More rain!

More rain fell on the garden this week; we have certainly saved time in watering effort this year! The garden is flourishing with the mix of sun and rain and more flowers are appearing all the time.

This week the Angelica gigas came into bloom and its red flowers are proving highly attractive to bumblebees.

The bog is back filled with water again and some of the plants are struggling a bit as they are spending too long covered with water, rather than just their roots being in water. However we can hopefully rectify that later in the year by putting some more earth into the bog and raise the plants' crowns above the water level.

Summer in the garden

Newt-tastic

We finally finished our earth sculpture this week after many hours of hard work and it is looking great. Even if we do say so ourselves...

The eyes will be finished with mosaic and we will also plant some wild flower plugs later in the year when the grass has established.

Just as long as these storms don't wash the whole sculpture away!

At the weekend, the head of the newt turned green! It was clad with a clay and straw mixture before being turfed. We are now ready to cover the rest of the newt this coming week!

Rain makes garden flourish!

A whole different range of plants are now coming into flower. Our clematis on the obelisk has come out and will hopefully produce lots of wonderful seed heads in the autumn.

Also coming into flower are the Echinacea and the Echinops both of which have nectar for bees and butteflies. The red hot pokers are also good for nectar, which not only insects love, but birds love to drink too.

The pond is starting to look a bit more established and the floating leaved plants are beginnning to spread. And the new bird feeders are providing regular food for the great tits and also spotted on the feeder has been a great spotted woodpecker.

A giant newt!

It poured, the wind blew and the sun shone, yet a determined team of volunteers battled on to create a giant earth sculpture of a newt in Regent’s Park over the weekend.

First, the shape was cut into the existing turf. Next, the profile was created with clay and straw before bags of earth were used to form the three-dimensional body of the giant five metre long amphibian. Time defeated us in creating the sculpture over the weekend, but this week, we will be cladding it with clay and turfing it.