Tag Archive | poppies

My new garden….coming soon!

Apr7

001 - CopyI love my garden, and it has given me great pleasure in the past but last year it was looking a bit tatty and so I decided to ring the changes. I dug out all my plants from the back garden and put them into the front border where they proved to be a huge success. I replanted them just at the right time when the ground was still wet and we had several days of lovely warm sunshine for them to bask and settle in. It was lovely to see them all blossom during the summer and we could enjoy the gorgeous flowers greeting us every time we came home.

As an experiment, and to give the clay soil a bit of a breakdown, we then planted the borders with vegetables. Runner beans, courgettes, herbs and potatoes. They were lovely but it just wasn’t the same as looking out over my  beautiful  shrubs and flowers and so this year I am going back to the drawing board.

BeFunky_002I have started to buy selected shrubs and perennials to plant over the next few weeks when we get a prolonged spell of temperatures above freezing ( I hope!). It’s so exciting but I am determined to wait until I have enough plants before I start to plan the  borders and and decide where each one will sit best.

Strangely enough, although I love new and different varieties of traditional plants, I still have my favourites; Californian Lilac (Ceanothus), Hebe’s, azaleas, foxgloves and aquilegias. They are all waiting patiently on the patio ready to move into their their new home. Today I am off to a garden centre for a long look round and in hope that I will be able to add to my collection. Hubby is leaving me to browse for a couple of hours whilst I pick and choose, change my mind, sigh and deliberate over colours, blooms, frost-hardiness and price, so I am up, ready and raring to go.

BeFunky_0014Of course, poppies are top of my shopping list. The first hairy fronds are usually peeping through the soil by now but I can’t see any sign of my favourite beautiful orange poppy plant that this blog is named after and so I must face up to the fact that the very harsh winter has taken its toll and I have lost my beloved poppy plant. All is not lost however as I will be able to replace it and hopefully the new version will do just as well, if not better, than the original.

It will take several weeks to get organised but it is a work-in-progress and that’s the amazing thing about gardens. They literally grow in front of your eyes.

How satisfying is that.

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Poppy Day

Nov10

My hand-knitted and crocheted poppies have proved popular this year-one lady stopping me on my way to catch the train to purchase one which was a little bizarre.

I love poppies; they are my favourite flower and I will no doubt have a lump in my throat this evening when cascades of them are released from the ceiling nets at the Albert Hall, the traditional ending to the annual Remembrance Service.

Lest we forget.

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Remembrance Day

Nov3

Regular readers of my Blog will know that poppies are my favourite flower. Not only
are they individually beautiful, colourful and delicate but collectively they are a sight
to behold when massed together in fields fluttering in the early summer
breeze. I have poppies in my garden. I seek out fields of poppies in the summer and
my Blog Poppyposts is named in their honour.

On wider scale, poppies also have great significance at this time of year when we
remember, recognise and appreciate the efforts and sacrifices made by our armed
forces heroes past and present. Swathes of blood-red poppies carpet Flanders Fields
the site of mass slaughter and such human destruction that we hope never to see again.
A river of red reminds us of the lost lives and those of the men and women currently
serving across the world to protect our freedom.

Every year we stand in silence to remember them.

This year is extra special. We will be in unified silence at 11.00am, on the 11th day of
the 11th month in 2011.

11-11-11-11.

In the 90th year of the Royal British Legion, you can also mark this unique occasion
by “planting” a poppy with a personal message at Royal Wootton Bassett. The
poppies will be planted in fields to form 11-11-11-11. The link for you to make a
donation and to plant a poppy is here;

Plant a Poppy at Royal Wootton Bassett

Lest we forget.

In Flanders Fields- John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe.
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

In remission

Jun26

At long last and after many, many months my stomach has finally stopped its incessant churning. The constant feeling of nausea and fatigue has lifted. My head is clear and calm and this past week I have been able to focus on the tasks in front of me instead of my butterfly of a mind flitting about mercilessly leaving me unable to start and finish anything in one attempt.

I am in remission. I recognise the signs and as ever, it is only when I start to feel better that I realise just how far down the slippery slope I travelled before the worm turned. Now begins the self-questioning. How did I let it get that bad? Could I not have stopped it? How did I allow myself to sink so low when I should have learned from past experience? What happened to the attempts at positive thinking and being kind to myself?

Who knows? I do know that I had no energy to think positively. I couldn’t be bothered to talk to anyone. Every day I have been wading through treacle but I kept going.  I kept going because I never lost my belief that I would get better in time. I have recovered  before so why shouldn’t it happen again? It’s very hard to hold on to that faith and belief sometimes but I knew that I had to hang in there no matter how tough it seemed at the time.  Going through the motions is demoralising and unfulfilling but sometimes just doing enough has to be enough.

Accept it.

The “Poppyposts” poppies have returned

Jun3

Last night as I went to bed I had one last peep at my poppy flowers still heavy in bud but clearly straining to pop following the very warm weather we’ve had over the last couple of days.

When I woke up this morning I was in no rush to get out of bed to start my day until I remembered my poppies. I came downstairs expectantly and was duly rewarded with a most beautiful sight and one which I never tire of looking forward to each year. My poppies in full bloom.

I named this blog Poppyposts in tribute to the pleasure that I get from these flowers and each year they get bigger and better, more stunning and more vibrant. I never fail to be amazed by their beauty and extravagance and the contrasting colours of orange and purple bring an exotic touch to what is otherwise a typical english cottage garden.

And here are the 2011 show-stoppers.

Poppies- Carl Sandburg

Jun1

POPPIES

She loves blood-red poppies for a garden to walk in.
In a loose white gown she walks
and a new child tugs at cords in her body.
Her head to the west at evening when the dew is creeping,
A shudder of gladness runs in her bones and torsal fiber:
She loves blood-red poppies for a garden to walk in.

Carl Sandburg