Something, nothing, everything. Mostly horses.
This summer continues to be colder and windier than average, but nonetheless, the sun came out enough in June for me to get at least a number of good flower pictures.
I also managed to acquire a bone bruise on my left shin (at least I didn’t break it, so there’s that!), so horse pictures are in short supply this month as I sit quite still and quietly swear to myself about the pain.
Let me be honest here: May sucked.
Not Theresa (though my British friends tell me she sucked too). Just the weather. May in Denmark usually has two or three weeks of gloriously hot sunshine during which everything explodes out of the ground in a cornucupia of scent and colour.
Not so this year. It’s been mostly cloudy and rainy. But in between the rain there’s been a few days where the sun came out (and even two that had summer-like temperatures). I managed to grab a few good shots in the garden and elsewhere, without getting drenched.
Without further ado, the pictures of May (such as May was).
Most of our garden is bee and small animal friendly but that doesn’t mean we don’t have beautiful colours.
There were two warm days, and we made them to the zoo in one. Out of about 1200 pictures a few were worth sharing (I’m still learning this camera).
Getting to know my new camera is great fun! Here’s my best first shots.
All photos © 2019 Birgitte Heuschkel.
Summer is being rough on me this year. The heatwave that began in May shows no sign of letting go anytime soon. Everything is bone dry and the air is full of dust. The heat is not doing my fibromyalgia any favours. But one thing can be said for this very atypical hot Danish summer: It’s beautiful. I’ve spent more time in my garden this summer than in the twenty years previous at the old house.
I planted wildflower seeds in a big pot on the terrace in order to feed my never-ending love for cornflowers. The outcome is a little weird. There’s all sorts of other flowers in there too, but it’s the pink cornflower that baffles me. I had no idea cornflowers could be pink. Cornflowers range from white over pale blue to dark cobalt blue. Maybe this one’s just colour blind.
We live close to the river so there is a lot of wetlands wildlife in the area. We see toads all the time, and salamanders are fairly common too. But the ones we usually see are smooth newts, by far the most common in Denmark; this big fella is northern crested newt which is a rare and protected species here.
No one who knows my husband will be surprised to hear that we now have salamander-friendly patches and watering holes under the rhododendrons. I’m hoping to meet adders out there too. The neighbour claims to see adders in his garden all the time. I love them.
I can spend hours just looking at the wildflowers. I have no idea what those pink ones between the morning glories and cornflowers are, but they are absolutely gorgeous. The husband built bee hotels in the yard and now that everything is so dry and dead, the wild bees are here in droves to check out those wildflowers.
It’s so dry here now that when we go to the barn and water the horses in the pasture, wasps turn up in droves to drink. Look at the soil; there’s no moisture in the earth anywhere. We’ve had the hottest May on record ever, June and July have not let us off the hook. It’s pretty, but I will admit, it’s taking its toll on people and animals alike.
There’s only one family member who absolutely loves the dry dusty heat. It’s great for certain purposes!
No time of year is more beautiful than May. No joy is greater than the first May in a new house, watching the flowerbeds and wondering what’s going to turn out to be in them. So far I am not disappointed. It’s picture day!
No flower is closer to my heart than the humble dandelion. Together with the tiny white daisies they sum up everything I love about May. The sunshine, the freshness, the cool nights and hot days, the beginning of a new year. The earth awakens, explosively.
Those chilly May nights that soon enough become warm. They tend to be starry and clear blue, and my camera is not at all sophisticated enough to properly capture those colours.
And speaking of colours. Turns out we have a large rhododendron patch and not two shrubs are the same colour. Every shade from bright white over hot pink to blood red is represented. My favourites are the small purples and the large crimsons.
They’re there, the small purples.
Out in front we have poppies. Gazillion of poppies. They’re large and bright red and contrast gorgeously with the bright blue scillas.
And of course there’s a corner for self-planted more or less wild flowers as well.
But the strangest flower of them all is the hairy lawnflower.
