TINY TUESDAY - CARS

Typical of me - look at the theme when you have finished taking your shots and see if you are anywhere near it!  Today, the theme for TT is “Cars” and of course, I am way off, but I could hear cars going along the road behind our boundary fence, so perhaps that will count!

And then again, perhaps not - but having seen the beautiful clematis flowers yesterday, I thought that they would make a good Blip for TT.  As I stepped out into the garden, I saw the tiny ladybird on the wooden sleeper in front of the grass - and if you are into pareidolia, you can even see some in this shot.

At the top left is our Clematis “Madame Julia Correvon”, which I must admit is better this year than it has ever been, but is still struggling to make its mark.  Apparently, this plant prefers a good quality soil with high nutrient levels, and I can’t honestly say we have that sort of soil in our garden, so perhaps that’s why it’s struggling and has done for a few years now.

At the top right is Clematis “Viticella Valour”, which we bought about 3 years ago.  Mr. HCB planted this in a pot and moved it last year, so this year it is looking good and has more flowers.

The tiny apples are Braeburn, and again, Mr. HCB has moved all our fruit trees because they didn’t seem to be doing too well in pots, so they are now in the garden and are looking much better.

Below the apples is our new Clematis “Florida Taiga”, bought last year and which is really beautiful.  This is also in a pot, so we are hoping that it will soon cover the fence, but once again, we need to be patient and wait for it to get established.  

I couldn’t resist standing and watching these little hoverflies on a lone poppy - not even planted in a bed, but there was obviously lots of good nectar and they were practically fighting over it!  

According to Mr. Google, “These incredible insects help pollinate our plants, keep aphids in balance and break down rotting matter in the garden. Gardeners can help attract them by planting open, easily accessible flowers.”  There are many varieties of hoverflies in the British Isles and we seem to have our fair share of them.  In fact, our “No Mow from May to September” grass does attract lots of pollinators, so we are really happy about that.  

We are taking some friends out this afternoon for a “Chauffeur-Drive Magical Mystery Tour” - in our car - to show them parts of Swindon and the surrounding area.  They recently moved from Bristol and have started coming to our Church, so we thought it might help them to get their bearings in and around Swindon.  It’s a fact that our town centre is not that good, but we have some beautiful countryside around and there are some very nice areas too.  We will then bring them back to our home for a cuppa and a biscuit.  

Hope your day will be a good one, whatever you are doing.  M xx