my e-garden in june

steph spiers

PUBLISHED BY: Author © SM Spiers 2015 The right of SM Spiers to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 7 & 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 First Edition

my e-garden in june

steph spiers

e-published by me

a FREE picture e-book for grown-ups who like

plants ...

#coppenhall321 If you want to follow

me ...

my e-garden in june

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my e-garden in june

steph spiers

e-published by me

a FREE picture e-book for grown-ups who like

plants ...

steph spiers

4

my e-garden in june

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SHOCK HORROR! I didn’t own a mobile smartphone until June 2015.

I’d always thought they were a way for the government to tag people, a sort of

self-imposed ankle bracelet. I still have only made one phone call

and that was by accident.

BUT, I discovered the fun of playing daft games and texting for free and trying out strange apps and taking

photographs and then I found INSTAGRAM

A whole new world opened up. I can share my artwork with people in Korea and Canada and Stockholm and view pictures from NASA and National

Geographic and Museums and ... The list of connections is endless.

Here are some pictures of my garden in June which I posted on Instagram. I hope you like them.

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This is only a very small selection of the plants in my garden but

hopefully it will give some idea of the profusion of flora, fighting for survival.

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This is Sage. Where I know what the plant is called I will name it. I don’t know them all.

I make no claims to be a qualified gardener ...

and my Latin is laughable ...

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This is Rosemary. Somebody asked me what camera I was using ... Like I would know ...

I took all the pictures on a MotoG second generation smart phone. Point, Tap the

screen, even I can manage that ...

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I think these are Pansies. I can never tell them apart from the

little ones ... Violas(?)

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You will by now have noticed all the pictures are square. This is the way all the images are

shown on Instagram. Photos can be edited and played about with

before being uploaded, which means it was a doddle to produce this e-book.

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Now this is a wonderful shrub. It smells divine.

Mock Orange or Philadelphus.

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If people who see your uploaded images like them they can click the heart or add a comment if

they really like it ... And they can become a follower if they really,

really like your uploads ...

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Page 12 seed pods of Red Broom. It was glorious but had gone over by June. Below

more Philadelphus but from a different bush. I’ve no idea what variety.

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Please do not think I know the first thing about gardening, I don’t. Plants have to thrive on neglect or die. They have to really want to

survive to live in my garden. So if I can grow Roses ... anybody can.

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Everybody says it has been a good year for Poppies. I have two different kinds.

This one with the black centre has been superb this year.

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This is only the plant’s second year. I’m very impressed with it. It was a gift from an old

friend. Gardens are places of remembrance. I know who gave me every plant.

Or who planted every plant.

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This red Rose at the rear is a trooper. No matter how much I chop it down.

Back it comes year after year And it’s easy to take cuttings.

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This picture was taken in the second week of June. The Rose bush sprang into full

bloom in the third week and was a glorious orange-pink.

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This is the other type of Poppy. It is a fuller richer red, with less

blackness inside.

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This Bamboo is amazing. It was given to me many years ago when I

had a huge pond. It sat by the pond for years doing nothing and

then when I moved it to the border it went nuts ... and shot up to the sky.

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Peas. I love peas. I eat them raw off the plant. I never buy seed. These are grown from

boxes of mushy peas for soaking. And the flowers are lovely.

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I grew this plant from a cutting. It’s really simple. I just find a suitable piece of

twig and push the cut end into the ground. It either wants to live or it doesn’t.

Some fail, some live.

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Lavender Mint. The smell is incredible. So intense. I bought a clump for a few pence from the Stafford Common Car–Boot Sale and

it has romped away.

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The humble spud. I love them. I grow them in tubs and can’t

wait for the first pickings. What is nicer than new potatoes?

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Cornflowers. These are perennials. They have settled in the border by the lawn and

are none the worse for being moved from the front garden, where they had lived for 30 years.

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I must need my head looking at. Why I am again tempting fate and growing

courgettes I do not know. The slugs will have a wonderful feast and

the courgettes will all die ...

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Bracts. I love shrubs with bracts. This one is gorgeous. It is strange how the

plant moves round the border all by itself. It is now a good foot away from where it was

originally planted.

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Ajuga. Nothing like it for ground coverage. And the blue spikes are impressive.

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Self setting Aquilegia. They don’t stay true to colour.

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Another shrub of which I don’t know the name. It was a gift from an old friend and is in its second year. It seems happy enough

by the compost heap under the Lilac.

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Cherries. I’ve four Cherry trees. One only flowering, two non-edible and an eater.

These are non-edible. The birds know. They savage the eater before

the fruit have chance to ripen.

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All the ferns I buy die. I have three wild ones growing happily

in the paths. I leave them alone.

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Alison gave me these many years ago when she was making-over her front garden.

They like it here and have spread. Elephant’s Ears. Lovely pink flower spike.

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Can’t have too much of a good thing. And the Poppy Seed heads

are equally impressive.

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June is a bit too late for For-Get-Me-Nots These are just going over.

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Ladies Mantle. This is a perennial and it dies right away in

the winter, which is a bit worrying, but come spring up it comes. Another gift, this time

from Gill.

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Did I mention it’s been a good year for Poppies ...

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The Alliums have been enormous this year. They are in their second year.

Another gift. That’s what I love about gardening,

gardeners love to share their bounty.

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I filled a hanging basket with just these and they have thoroughly enjoyed

themselves swinging about in full sun.

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A free e-picture book for people who like plants.

Plants and flowers in June found in a wander around a

Midland Back Garden.