The Cottage Smallholder

I’ve been away in London for a couple of nights. Danny took over as Maternity Matron and attended to Mrs Boss’s castle. The first thing I did on my return was rush down to check if we had keets. They could arrive anytime from now on. Mrs Boss was looking pretty chirpy and the nest of eggs was still a complete nest of eggs.

There is nothing like a trip to London to make me realise how much I love living in the country. When I poked my head out of the back door I could smell Hyacinths. An unusual waft for this time of year, as they were over months ago. After examining the pots beside the backdoor- fuchsias and pelargonium (geranium). I suddenly remembered that I was wearing the scent that Danny bought me for my birthday that has a hint of hyacinth. The flowers in the house had faded when I was away so I prowled around the garden picking flowers to put in this jug. A few of these are going over a bit and some might say the the colours clash but their scent was heady and seemed so very special today.

There are a lot of modern roses here, these flower on an off all summer and are nameless as they were living in the garden when I arrived at the cottage. There are also Canterbury Bells, an all time favourite with me. The small daisy-like flowers are Feverfew, which grows like a weed in our garden but is a good foil for other flowers and great for treating headaches. The cluster of tiny white roses are the last of Rosa Rambling Rector and the dark pinky purple rose is ‘Rosa Zephirine Drouhin that I planted years ago. This is the reverse of Rosa Complicata and has hundreds of petals to each flower head and good scent.
“Enough,” Danny announced.” Zephirine Drouhin deserves a post all to herself.”
And she does.