.  Thank you for all your kind comments for yesterday's "Almost like a stained glass window" blip - they are much appreciated.