Gardening Friends day out to Coton Manor

Three of us set out last Wednesday to Coton Manor.  We had a lovely day out:  Liz, Myra and myself.  I so much enjoyed walking round with gardening friends, we went round together, admired plants, discussed plant associations, gardening possibilities, enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air....went searching for pretty flamingo feathers....

We started with a drink from the little cafe, and sat in the courtyard, having first admired a lovely bunch of clematis on the counter.  Yes I have been cutting clematis for years to put in vases.  Later I saw it again in the garden.  I have found the name written in my diary:  Clematis Huldine.

I love the way it holds up its blooms as that the light shines right through and from the underneath you can see the patterns of the veigning...

The garden is separated into smaller areas, each with huge interest, with planting for shady or sunny aspects which are inspirational.  The Manor itself with its warm mellow stone has interesting borders all around.  I love this little wall arrangement, with fountain on shady side.

The garden is on a sloping site which gives so many possibilities.

Water winds itself down, with the path bordered by a huge variety of interesting plants, including lovely ferns.  Sometimes the water is in shade, sometimes in full sun.

With a few water fowl, and some flamingos we went on a bit of a feather trail.  Myra wanted some for her sister who ties fishing flies, and me, just because I love love them.

I found this combination of heuchera and aster attractive, and will bear this in mind, when I do my autumn moving around of plants.

Generally the garden looked as if it was in full bloom, with lots of fresh herbaceous flowers, not 'nearly going over' as in my garden.  The staff and gardens were really informative, and one of the things they do is chop back hard, when about 80% flowering is achieved, and then things bounce back.

Here are a couple of plants I admired...this is Morinia longifolia

and Sedum Xenox stood up well and was a picture of perfection

So did we come back empty handed....certainly not.  The nursery was excellent....

They had neither of the above left, but I brought home a Lemon Verbena: Aloysia citriodora, Scabiosa Columbaria Moon Dance,  a compact plant bearing pale cream pincushion flowers, and Tulgaghia Vioacea variegata, which I had seen before.  There are two here which are not that hardy, so I shall overwinter them in the conservatory.

Visit to Eltham Palace

Last Monday we joined a trip going straight from Kenilworth to London.  Cynthia one of my knitting friends had invited Mr S and I to join the outing she was organizing.  It was very well organised and when I suggested that there may be 'discounts' for English Heritage Members, and she made her inquiries about this several of the group had a nice little balance to enjoy on tea and lunch in the Eltham Palace tea rooms which are housed in a large glass house.

Even with an early start: 7:30 am we were caught in the dreadful traffic surrounding the road works around Coventry, and then later on the motorway on our way to London.  Including the breaks it took us four hours to get to Eltham Palace.  Once in London, I enjoyed looking at the buildings.  What we have agreed Mr S and I, is that we shall avoid long coach travel just for one day out!  Unfortunately for us, we had a woman with a really piercing voice, not too nice a way of talking, talking all the way there and back, sitting just behind us, which did not allow us to snooze off, which always helps with a long journey!

The Old Hall is amazing, well restored with a nice collection of old chairs, tables, and sideboards.  What I really loved was the circular entrance with carpet and sofas

with welcome cocktails, well we were not served one, but you get the idea...

I found the bedrooms interesting

and how about this for a bathroom en suite

The way the furniture was designed with fitted cupboards etc, reminded me of some the furniture and arrangements in people's homes in Mauritius when I was young.

The gardens were lovely and well set out, with fantastic views towards London.  You could just see how high up you were.  There were two lovely fragrant trees of something like Indian Privet Trees close by the front drive.  The rose gardens, dahlias, and herbaceous borders well still well worth looking at.

In the afternoon the coach took us down to Greenwich,  where we had a short talk, and then we hopped onto a boat for an hour's trip with good commentary all along to Westminster, where we got back on our coach for the long trip home.  We really loved Greenwich, and it is on our list for a few days break in that area...going by train!

In a Vase on Monday - Raindrops keep falling on my head

That sums up the weather this morning, and I have had to don mac and wellies and venture forth into the garden.  Since I now have three different michaelmas daisies in flower, they have have joined together for this raindrop covered vase.  Cathy who hosts this meme has used a 'song' theme for her vase this week.

Euonymus emerald and gold, some leaves of Hakonechloa Macra 'Albo Striata brought at the Shrewbury show last August, Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold,  Leaves of cyclamen and lime green heuchera, Aster amellus 'King George at 10 o'clock,

and at 5 o'clock, one blossom from Aster x frikartii 'Monch', and at 2 o'clock Aster Penny.  'Penny' was one of the first plants given to me by first new friend in Kenilworth, who came to the door to collect a phone system we were donating through Freecycle.  It is lovely that we keep up, and Penny visits now with little grandson.  About in the middle I have a stem of Eryngium (cultivar name lost). When gardening a few days later, I came across the plant label in another part of the garden: serendipity or what, as I was not looking for it at all.  It is Eryngium planum 'Tetra Petra'

Yesterday I spent the afternoon grubbing out, yes I got close down the soil and grubby, digging out the root of the purple leaved japanese maple which is slowly dying from a fungal disease, and had to dig up plants around to get the roots up.  One corm of cyclamen must have been the size of a dinner plate.  As I have some younger plants around I am wondering whether to ditch this corn into the bin or not. Maybe I shall plant it in the 'fernery' to bring a little colour there.

Last Monday hubby and I were on a daytrip to Eltham Palace and managed to get a peep into their Flower Room.  What a treat to have a special room for flower arranging.  I would have loved to see what they kept in the cupboards during the days when the Courtaulds  lived there.

They still use the flowers from the garden to make arrangement for the house, I think that house with fresh flowers become a  'home' to be lived in.

This may have galvanised me into collecting all my flower arranging things into one cupboard at least!

Ka'ak

Another lovely recipe from The Book of Buns.  This Ka'ak recipe was given to Jane Mason by a Syrian friend.  These buns are small and a nice little dipper to put on the table with a few nibbles: maybe olives, some hummus, and as Mandy suggested some taramasalata.

I had already mixed the dough, and it was rising when Mandy popped over for a lovely chat.  We sat in the garden, and after she told me about the lovely new lens for her really posh camera, I brought out my 'very little' new IXUS 275 HS, and took this zoomed picture of some miniature strawberries over six feet away, with it.

 I was already on 'oven alert', with the kitchen timer in the garden, as four loaves of Granary bread were baking.  When these were baked, we went back into the kitchen and had a good laugh as we shaped th Ka'aks...I tried one as a long bread stick, and we even thought more off piste, and may make noughts and crosses next time!

As they need no further proving, they go straight into the oven, and watching them rise, we could see straight away that longer thinner sausages curled over to make large holes were needed.  The first few came out not quite as the photograph in the book.  This is Mandy's little goodie bag to take home to have with her Friday night tipple...

To get the crunch and dryness we baked the batches for a little longer...and when Mr S came home, I saw there were one or two less, and a little trail of sesame seeds on the floor!  With the cumin, mahlab and ground anise they are a savoury but aromatic nibble.  We made 40...

Micro moth

This little micro moth is feeding on the marjoram.  Its wings are covered with fine scales which look almost like fur...you can tell from my description that I know very little about these..