Post Comment Love 1 - 3 November

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed from the linky, and if older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

Take care today, and make sure you link up to the correct linky on my blog - as it’s that rare occurrence when Friday is the 1st of the month, the day my gardening linky also opens!

This week we’ve managed to tick quite a few things off our list for our garage gym - nothing too fancy, but getting hooks up and a picture and the blinds, which make a huge amount of difference. They’re also a much smarter option than my Heath Robinson style pile of cardboard boxes - and my insistence was justified yesterday as I spotted MOH had pulled them down during his workout, despite him thinking there weren’t needed! The space itself is coming along nicely and it’s great to have, especially as the colder weather arrives and exercising moves indoors.

Have a great week - and Happy November!

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A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved

* I was invited to the press preview of Gardeners’ World Live and provided with a pair of tickets to visit the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

This beautiful border is one that I featured briefly in my highlights post, so it feels right to share more about it in a separate post - though I’m not sure that any beautiful border really fits into the problem category!

And it doesn’t, it’s designed as a space for sharing problems and thoughts while surrounded by nature. The Yin/Yang paving reflects opposing forces and these colours are fed through into the planting in a way that makes this a very special place indeed.

The deeper tones change to lighter colours signifying how our moods can lift, and together it's such a calming, welcoming space - that, as I said earlier in the post it’s hard to imagine a better place for taking a raincheck on our wellbeing and being at peace within its space.

I loved how the planting was so distinct, and while white plants are much more easy to find and use in our gardens, there were some surprises there too - just look at the pale, almost white fatsia by the chair leg. I’m a fan of the fatsia’s more usual green cousin, but this one was just beautiful - and it’s one I’m seriously thinking about for our garden, or at least working out how I can fit one in, if it’s something that will suit the space we have. I’ve too often in the past gone for plants that might just work, but they haven’t really been happy, so I’m not sure it’s really worth it - however beautiful they are!

And don’t you just want to reach out and touch the velvety dark petunias? They look great alongside the dark leaved heucheras (bottom right of the picture - just), which I already have a pot of. Petunias are one of those bedding plants that seem to have fallen out of fashion, but this dark version could just change that I think.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was just as good as I expected! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to the show - I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Walking East Stoke's lanes: September 2024

With a few days away in Glasgow during the month, there was less opportunity to get out and explore the lanes local to us, especially as I seemed to have also picked up some bugs this month - but I do have some pictures from a very blue skied walk along Moor Lane - though it was cut short as I was still struggling for breath. The cold that came after Glasgow - and which MOH avoided - lasted way longer than it was welcome!

But with blue skies such as these, it was hard to resist a walk along the lanes starting right from our front door.

The walk up and over the A46 always amuses me - the view promises so much (and it delivers once you’re on the other side) but it’s a bit of disappointment to see the traffic whizzing past with no real idea of what they’re missing. Even the verges on this section of lane are full of changing flora.

The seedheads that are almost ready to explode and fling their seed far and wide, not caring perhaps that a lot of those will be onto the tarmac road, and therefore lost - unless of course they make it as far as the nearest pothole (and let’s face it that’s never as far as we think is it?!)

The rosehips reminded me of those we foraged last winter which stood in the tall glass vase in our kitchen bringing their jewel colours to our impromptu Christmas decorations - and reminded me not to leave it quite so late this year, as it looks as if I can have an extra month or two of them in the house.

The weeds in the picture below also made me smile as I crouched down to snap them - at this angle they remind me of tall, proud sunflowers - but of course they’re not!

It really was a good day for skies and taking my recovering cold-full self out, but sadly we didn’t make it anywhere near as far as we normally would. No picture from the bridge for this month’s post, I only got as far as the bend in the lane before calling it quits - thankfully though the cold was much less short lived after this trip, finally.

Thanks for joining me this month, if you enjoyed this post you may also like some previous series where I revisit the same place - there’s my year in Greenwich Park and remember that time when I followed a tree?