New leaves and new blooms, things are growing and it’s hot hot hot — really feeling like Summer at last. It’s a different kind of warmth to the coastal conditions I’ve been used to — more still and enveloping. Coffees in the garden, tree shadows dancing across my outdoor work table with a gentle breeze, swallows darting overhead. My little Hydrangea is looking full but could do with a larger pot — I could do with another repotting session before moving I think. Boxes all over the place, it’s quite topsy turvy at HOUSEPLANTHOUSE right now… Poppies are still everywhere, interesting varieties too, some like pompoms I particularly like, and I’m avidly watching the figs forming in a nearby garden. Admiring the rainbows of roses dotted around local front gardens, whilst spotting the avid gardeners tending to them. I didn’t start to appreciate roses until I was in my 30’s and so many of you also agreed with me recently. I find myself looking for unusual varieties — I want to grow a couple in the future, recommendations welcome! As much as I generally like a restrained palette, I will find it hard to resist some of my brightly coloured favourites I think. I haven’t had as much time to walk recently, but I had a chance one evening this week — the crops are getting big in the fields now, lots of potatoes. This landscape reminds me of Italy when the weather is like this. A surprise punnet of strawberries handed over the fence by a kind neighbour, ripe and juicy.
Photo Diary
If this is the first of my Photo Diary posts you’ve seen, this series is a way of sharing the everyday photos that I snap— quite often when going for a walk, or little details I notice at home. This series started off as individual images back in 2019 under the title Ephemera, as a section on my website to share the transient moments I document, as ephemera derives from the Greek ephemeros — meaning ‘lasting only one day, short-lived’.
When I moved last year and during lockdown, I started sharing my walks and daily observations over on my Instagram stories and after such a positive response, I wanted to share a slice of the everyday here on my website too, but as a curated collection of images every few weeks, in ‘photo drop’ style. These are saved under the Photo Diary tab and are collections of my day to day photography that I put together every few weeks or so as a punctuation to the longer form plant care posts. They also have ended up acting like a visual diary of sorts.
Hope this post offered a little visual pause for you this weekend.
HOUSEPLANTHOUSE 