IAVOM ~ 'I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside'.

I picked a few flowers for a vase last Monday, took a photo and then for various reasons ran out of steam to post so here it is now.

In my vase are are :

• The very first of the sweet peas - sown under cover at the beginning of March. They are sadly struggling big time having now undergone three heatwaves since being planted in the garden. Note to self has been made to sow seeds this autumn instead.
• A bit of darkness from cornflower 'Witching Hour' - again from seed sown in March. I've not grown cornflowers since my allotment days and had forgotten how floppy they can be if not given support. I'll look for a shorter growing variety next year and will probably return to a shade of blue.
• A stem of the daucus carrota probably 'Dara'- seed sown but in September last year and overwintered in the greenhouse.

Probably the main reason I ran out of steam last Monday was that I was still recovering from a ten hour and half hour or so train journey returning home from Westward Ho! in Devon on what had been an extremely hot Saturday. It  certainly wasn't fun and I arrived home nearly three and half hours later than anticipated with a train cancellation, a late running train and then a trackside fire thrown in to the works. Still we had a most enjoyable and relaxing holiday in great accommodation directly overlooking the sea with just a row of beach huts in front of us. The pool you can see is a salt water pool which was visited by bathers throughout the day and to the right of it were rock pools, where there seemed to be regular activity attracting both little people and big people with buckets and nets. It was most heartwarming to see a well supervised party of Cubs and Brownies there casting their nets early one evening and having a great time by the sound of it.

The weather was most pleasant probably until mid week when it began to feel at little bit too hot for comfort. We still squeezed some garden visits to to Tapeley Park Gardens, Marwood Hill Gardens and RHS Rosemoor. There was much to admire and inspire, fabulous tea rooms in the first two gardens, three cooling lakes and a profusion of wildlife at Marwood Hill and as always much to see at an RHS garden, in fact too much on what was one of the hotter days of the week. I showed great restraint and came home with just one new plant purchase.    

Back home to a garden that is looking drier and crispier by the day and sadly with temperatures too hot for me to be active in the garden last week. The weather on Saturday afforded some relief with a slight fall in the temperature accompanied by some most welcome clouds so a chance to almost fill the green garden waste bin. I also made the exciting discovery that my outdoor tomatoes are on the turn 🥳

Thanks as ever to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for inviting us to share our vases each and every week of the year. I'm looking forward to catching up with other vases later notepad and pen to hand as usual.