Thursday 26 May 2016

Here Comes The Rain Again

It's been raining through the night, everywhere was saturated when I woke this morning. I'm glad I got outside with my camera when I did as we've got mizzle now, that fine drenching drizzle which often accompanies mist or fog.


Geum Mrs Bradshaw looking a little worse for wear. I bought this plant as a small specimen from a local garden centre last year for just £1.50. It's really bulked up in the time I've had it and is now putting on a beautiful display.


Heuchera Palace Purple. This plant has been in my garden for a number of years and I just love its purple foliage. The rain tends to collect in the puckered leaves.



I've got so many Welsh poppies in my garden this year, all self sown. They're not very fussy and will grow in most places. They're such delicate flowers, it doesn't take much to make them droop their heads.


The hairy bud of the oriental poppy Brilliant is teasing me with what's to come. I'm looking forward to the silky scarlet petals bursting out and putting on, as its name suggests, a brilliant display. They look rather creased and crinkled at first, as though they could do with an iron but they soon straighten out.


The bleeding heart will always be Dicentra spectabilis to me even though its name has now changed to Lamprocapnos spectablis, what a mouthful. This plant had outgrown its space so it was divided at the end of last year, it hasn't put on such a good display this year but I'm sure it's just finding its feet and will reward me next year.



It's aquilegia season, the purples are flowering profusely but the other colours have yet to burst their buds. I'm looking forward to the beautiful yellow one I bought last year coming in to flower.


Cyclamen usually flowers in autumn and winter but this one is putting on its own show now. A beautiful shade of red, it reminds me of a raspberry lolly pop. It really hangs on to those raindrops.



There's going to be lots of blueberries this year. I gave the plants a good tidy up last year, replenishing the ericaceous compost they're grown in and pruning out the old wood. They seem to be repaying me in kind now. I love how the raindrops collect in the little cups where the flowers have dropped off.


Tulip Queen of the Night still going strong, they've flowered over a long period. Their flowers open beautifully in the sunshine but remain closed when its wet, I don't blame them.


The forecast doesn't look particularly bright, more rain to come by the looks of things and it's a bank holiday weekend so I think most of it will be spent indoors.

60 comments:

  1. I love it when I've been waiting for rain to come for a long time and then it comes pouring. Satisfying.

    Great photos, btw.

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    1. It's rare that we're waiting for rain, we get plenty of the stuff. It would be lovely to see a bit of sunshine.

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  2. Lots of lovely colourful flowers, with the added magic of raindrops. Oh dear, it's sunny here today and the forecast is looking quite reasonable for the weekend. Flighty xx

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    1. At least someone's getting some sunshine, it's been in short supply here just lately.

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  3. What gorgeous, gorgeous pictures. I can't get enough -
    xxx

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    1. The raindrops are working their magic.

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  4. JUst realised that all my recent photos of my garden come complete with raindrops! I think the flowers look so pretty in the rain, which is just as well as we have had such a lot of it recently. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I'm not surprised, they don't seem to dry off before it's raining again. I think we're due a good summer, we've earned it after all the rain we've had.

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  5. It's been raining on and off here all day, your flowers are looking beautiful xx

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    1. At least the rain is making everything look very green and the flowers seem to be loving it.

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  6. Beautiful photos. We are finally getting some rain today, after a month of barely any. Love the Queen of the Night tulip. I had a similar, dark tulip in the front border as well, but its nowhere to be seen this year, which is a shame as it was a favourite :(

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    1. Your plants will enjoy a good drink after the dry spell. What a shame that your dark coloured tulips haven't appeared this year, I find most of them very short lived.

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  7. I have practically the same list of flowers as you, Jo! (Well, not the Dicentra...) we have different weather at present, it seems. It has been really warm and dry today, so much so that I have considered getting out the hosepipe. The Bank Holiday weekend is bound to be wet though, so I'll resist the temptation!

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    1. I love Dicentra, I'd like a white one to go with this pink. That's what comes of living up north, we barely get the hosepipe out all summer, it isn't usually needed.

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  8. They all look pretty flowers. We had to replace all but one of our blueberry bushes so have bought three more and one of those pink ones. I hope it brightens up for you x

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    1. I've got three blueberry bushes and they all usually do really well. There's more flowers than ever this year so I'm hoping for a good harvest.

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  9. Mizzle is a good word. It describes the present weather well! Not really something we want for a bank holiday weekend, but raindrops on flowers look wonderful in photos. So much going on in the garden right now. As some flowers go over others replace them with lovely blooms.

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    1. It's a great word for this type of weather, isn't it? There's so much colour at the moment from all the early flowers and the later ones are arriving day by day.

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  10. It's been cold and wet here all day - not gardening weather at all. Your flowers are keeping cheerful though.
    xx

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    1. That's one thing about flowers, they look good even in the rain.

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  11. We share many of the same plants in our gardens - my Dicentra disappeared one year though and I've never seen it since so I must replace it at some point. Hope you have a lovely weekend and the rain stays off! xx

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    1. My Dicentra grew to huge proportions, it obviously likes where it's situated. No rain today, yet, but it's very dull.

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  12. Oh i just. love the how the rain drops gather on the leaves and flowers :-) Your garden must be a riot of colour

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    1. It's fascinating seeing how the rain collects on different flowers. I love seeing lots of colour in a garden, it makes me happy.

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  13. your flowers are very colourful, lucky you for getting the rain, we have to water every night, the south east is always much dryer than the rest of the UK.

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    1. I wouldn't say we're lucky, we get rain at the expense of sunshine. It would be nice to have a mixture. I'm hoping for a good summer though.

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  14. I love going into the garden when it's been raining and seeing how the raindrops collect on the flowers and foliage. That poor poppy is weighed down a bit!
    Lisa x

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    1. The rain does freshen everything up and as you say, the flowers look really pretty afterwards. Welsh poppies have very thin petals so it doesn't take much to weigh them down.

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  15. Whilst I am truly fed up with this weather it really does make for some beautiful photos, the rain really does look amazing on those plants. The Bank Holiday forecast doesn't look particularly good either.

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    1. I agree, a few raindrops can bring a photo to life. I don't think it's going to be a scorcher this weekend, a bit of sunshine would be very welcome though.

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  16. Lovely Jo. I also have a purple heuchera and my potted cyclamen is sulking with plenty of leaves, but no flowers yet, although DD's is putting on a good show. Lucky you being able to grow dicentra. Hope your blueberries do well, as I'm still using the ones I froze and probably will till the next crop come, I had so many. Don't forget to net them when they arrive. Have a good weekend and take care.

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    1. There's plenty of time for your cyclamen to put on a good display. Mine hasn't really got going until spring. I grow my three blueberry bushes in pots near the conservatory and the birds don't really bother with them, I've never netted them yet. I think it would be different if they weren't so close to the house though.

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  17. The flowers look so appealing with the drops of water on them.

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    1. They look magical covered in a few raindrops.

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  18. It will also always be a dicentra for me too. I started with just one heuchera too and now we have lots. I always think of poppy petals to be similar to silk.

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    1. I like the dark leaved heucheras, I'm not so keen on the lighter varieties. Poppies remind me of silk too, I love to see them when they've just opened up and the petals are all creased.

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    2. I'm not as fond of the lighter ones either

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    3. It's all about the leaves with heucheras, the flowers are neither here nor there really, though the bees often sound them out.

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  19. If you are fed up with the rain Jo you can send me just a day full, we depend on rainwater for our household supply so I have to time wash loads to forecasted rain! Why do they keep changing names of plants? Like you to me Dicentra will always be just that.

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    1. You should live where I do, you'd be able to get your washing on whenever you wanted, they forecast it just about every day or it seems that way at the moment. I think they change the names of plants just to confuse us, I can't keep up with it.

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  20. I wish we were having a rainy weekend, it is a long weekend here too and the sun is very intense, I'd love a break from it. Love your water drenched flowers.
    Meredith

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    1. I don't think we're ever happy with what we get, weather wise. A bit of each would suit me just fine.

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  21. Your blooms are all looking a little droopy but beautiful nonetheless. Having had an incredibly wet winter we are now having a really dry Spring I am out watering the garden most evenings! We seem to missing all the rain in the North West!

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    1. I think there's just a little pocket here in Yorkshire that's getting all the rain, I do wish it would brighten up soon.

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  22. There is something almost magical about seeing raindrops on petals ... you've captured them so well, and what a glorious amount of different colour.

    The weather has been so mixed during May, I'm just hoping the Bank Holiday weather may be ok!!!

    Here's to 'flaming June' I think the saying goes.

    Have a lovely weekend, whatever your plans.

    All the best Jan

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    1. It's been fine here today, quite surprising as the forecast would have us believe the weekend to be a washout. I'm hoping for a good June, we'll be going on holiday and I really want some sunshine then.

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  23. I love your rainy photos! I call the dicentra "love lies bleeding".

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    1. I know it's known as bleeding heart but not love lies bleeding, I thought it was the amaranthus which was known as that.

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  24. I love all of your flowers. When we lived in town we had most of these, as we gardened a lot. Funny thing we move to the country and spend all of our time building a house, and very little gardening with almost 30 acres!
    Thanks for commenting on my blog Jo. It's been a few weeks since I've been able to blog. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I need a schedule!

    Cindy Bee

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    1. Things go like that sometimes, don't they? I have to admit that I've lost my gardening mojo somewhat after giving up the allotment last year. I'm sure it will return in time.

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  25. We're needing rain again down here, it's got so dry, unbelievably for the West Country. Watering is taking hours out of my day. And raindrops really do add a bit of magic to a photograph. Great shots Jo.

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    1. We're having to water very little at the moment, the rain's doing it for us. I do agree about raindrops on photos, they look magical.

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  26. I hope you are having a lovely bank holiday weekend and the weather has been better than you expected, no rain for us here in the East Midlands. You have some wonderful plants blooming in the garden.

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    1. Well the rain has stayed away so far, so that's good, but it is rather dull. Not to worry, I'm housebound at the moment anyway as we're in the middle of decorating the living room. Not much fun on a bank holiday but it will be good once it's done.

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  27. Dare I say it but the bank holiday weather has been fine here so far! I've put the kybosh on it for tomorrow now.. If I were a flower I'd curl up when it rained too. I have white dicentra here, remind me if we ever get the chance to meet up, to bring you some xx

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    1. It's been fine, surprisingly, here so far too, not sure what's in store for tomorrow though. I love the white dicentra, it's been on my wishlist for quite some time, I should have got round to getting some by now.

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  28. I absolutely love your rainy day photos...makes me want to go out and get more creative with my camera!!

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    1. I think raindrops make a good subject for photography, I was in a bit of a rush when I took these photos but I'm sure it won't be long until the opportunity to photograph more raindrops presents itself.

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  29. You blooms have survived the rain very well, how lovely they all look. I did like your description of the poppy petals, they are so lovely when they are all crinkled. We had a lovely bank holiday weekend, I hope you get a little sunshine.xxx

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    1. The garden's looking lovely at the moment, I think the weather's suiting the plants. Glad you had a good weekend, we really needed the living room decorating so I'm glad that got done. No sunshine here today and it's raining yet again now.

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