Reality check

We've been enjoying some beautiful gardens.

This one at Scotney Castle

with its stunning display of acers, azaleas

and rhododendrons

and of course Sissinghurst too with

the white wisteria just opening.

I took note of a pairing of smoke bush

and alliums, underplanted with a pale pink persicaria 

and thought I could do something similar at home.

But the fox cubs had other ideas.

These are the ones I salvaged.

 I thought of Freda and her deer-munched tulips

and all the other people working against the clock, the climate and the critters

to get their gardens ready for public display this summer.

Eyes down

on the shingle 

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch

crunch.

It's as near to a meditative state

as I'll ever get.

b is for...

bush bent double over boulders by prevailing winds,

bench

(but is it blue or green, there's a male/ female divide over this),

berries (and a bit of blight),

beach huts, buggy, bucket and (wind) break,

beached boat and a board,

butterflies,

bee,

ballerina, if you pushed a tiny twig through for arms above the bodice,

blooms,

(rain) bow,

breakfast bowl,

bobbins from...

brynkir - more of this with the teasels later,

bargain book,

from one of the many secondhand bookshops appearing at National Trust properties.

I remember the More Dash than Cash column in 1980s Vogue.

The cover is terrible, but some of the clothes could pass muster as 21st century fashion.