Hello friends,
I haven't written about the front garden in this small corner for a while.
Sadly, with all the work we have been doing with the pond in the back garden, the front garden has been neglected. However, most of these plants have weathered storms, heatwaves, and torrential downpours, so are very low maintenance, which is always good news for me. This is the one part of the garden that I restricted my colour palette to only three colours, plus green. Here are the yellows, purples, and oranges that have shown their sunny faces so far as we start the month of May.
I found a shrubby Potentilla in pale lemon and another variety with brighter yellow/orange blooms. The Geums are also flowering in orange and pale yellow along with the purples of the Wallflowers and Alliums. I also spied a Rock Rose and a Lewisia in the raised gravel bed above the bin store. There are plenty of other plants for me to enjoy in the next few months and plenty of time to take a cuppa tea and biscuit outside and sit and enjoy the garden.
While I was busy taking the above photos my hubby asked me about I wanting to do with the rhubarb! This is what I found when I went to investigate.
Naturally, I had to do this!
These are only a few sticks and there are plenty more to pick. They have obviously settled well into their new home and have appreciated the rich soil there.
In other food news, our lovely daughter bought hubby and myself one of these sweet chocolate bunnies each.
I also enjoy other chocolates in the form of biscuits, and this special version also ended up in my shopping basket. Who would have thought that these have been around for 100 years? They wouldn't last long in this family.
We had a few spare hours on Saturday and decided to visit Worcester Cathedral. It has been a few years since our last visit, and this time was made particularly special with an orchestra and choir rehearsal for a VE day concert this week. We could sit and listen to snippets of music from the war years and from the composer Elgar, who is also connected to Worcestershire. I'm sure the actual performance will be amazing.
This is the tomb of King John (of Magna Carta and Robin Hood fame). John had specifically requested to be buried in Worcester Cathedral, as he felt close connections with the city. His Plantagenet family coat of arms decorate the tomb. It felt strange to be this close to the earthly remains of one of our monarchs.
Not far away is the other royal tomb, that of Arthur, royal prince and heir to the throne of England after his father, Henry Vll, died. Unfortunately, Arthur died first in nearby Ludlow, possibly of a contagious disease, and it was decided that he should be buried at Worcester Cathedral instead of in London.
The British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and his wife Lucy are also buried here, and there is a plaque commemorating the life of composer Edward Elgar.
We had a lovely afternoon at the cathedral, made more special by the music. The cathedral often has musical performances, so it would be good to go back and enjoy one of them in full - something for our wish list.
If you are enjoying a Bank Holiday on Monday, I hope you have a wonderful day; if it is a standard type of Monday, have a good day too.
And to everyone, enjoy the whole week.
Beverley x
Any place of worship is always so much better with music, when we walked around York cathedral there was a full choir rehearsal and it was beautiful. Hubby deals with our front garden, his style is very different to mine, he's not into flowers.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that you are both able to accommodate your individual gardening styles in your home.
DeleteThe music in the cathedral just gave the place a whole different feel and made it feel alive.
I'm going to get myself a rhubarb plant. I know it'll be a few years but I just love baked goods with rhubarb.
ReplyDeleteRhubarb is one of those 'love it or hate it foods'. I absolutely love it and have it most mornings for breakfast with yoghurt. Good luck with growing your own rhubarb plants and I hope you get lots of tasty stems.
DeleteOh, the history of that cathedral!! Such beauty!
ReplyDeletehugs
Donna
The cathedral is pretty fabulous to visit. D and I love history and having a King and almost King buried within a few miles from us is quite special. Happy month of May to you, Donna x
DeleteYour garden is looking pretty and productive. Worcester Cathedral looks an interesting place to visit.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Janice. After spending so much time renovating the back garden so far this year,
DeleteI'm almost surprised at how well the front garden is doing, based on the neglect. Still nature looks after her own.
Worcester Cathedral is quite special and hearing the choir and orchestra yesterday made it even more so. I find it quite bizarre than two members of English royalty and the crown are interred not far from where we live.
How lovely to hear the music rehearsal as you walked around the cathedral, it makes the visit extra special. It happened to us once at Chester Cathedral. The flowers in your front garden are lovely, I'm fond of Geums and they seem to grow well here. Your rhubarb looks wonderful:)
ReplyDeleteWe were fortunate to visit the cathedral when the choir and orchestra were practising. The acoustics are amplified so much better in these wonderful buildings with all the hard surfaces and arched roof structures.
DeleteRhubarb is one of those plants that I can just leave alone almost and it still produces a good crop each year. Thank you for your kind words about the garden. The colour palette is a bit restrictive in the front garden but I am getting there and the plants seem to be doing ok, sometimes a little too well and need a bit of chopping back. Have a lovely Bank Holiday Monday x
Your flowers are all lovely, such beautiful colours and what lovely rhubarb! We've had several pickings already from our own plant. Delicious too.
ReplyDeleteYour visit to Worcester looked amazing. Elgar is one of my favourite composers too.
Have a lovely bank holiday Beverley
Angie
Thank you Angie. We both seem to be doing well with our rhubarb this year. I enjoy the music composed by Elgar too. He was born not far from here and his birth place is looked after by NT. We visited there quite a few years ago but I wouldn't mind visiting again. Hope you both enjoyed the weekend too.
DeleteSuch a lovely post.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers ...
Healthy looking rhubarb ...
Delicious chocolate treats ...
Wonderful photographs from Worcester Cathedral ...
Happy Bank Holiday Wishes, and a good new week too.
All the best Jan
Thank you, Jan. There is always something beautiful to find in the garden. The rhubarb plants are quite old now but they still keep producing excellent stems. Worcester Cathedral was lovely and I really enjoyed hearing the rehearsals there.
DeleteHappy month of May to you.
The cathedral is stunning! I remember seeing it when visiting my sister as she lived in a small village not too far away from Worcester. Silly to say now I wish I had gone inside but I was young and didn't think of such things, though I knew my village church well. Thoughtful gift of a chocolate Easter bunny from your daughter. The rhubarb reminds me of my father's patch. Mum didn't make too many pies but he used to give us a stick and a dish of sugar to dip them in. It was the only way I knew how to eat them as a child. Well, I will stop my blathering and let you know how much I enjoyed your pretty garden flowers and everything else. Have a good week and so nice to be visiting again after my blog break :)
ReplyDeleteI have always liked rhubarb but I never I ate it like you did. It should give a good crop again this year.
DeleteBy the way I love that word 'blathering' I haven't heard it in a long time. It bought back happy childhood memories.
I didn't know until a few years ago who was buried in the cathedral, and I have lived near Worcester all my life! It is a beautiful building.
D is a sweetheart and often treats us to little things like that chocolate bunny.
I'm glad you like the garden flowers and wish you a lovely week x
Hubs says I have started using a lot of new words, like 'blathering'. It seems they are coming out more and more as I get older :) My sister and husband lived in Bishampton and Naunton Beachamp a few years later. Do you know them? Have a lovely week too.
DeleteI don't know that place but I think it is not far from Pershore. I might suggest a little visit to that area in our future travels.
DeleteWow - what pretty flowers. You garden must be a prize winner! I love the colors. Oh and I love a bunny made from chocolate. Nice treat!:) Happy weekend to you -
ReplyDeleteI don't know about that but it is very kind of you to say so. There are still lots of areas that need working on but progress is happening.
DeleteUnfortunately bunny didn't last too long here. A delicious treat indeed.
Have a wonderful rest of the day x
We've had a glut of rhubarb too and there are so many delicious recipes on line I fancy the rhubarb cake with like a crumble top|! Love that little geum, so pretty
ReplyDeleteAt the moment, Rhubarb is just hitting the spot. It is one of my favourite things to eat in the garden.
DeleteGeums are a lovely plant and seem to grow well here whatever the weather. My kind of plant. Have a good week in beautiful Wales.
I wonder what history would have looked like had Arthur lived and Henry VIII had never come to the throne, very different I imagine. What a beautiful cathedral, I always love looking at the stained glass windows. My alliums are only just beginning to open, they always give a striking display in any border and, as you say, are low maintenance. I love geums too, I grow one in a pot and it flowers right through summer. Chocolate digestives, yummy. Did you see that we've been eating them wrong for all these years. Apparently, we should bite into them with the chocolate facing down. I can't see what difference it makes myself, yummy any which way, haha.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good question about the direction our history might have taken under different circumstances. Stained glass is always lovely to see whether in cathedrals like Worcester or in more modern ones like Coventry or anywhere else for that matter.
DeleteI agree - a chocolate digestive tastes the same whichever way you eat it - yummy.
I did have a couple of the very large alliums but they are not showing yet so I may need to replace them next year. They are very striking in the garden.
Have a lovely sunny week.
Beautiful flowers! I must manage to get to Worcester sometime this year.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nikki. I hope you manage to get to Worcester this year and see the cathedral and some of the other places around the area. Have a great week.
DeleteGreat shots of the building and I love, love, love the flowers. So pretty.
ReplyDeleteThe cathedral is a very beautiful building with so much history. The stained glass windows and the ceilings are quite stunning in my opinion.
DeleteGlad the flowers made you happy :-)
:-)
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