Sunday, June 6, 2010

The New Pole Arrives. Garden Progress.

Over the wall, we could see a huge pole:


We decided on the site between us and the workmen got straight to work drilling the hole:


Up and down went the drill. One chap operated it from the lorry and the other cleaned the drill each time it came up.

Some people just watched! L - R. Jim, Pete and Eircom man!


The pole is maneuvered into place.


Up in the trees! He had to cut the branches from around the pole. Buster wondered what he was doing so high up. The pole in situ (you can just see it in the trees), the workers packed up their gear and were on their way. A second team will come and fix the telephone line!


Garden

Jim's allotment is coming along just fine:


It won't be long before the strawberries are ripe - they're in the bed opposite. At the top of the allotment we planted a few fruit trees. One of which is a cherry and - such excitement - we have three cherries on our cherry tree!


Here you can see 2 of them. I hope the birds don't eat them.

Jim grew some foxgloves from seed last year and they are now in flower. They are beautiful:

This is a 'natural' section of the allotment, almost on one of our borders. There are foxgloves, aquilegia and rose bay willow herb here.


A close up of one of the foxgloves with blue aquilegia.


One of the pink 'spotty' ones.


And a delicate cream one.

We had a visit from a humming bird hawk moth. These amazing moths hover like humming birds and whizz about at great speed. They are so difficult to photograph, but I did manage one that wasn't too bad:


It was feeding from the aubretia flowers and the pinks.

We also spotted a gorgeous little iridescent butterfly. I have now identified this as the Green Hairstreak. It rests with its wings closed and rarely shows the brown upper wings.



It fed on the chives for some time. I have never seen one of these before.

ATCs

My 'U' came from Lisa and is a Unicorn Caterpillar


It's so beautifully painted. Lisa also sent me some goodies!

Mmm, lovely. Thank you Lisa.

My 'T' came, appropriately, from Teri and it's T for Tiger. Each of Teri's ATCs in this alphabet of ATCs comes with a haiku on it:


Isn't it great? lol. Teri knows I love Zentangle ATCs and enclosed this one for me - saying I have to do one now!

I don't know where to start! The butterflies came too.

I have made another ATC to swap. Do get in touch if you'd like it.


'Wedding' is the theme here.

I do hope you've enjoyed today's post. I have too much to blog at the moment. We have built a new rockery (almost) and spent yesterday in Dublin at the 'Dublin in Bloom' show. A bit like a mini Chelsea. It was great.

14 comments:

soulbrush said...

how lovely it all is. and your header too.

steven said...

gorgeous all 'round. the follow-up to the pole story was cool!!! i love what your man is doing in the garden. i haven't started the annual taming (as my wife calls it) or reconciling (as i call it) just yet as my working life is too full. however. the summer is almost here. steven

Anonymous said...

I knew Buster could not stay away from the excitement! The foxgloves are very pretty. We have the hummingbird moths but I have never managed to photograph one. Your butterfly on the chives is a beauty. The show in Dublin must have been thrillling ~ I hope you took lots of pics. Enjoy your week dear friend.

Bea said...

I love the picture of the guys WATCHING the pole being installed. lol Wow, what a beautiful little butterfly. Another garden? You are to much. I try to keep up with you but you are like the energerizer bunny! LOL :)Bea

Rachel Green said...

Gardel love!

Carol said...

Typical men...one does the work and the rest stand and watch!! LOL

C x

BT said...

Thank you soul.

Hi steven, glad you enjoyed the follow up pole story! I'm sure you'll fit in some gardening at some time. We are retired so have much more time.

Hi Mildred. I'm glad you liked the foxgloves and Buster of course has to poke his nose in! Lots of photos from Dublin coming up.

Hi Bea, that photo is my favourite too. I discovered the butterfly is called a Green Hairstreak! Funny name I thought. We can always find a space for a new garden bed!

Thanks Rachel.

Ha ha, Carol, indeed, typical!

DK said...

Fabby post! Good fun to watch the ongoing telegraph pole saga ~chuckle~ ACE hummingbird hawk moth and green hairstreak pictures but of course you knew I'd love those! Loved the unicorn caterpillar too :D xxx

Jason said...

Wow, funky moth and new pole already! xx

Heather said...

Great ATCs and goodies Gina. That's certainly a quicker way of digging a hole than with a spade! I love the way Buster is watching proceedings. Your garden is looking as lovely as ever. I love foxgloves and seeing bumblebees disappearing up inside the 'gloves'. The veg patch looks good and my strawberries are ripening too though we wont have many - I have 6 plants, 3 each in two large pots.

Danni said...

Ah, your flower photos are lovely. My columbine is in full bloom here in Oregon, too. (As would my foxglove if I hadn't had to go and pull every single one up and out of my pasture... terribly poisonous to livestock, as you probably know...why it insists on growing in the pastures instead of my garden, I'll never know! lol)
We've had such a cold and wet spring, I'm not sure we'll have any strawberries - tons of green ones hanging around in the garden, but zero sun to ripen them up. sigh.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

You have been so busy. I knew the pole would be installed perfectly with all those men overseeeing the project. I hope your drunken neighbor doesn't object to the spot you picked. ;) I can't wait to see your rockery and the photos of the Dublin show.

BT said...

Hi K, glad you liked the post. More moths and 'pillars today.

Hi Jason, funky moth indeed. Even funkier ones today.

Good to see you Heather. Isn't everything growing like crazy? I love to watch the bees in the foxgloves too. Happy you like th eATCs too.

Hi Farmgirl. I'm so glad you enjoyed the post. WE've been lucky with the spring weather - unusual for here but much appreciated! I hope the sun shines for you soon.

Hi Lisa, isn't that 'men' photo funny? lol. Buster watching too. The pole is now on our land so Martin will not object to that. Rockery photos coming up....

Joan said...

Love the photography! This is just a treat to wander about your huge plot of land and see all the magnificent bugs! Wow. Dirty fingers -- very appropriate indeed. And just when I'm jealous of all your land for gardens, I realize that I am so happy that I have no rocks to move about my wee balcony space! Great humor with the Pole story -- lol.

And my dear, I've spent time in Ireland. How you get all that beauty to grow on your land is nothing short of miraculous. As we say in the States, you go, girl!