puddleshark

Geum

Fri, 22 May 2026 17:37:01 GMT

Three of the four gardens I visited this week had displays of Geums - gorgeous orange flowers hovering above the earth. I am a Geum convert.

( +1 )

comments

Rose season

Thu, 21 May 2026 14:32:35 GMT

Roses & alliums in the Rose Garden at the Secret Garden.

I've visited four gardens in the past seven days, making hay while the sun is not shining too fiercely. Looks like the temperatures will be too hot and the sun too harsh for garden photography next week.

( Yet more pictures of flowers )

comments

Wed, 20 May 2026 15:35:26 GMT

comments

Holme Gardens in the Rain

Tue, 19 May 2026 15:18:35 GMT

Aquilegia, being bright & strange. Bright & strange is fine.

( Guess who bunked off work to go garden visiting again... )

comments

Sun, 17 May 2026 09:35:45 GMT

( +1 )

comments

May Meadows

Thu, 14 May 2026 11:11:10 GMT

( Pictures of the grass growing )

comments

Coast Path

Sun, 10 May 2026 12:03:01 GMT

Sun shining inland, but grey cloud hanging over the coast, and a strong cold north wind blowing. Much better weather for walking the coast path than the unseasonably warm weather we have been having lately. Took the steep stone steps down to Dancing Ledge. My knees were not impressed, but it was worth the descent to watch the grey waves crashing on the old quarry ledges.

( On Dancing Ledge )

comments

Stacks

Sat, 09 May 2026 12:52:38 GMT

I have stacks. Not stacks of money. Not stacks of time. Just stacks.

( Studland to Handfast Point and Ballard Down )

comments

The Walled Garden again

Thu, 07 May 2026 13:29:06 GMT

Bistort.

I know I said I wasn't going back to the Walled Garden, and that it was too expensive now... but with things being the way they are, it's hard not to think, damn it, the world is ending, I should visit gardens while I can.

( And it's wisteria season... )

comments

Along Ackling Dyke in May

Sun, 03 May 2026 14:54:18 GMT

( Green ways on a grey day )

comments

A walk to blow away the cobwebs

Sat, 02 May 2026 07:39:05 GMT

On Thursday it was blowing a hoolie, the wind still in the east, and I thought that if I did the walk from Sheep-pen car park to Swyre, then at least the wind would be propelling me up the hill. ( Read more... )

comments

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:03:56 GMT

comments

Another windy day among the flowers

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:06:40 GMT

May is nearly here. The wisteria is in flower.

The wind is still in the east, and full of willow fluff. There has been so much dust and pollen on the car windscreen that I ran out of screenwash yesterday and had to top it up. The sun keeps shining, and the daytime temperature has been up in the low 20s C, which is just too warm for April. But I believe the Bank Holiday weekend will work its usual magic, and bring us some much-needed rain.

Decided suddenly, at lunchtime, to make a break for it, and took a half day holiday to go wandering round the gardens at Holme, photographing things blowing in the wind...

( Floral overload )

comments

Dance Out

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 16:09:13 GMT

( Read more... )

comments

Durlston Meadows

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 12:45:19 GMT

A walk up through the nature reserve at Durlston to see the cowslips in flower, listen to the skylarks singing above the meadows by the sea.

( Read more... )

comments

The Birders

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:44:47 GMT

I thought I might make the most of the easterly wind and the dry weather to walk out through the reedbeds to Swineham, and back across the damp riverside meadows.

( An unexpected obstacle on the path )

comments

The Secret Garden, April

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:32:52 GMT

Weird weather. April is supposed to be changeable. All the weather - rain, hail, sunshine & rainbows - in the space of an hour. We're not supposed to have a high pressure system stuck overhead, no rain in prospect for the next week. And we're not supposed to have gale force winds blowing from the east. Proper gales are supposed to come in from the south-west, off the Atlantic, accompanied by lashing rain.

I thought it would be sheltered behind the high brick walls of the Secret Garden, but it wasn't - the flowers were all bobbing about madly, which made macro photography something of a challenge.

( Blurred flowers... )

comments

Narcissus 'Golden Echo'

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:37:31 GMT

( +1 )

comments

April in the Woods

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:10:55 GMT

( +2 )

comments

Folly to the Dorsetshire Gap

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 14:52:27 GMT

A fine fair morning, the sun pleasantly warm, and the wind sharp enough to encourage you to keep walking. A perfect day to go following green April paths, up onto the hills looking out over the Blackmore Vale, down through the bluebell woods to the Dorsetshire Gap where all the paths meet.

( New sycamore leaves, wild garlic paths, curious cattle... )

comments

White Nothe

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 14:32:00 GMT

Winter has returned, drawn back by the snow of white blossom on the blackthorn in the hedges: a Blackthorn Winter. A wild cold west wind blowing on the downs above Ringstead Bay when I set off this morning. Even wearing hat, gloves, sweater & winter coat, and walking briskly, I was never warm.

( Cliff paths & chalk tracks )

comments

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:55:41 GMT

( +1 )

comments

Blossom

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:40:02 GMT

Pyrus salicifolia pendula.

Everything is in blossom at Holme Gardens - the cherry trees, the crab apple trees, the pear trees, the Japanese quince...

( Sakura season )

comments

Primrose path

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:36:32 GMT

Ivy and vines of old man's beard draping the branches of the thousand-year oak, along the underhill path.

( Read more... )

comments

Whiteways to the sea

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:22:27 GMT

The walks across the Army ranges are open for the Easter Holidays, so I set off from Whiteways Hill into the strong southwesterly wind, the low cloud, and the drizzle, to take the chalk track down to Tyneham and the sea.

( Read more... )

comments