pond update

ten days later and I DO see legs at last

be careful what you wish for

I wanted frogs and therefore frogspawn and tadpoles but now that I have them, I worry about them! am I feeding them the right thing? in the right environment? are they developing as they should? can my garden support a dozen frogs (I have about 15 tadpoles)? should I leave them in this bowl or put them in the pond? They seem to be growing quite slowly but it has been quite cold and I've read that can affect their growth. They do *seem* to be developing legs but I can't see them that clearly.

a week or so later (after the pic below) and both zantedeschia buds in bloom and another iris in bloom after the first one wilted

I do love irises. Two buds have appeared in the clump to the right of the pond. I can't remember if these were "marginals" when I bought them. They are *near* the pond but not in any kind of dampness from the pond (which is a preformed plastic one).

I've started to tidy up the pond. I thinned the zantedeschia (leaving the 2 flower buds) and put the recent plant purchases (cat-tail and iris) in the pond. The previous cat-tail seems to have died but I put the new one in the same basket as the old one in case the old one decides to start growing again.

I love anemones and ranunculus, I'm still not sure of the difference between them and got confused which one this was as it was growing.

a day later and fully open, I was going to say anemone but the next one in bloom below in orange makes me thinkg that's anemone - so I guess this is ranunculus?

another anemone in bloom

another anemone/ranunculus bud

the back of the garden is covered with green alkanet - I love it! I also see comfrey, aquilegia, raspberries and hydrangea petiolaris

a close-up of the hydrangea petiolaris, just visible on the right above

a wider view of the shrub

the first artichoke flower

In addition to the centaurea montana self-seeding in this large pot (which has a large lupin), a lesser knapweed (notched leaves) has self-seeded there. I've never seen the lesser knapweed self-seed before even though I've had it in the garden for at least a few years.

common vetch in the front garden next door where I did plant some "green manure" seeds (vetch and phacelia), a few years ago,   I haven't seen any phacelia for a while and the vetch has suddenly started self-seeding extensively

my over-zealous removal of the bluebells in the front garden seems to have damaged some of the chinese lanterns, I was relieved to see I still have some growing this summer, I think they spread via the roots under the ground

a patch of the chinese lanterns on one side of the flowerbed (above) and the other side (below), in the middle not many

I wanted to plant some nasturtium seeds. A pot makes them easy to move around and enjoy those vibrant orange flowers. This pot has a head start with various self-seeders (totally unplanned): honesty, forget-me-not, deadnettle, nigella and aquilegia.

I planted some polyanthus seeds and this is the only seedling that looks like it might be a polyanthus, as I don't recognise it. That leaf at the bottom is accordioned. I don't recall seeing a leaf like that before.

I decided I had to do a bit of weeding next door. Although I love thistles, they get out of control in a small garden. I also thought I should tackle the creeping buttercup which I did at the front end of the garden but this clump, below right, seemed to be somewhat limited so I left them.

The main goal is the hollyhocks which have always been the star of this garden.

the foxglove in the back garden continues to look fabulous as more buds open

still lots of buds and flowers on the fox and cubs