...and so did the butterflies.
I knew it was a Buddleia but didn't know what colour, so pleased to find it's a lovely dark purple. As soon as the flowers were out they were visited by butterflies - and this was only a day or so after commenting on Simon's blog (Careering through Nature) that I'd not seen many in the garden.
Small Tortoiseshell
Red Admiral - this one is on the bag of compost that I'd laid on the veg bed, sunbathing on the warm plastic. Altogether there were 3 flitting about the bush
There were a couple of Peacock butterflies too but they were up so high I couldn't get a photo.
The weather men have been forecasting rain for days but it finally fell yesterday afternoon, came down in torrents just for a few minutes. I'm glad my bungalow is up well above the road level.
There was soon a small river flowing down the hill.
Summer of Sport 2021 Update.... Day 4 of Olympics
Woke
up yesterday morning to hear there had been Silver medal in the women's triathlon (despite a flat tyre) to
match the men's yesterday and a Gold AND Silver in the men's 200m
Freestyle swimming, the race was shown later and they both came from
behind to win......well done them! As some sports aren't being shown on
BBC (lost the rights a few years ago - thanks to Dc at Frugal in Norfolk
for that info) we seem to have seen more Taekwondo and it still looks a
bit vicious to me but there was another Bronze Medal.
The women's team gymnastics came on TV and the electric
went off! When it came back about an hour later I found that they'd won a
Bronze medal - first time a GB woman's team had been on the podium
since 1928 I think they said.............that's quite a while! Also another
medal with the horses in the team dressage. One statistic that was
amazing - a German lady won her 7th ......... 7TH! Olympic Gold medal in their
team dressage.
My neighbour came home to find the electric off and knocked on my door to see if it was just them or a wider area. Luckily I was able to tell her about the UK Power Network Text Messaging service, where I'd already rang and found out that there were 400 homes off. I knew all about power being off and the Text message thing as at Clay Cottage the electric went off at least every few months. Here, if it goes off in winter I'll have no heat - that's when I'll miss the woodburner. I must get my gas camping stove back from BiL who borrowed it for an overnight trip to a stock car meeting. I've still got a wind-up radio and a re-chargeable lamp plus candles and a torch of course.
Going back to BBC losing the rights to show some sports at least they
have Wimbledon for a few more years until 2027 but we won't see the
French Open on terrestrial TV here any more as Eurosport - a 'paid for'
channel now have exclusive rights. And I'm not sure that BBC will show
any of the Olympics live in 2024 as Eurosport seem to have the rights
for that too. It's all about the money.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I ended up watching some of the Olympics yesterday during the day as I was unwell. Taiqwondo doesn't do it for me, I have to say, but the women's gymnastics was good. I enjoyed the little bit of Dressage they showed (literally just a couple of tests) and glad we got a medal. Charlotte's new horse (stable name Pumpkin, bless him) will be amazing at the next Olympics - just lacked the experience in this one. A shame I missed the Mountain Biking as the photo in our paper yesterday made it look pretty thrilling. I didn't know that the Beeb had lost some of the rights to show various sports. Lax of them . . .
ReplyDeleteWe've had some rain, but just showers and nothing as torrential as you had. A PITA about the power. This house has electric and oil (the gas burning CI stove had been condemned) so we'd be in a pickle if we lost power too. Plenty of candles and camping stoves but heating would be a problem. Like you, we would miss our woodburner for heating (ours kept us alive the winter the boiler died and we had to wait from Christmas until April without it as we were on the Warm Front scheme and had to wait until our turn in the queue.)
Just watched Pumpkin win a Bronze!
DeleteAfter watching the clouds all day I sat out in the garden and thought I must give those tubs a water and hey presto it begand to spit with rain, waited a while and then it fell down and filled up my 2 water butts!! garden looks refreshed this morning with more forecast so the picnic tea I am doing for the family this evening will be in the conservatory ( windows open of course).I have a list of jobs for them to do, luckily most of them are indoors so the job list will soon be finished and we can all relax with a glass or two !! Valx
ReplyDeleteWater butts are something I have to organise.
DeleteThe weather warnings for thunderstorms have been completely wrong here this week - just that one big downpour and a couple of showers and one clap of thunder - underwhelming!
I love Buddleia mine is a pale one but my neighbor has planted the dark one on his fence purposely so I can see it as well - so kind, he came here the sane time as me but sadly his wife died a few weeks after they moved in and because he only had grass at the beginning he has now got a lovely garden so I am lucky to enjoy it has well.
ReplyDeleteYes we had the rain but not before I had done some gardening before the bin men came.
I hope to go to our Knit and Natter this morning my first one for 18months.
Hazel 🌈🌈
I think there's been Buddleias in most of the gardens we've had over the years. I think I need to hard prune the one here so it's not so tall
DeleteI just wish buddleia were not so invasive! Mine is pale lilac, my neighbours have white, deep burgundy, and a deeper lilac one. So pretty.
ReplyDeleteSkimming over your sports news in order to avoid berlimin spoilers!!!
Sorry about the sport spoilers!
DeleteWe had a pop-pom one at the smallholding for a while but it was short-lived
I had a buddleia last year, a deep purple one. The flowers were lovely, but the bush got so leggy and really tall and the flowers were just at the top! And it all got blown over when we had storms. I got rid of it after that.
ReplyDeleteYes it's easy for them to get leggy, I need to hard prune this one next spring as it's already too tall
DeleteAs a Eurosport receiver I always watch it anyway. It is vastly superior to the glossy BBC presenters and gushing and weeping family images that the Beeb love so much back home and this sort of thing is not part of the Europort ethos. I happened to see the BBC trying to get some weeping out of the Mountain Bike winner's parents the other day and putting words into their mouths. The parents were beautifully laid back in all their answers and looked liked all they wanted was to be left alone.
ReplyDeleteThe number of questions they ask the competiters after they've finished drives me mad!
DeleteThink I may have to pay extra if the Beeb keep losing their rights
I suppose my Eurosport comes as part of my Sky package because I have never paid a separate subscription for it. I just tune into the Olympic highlights everynight after Pointless and let Eurosports do the rest. It doesn't seem half so OTT as the BBC coverage. I'm not bothered by the adverts, I just mute them if I want to or go and make a cup of tea.
DeleteI confess I have a Eurosport subscription. Their coverage is very good and much of it is without ads. So far I haven't paid the full amount. If you're lucky you can pick it up for £20 for the year. For us it's very good value compared to the BBC licence fee. Pretty much all I watch on BBC now is Wimbledon and that's a chore as they still insist on using Andrew Castle 🙄.
ReplyDeleteIf you enjoy watching cycling then Eurosport is well worth it.
I think a Eurosport subscription will be something I'll need if all the tennis disappears from the BBC
DeleteIf you want to attract Butterflies in a garden plant Buddleia and Sedums. Buddleia are also easy to propagate from cuttings. Super photos.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I've added is a Sedum as there were none here - might add more later to replace some other things I don't like much
DeleteAt dusk we also get bats harvesting the insects above the buddleia.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen any bats here yet. Maybe the back garden is too enclosed with other houses and big trees in other gardens. Or maybe all the bats are in the church belfry over the road!
DeleteYour Buddleia is so beautiful - what a lovely dark purple! Glad the butterflies like it - an added bonus for sure! You are good at knowing what to put in your garden. I have never learned that!
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to replace some things I dont like with others that flower for longer or are better for bees and butterflies
DeleteSuch a lovely deep purple! There's a large buddleia in our yard of a lighter color; it always looks impressive until midway through its 1st bloom cycle, then leaves begin to droop and wither in spite of regular watering. Not sure what I'm doing wrong... or it may just be too hot?
ReplyDeleteIt's even darker in real life.
DeleteOver here they grow well anywhere so not sure about too much heat or water
I had a buddelia bush some years ago. I now have a lilac bush as buddelia bush needed to be gone due it dying. I enjoy seeing swallowtail butterflies that we have in Oregon. Few this year. I like the butterflies you showed. I have plants that are good for them and have a nice white moth...cabbage moth that likes flowers. I watched it sit on a flower pot while I was watering plants. We still need rain as it's still dry and some fires. Thankfully its not bad as it was in Sept 2020 with smoke clouds but can still smell it. Hope you get electricity back on soon. Have a good day!
ReplyDeleteThe electric was only off for a couple of hours.
DeleteHope you get much needed rain to put out those fires - very frightening
In the past I have had Buddleja Buzz plants. They still self seeded everywhere but they are tiny versions so much easier to manage. Still with a lovely scent as I remember, and the butterflies adored them.
ReplyDeleteI am sure I read somewhere that purple flowers attract butterflies more easily. That is the first Red Admiral I have see this year.
ReplyDeleteYour deep purple Buddleia bush is beautiful. In the US, we also call these butterfly bushes. I had Buddleia and Sedum in my garden. Unfortunately, the ever expanding deep population ate both. Today, I am limited to growing only what the deer do not eat.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful colour for your Buddleia bush. Love it.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
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