Hi from Enys

Wish time would stretch, so much to do, just been collecting the flowers of Coreopsis and Dyer's chamomile, they are on trays on the window sills hoping for sun. Today was rain and more rain, whatever happened to Summer. The Echium vulgare in the garden is full of bees, so I've planted two more and am now going to plant more seeds and overwinter in the greenhouse. The roses outside the front of the house are being ruined by the rain, I'm having a good moan so I guess I must be tired - I seem to have been running around and getting nowhere fast, just like Alice in Through the Looking Glass. Never mind, Helen usually revives me on Friday's with lots of coffee.
Can't remember whether I told you this but the other week growing amongst the green peppers in the greenhouse I discovered some Amaranthus -Hopi red dye plants,I'd grown them last year and some had germinated and some hadn't, so I threw the compost left in the tray onto the green house planting floor and now I've got 3 big Hopi plants growing, they obvious like the greenhouse better than the great outdoors, and I finally got a photo onto the blog!! So here are a few more starting with a view of a small part of the garden- it was supposed to start with a view of the garden but obviously I haven't quite got the hang of it yet, but at least I got the photos on even if not in the places where I wanted them. A limited success. I'll have to have word with Helen on Friday.

shanti
Enys

Hi from Enys

Just been getting the plants all ready for their trip to Woolfest, I can never decide what to take and what to leave behind. The wonder dog, Cariad, is going to stay with her favourite people, she will have walked all over the Clwydian Range and probably a great deal of Snowdonia, and will be extremely fit on our return.
Daughter and partner are in charge of all the greenhouse watering of husband's tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and aubergines + all the dye plants left inside and out + all the cuttings and houseplants.
Must admit that the plants are looking really good - especially the madder, which is a real pain to pack, it all gets tangled up and it takes ages to untangle it when we are setting the plants out - my arms are covered in faint scratches from it, maybe it doesn't want to leave home!!
Back to the packing - it's amazing what you can get into a Discovery, but where we are going to put our rucksack is anybody's guess. See you at Woolfest.
Enys

From Enys

Finally found time to write something on the blog. I can see Helen has told you all about the fabulous open garden day we had, the sun shone and the plants looked great.
We had some lovely comments and compliments - so Chelsea here we come!!
Another month and the the garden will be really full to bursting point. I believe in close planting, gives the weeds less chance to get a grip. Fortunately what some gardeners consider weeds are also dye plants - this allows us to say that the 'weeds' in the garden are of the specially cultivated variety! At the moment I'm trying to re-plant various parts of my garden, putting in more dye plants in sections and mixing others up with the herbaceous perennials to give a mixture of striking colour e.g. Oriental poppy, Astrantia, Aconitum amongst many others. Last month I had to demonstrate how to make up a hanging basket, something I don't often do any more, used to make up lots, so now I'm stuck with it, but I must admit it does look very attractive. Unfortunately dye plants are no good for this job!
Have spent what seems like hours potting on Persicaria, Coreopsis, black pansy, Isatis indigotica, Isatis tinctoria, Rubia tinctoria, Tanecetum vulgare, Galium verum, Echium vulgare. The Woad in my garden has decided to make itself a bed of its own, it looks just like I had planted it special rows - something I've been trying to create for years.
Helen has explained how to put photos on the the blog and true to form I've forgotten, so will get it written down and next time I'll actually have photos of my garden to show you.
Back to work. Plants labels to write.

Enys finally gets a word in edgeways

From Enys
Finally and at last (if of course this works) I've got onto our blog. Now of course I can't think of anything intelligent to write. Helen is working really hard with all the dye plants that we are both growing, how she puts up with my nagging her (to try all the odd plants that I find in some obscure book I've found) I really don't know, but she always indulges me!!
As you can see my Indigofera has been used and I can now see a little bit more out of the kitchen window, the two small ones which I brought in from the greenhouse are much happier and have really begun to shoot.
We still have a mass of Dyer's chamomile to pick once it dries up, and the greenhouse is still has many Persicaria plants seeding nicely for me. I've potted on some Chinese Wood in the greenhouse into bigger pots, I'm leaving some outside - but in case I lose them. The rabbits and pheasants are a real pain, they even ate some newly planted roses that I had carefully grown from cuttings, had to cage them in wire. The rabbits also pruned my Echium vulgare (Vipers bugloss), Dyer's chamomile, and Coreopsis (actually I must admit this did create very bushy plants, so it wasn't all bad). They didn't like the taste of Phytolacca americana, that was probably too foreign for them.
I hope I remember how to get this on the blog.
Enys