Wonderful (Green) World

Our world turned green!

Last week we had a lot of rain and it was good for all plants and trees.

Saturday the temperature was really nice so at last I could go outside without a coat.

Little sunshine but perfect weather for doing some gardening.

This weekend I was too busy for gardening but this morning that's the first thing to do.

Here you can see our Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) hedge we planted.
We started planting in dec 2009 and due to the frost we didn't finish until april 2010.

We choose this species because it's much more tolerant to wet conditions then Beech (Fagus sylvatica).

9th april 2011

29th april 2012

Now we have just one more hedge to plant.
We wil be planting 25 mtrs of Hornbeam again.
 This job is scheduled for october-november and hopefully in another 2 years
we will have, due to the hedges, much more privacy in our backgarden.

Stand Up Comedian

This is Sanguisorba "Stand Up Comedian".
It's a tall white flowering plant with nice toothed leaflets and it wil grow 1.80 mtrs high.

Dandelion

Yellow isn't my colour but I must admit a Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

aka Lion's tooth, Priest's crown and Swine's snout can be beautiful.

Many people think of the Dandelion as a pesky weed but herbalist think of it as a valuable herb
that can be used as a medicine and food. Insects love it as well.

Yesterday I saw some grass fields packed with Dandelions.

It looked stunning.

Blue Poppy

Meconopsis Betonicifolia

You've seen these blue poppies before.

Flowering isn't gonna take much longer.

I have got six plants and two flower stems.

The whole plant, both foliage and especially the flower buds, are quite hairy.

These "redheads" will produce out of this world blue coloured flowers.

To be continued.........

T.G.I.F.

Camassia

I'm not religious but T.G.I.F.
(thank god it's friday)

It's been one hell of a week.

After this working day I will enjoy a whole week off from work!!!!!

Finally I am able to relax by doing some gardening.

Wishing you all a sunny and beautiful weekend!

Popular Thistle

Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum'

This year it's growing so much better due to its new spot and lots of compost.

Several flower buds and no snail damage so far.

How to grow by Carol Klein (BBC Gardeners' World).

Statistics

Since I've started blogging I check my "statistics" now and then.

I just want to let you know that you're not the only one :-)

This kenderfrau blog was checked by

• the Netherlands 440
• Russia 153
• Belgium 143
• Germany 87
• US 19
• France 12
• Norwegian 11
• UK 5
• Ukraine 2
• Macao 2
• Brasil 1

Orange Crush

Above is a male Orange-tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines).
It is attracked to our garden because of the cuckoo flowers in bloom.

This one is the female.

All pics by my kenderman.

Welcome Visitor

This tough stray / feral cat lived here before we did.

There was an old shed in our garden and one time we caught him

running away from it when we came close.

We suspected he was a feral /stray cat and he must have been sleeping in that shed.

Our field is full of mouses so it must be a nice hunting ground for him.

Twice we have found a dead rat in our garden.

He must have been responsible for it or perhaps an owl.

We hadn't seen him for a long time so I was afraid something might have happened.

But yesterday there he was again!

His right eye is half closed and sometimes (according to the light) this eye looks blind.

But I'm not really sure. He keeps his save distance.

During this photo shoot we were 20 metres away inside the house.

When he hears or sees someone, he's gone.

Because of his light coloured eye I call him Huskey.

My kenderman thought of Clint because of his "Go ahead punk, make my day" look.

Do you know a better name? please let me know!

Almost every animal in our garden gets a name, if we can think of one :-)

A woodpecker = RinusPecht, a squirrel = Piet Hein Eekhoorn, a bee = Maja de Bij,

a spider = John de Wolf(spin), a crow = Hans Kraay, a bumblebee = Ollie B. (B)Hommel,

a blackcap = Sjakie Swartkop, a snail = Henk Wijngaardslak, a little owl = Jan Steenuil

(these are all Dutch people) 

Four seasons in a day

The whole weekend we had unpredictable weather.

One minute it was raining, the next minute it was sunny and bright
and before you knew it it got dark and hail was falling from the sky.

In between those showers I succeeded making some pictures :-)

Flowerbud in one of the  Blue Poppies.

 Cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis).

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) female.

Orange-tip butterflies love cuckoo flowers (Cardamine pratensis).

When I was writing this post I noticed the simularity in their Latin names.

The fritillaries are getting tatty.

But the bumblebee doesn't seem to mind.

Working space

This is my working space.
Normally, I must confess, less tidy :-)

Sil often lies down next to my laptop.

He enjoys the company.

And so am I.

The things on my desk change regularly.

Wild Indigo

Wild or false Indigo (horse fly weed, indigo weed, rattleweed, rattlebush, Baptisia australis)

To give you any idea about this plant, it's the plant in front and in the middle.
The plant is growing quite bushy and it has beautiful purple-blue flowers.
Right now it's just above the ground but it will grow quickly.
Things Can Only Get Better.

Sil

Sil, wandering through our grass......

Cuckoo flower

Cuckoo flower and fritillary (snake's head)
Pink coloured (sometimes almost white) very small flowers but very pretty I think.
Pretty in Pink.

Narcissus

 Narcissus "Lemon drops"

At first I thought these were really too tall.
Normally we only plant small bulbs with the ability to start running wild.
These are in bloom for the third year in a row and they're starting to grow on me  :-)

Camas Lily

Camassia  leichtlinii or Camas Lily (Blue Melody).

In Dutch it's called Indianenlelie or prairielelie.
Just wait until I show you the gorgeous flowers!
The plant thrives on wet soil.

Walk

 Just a normal duck, but such a beautiful bird when you look a bit closer.

I always take some pics of the water. 

A "strange" grass we had never seen before.

It looks like it is.........
Carex Nigra (thank you anonymous)

Sil

I talked to the vet about the blood test result.

Now Sil's thyroid is working a little bit to slow.

Today he was shivering several times and I was glad it disappeared when he laid on my lap.

We are going to change the dose of Sil's medicine.

Cuckoo flower

The cuckoo flower (also known as meadow cress, lady's smock and Cardamine pratensis)

is blossoming!

It's always nice to see this small flower in our field again.

The flowers in our field are increasing every year.

 Thanks to the way my kenderman mows our grass.

Just a few times a year using an old scythe.

The orange tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines), here sitting on a garlic mustard

plant (Alliaria petiolata), loves the cuckoo flower as well.