Photos, mostly

I know I’ve told the story of my great-grandmother and the heliotrope here before, though it was probably a few years ago.  That was about the colour, but of course that’s the colour of the flowers.  It’s a half-hardy annual and not hard to grow, with a sweet scent, especially in the evening, but I never see it for sale.  I grew them once, a long time ago – about 35 years, I should think; certainly before we lived in this house.  I bought a packet of heliotrope seeds this year but they were sown late because of the cold weather and I didn’t put them in the propagator because the weather went straight from cold to hot.  Another time, I’d start at the right time in controllable heat, because only one plant came up.

It has thrived, however and I put it in an old sink with alpines – it’s grown bigger than I expected, probably because of daily watering, but never mind, it’ll only be there until the first frost.

This is just the preamble to a few photos.  Starting, of course, with the heliotrope.  I think it should be more grown, it’s a lovely colour and a delightful scent.

Heliotrope

Here are a couple of photos of Eloise cat.  I took the first one because she blended in so well with the garden chair, but the sun had retreated slightly by the time I took it, so you can only see near her tail where the colour is a rich brown.  The second one, she’s lying on the paving and she blends in with that too, without sunshine.

When we arrived home the other day, I went out to pick the first sweetcorn of the year for dinner.  And today, I picked the first two figs – but we scoffed them before taking a photo.

4 comments on “Photos, mostly

  1. Glenda Barnett

    I just got back from farmer’s market. Got watermelon, cantaloupe and a lovely hanging v
    basket of rose moss or moss rose, don’t know know which. Your home grown veg and flowers and the blended cat are all lovely.

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      The long spell of hot dry weather has affected a lot of the veg crops, but the corn is doing very well. I love watermelon but the two of us just can’t eat a whole one!

      Reply
  2. Blue Witch

    Those corn look wonderful! Something that we just cannot get to grow here (along with parsnips).

    When we had tabby cats, they were near-invisible against much of the background, like your cat. Now that two of our 4 are white, it is a different story. The funny thing is that they have absolutely no idea that they are so visible (except in snow).

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      Roots don’t do all that well – they should do, in our sandy soil, but I think it’s just not moisture-retentive enough. I have grown good onions and fennel, but it’s lucky I didn’t try this year, I’m sure they wouldn’t have done well. Corn is usually a success – as you see, this is a bicolour variety and it’s delicious. We barbecued some in their husks last night, which was very successful. Not that I’d light a barbecue specially, but I think they were even better than boiled.
      I don’t think cats are very self-aware, but our black barn cats are certainly good at hiding themselves away, though their tabby father was sunning himself on one of the wheelie bins this morning.

      Reply

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