FLOWER FRIDAY - CARNATION MONTOYA

I wasn’t up quite so early this morning - in fact, had a lie-in until 5.57!  I decided to go out for a quick walk, even though I could see it was drizzling, before coming back to make Mr. HCB’s sandwiches for his trip to Bristol to watch cricket today.  However, the weather here is not that good at the moment, with quite heavy rain, so I’m hoping that 30 miles down the motorway it will be brighter for him and his cricket buddy, Keith.  

Rather than taking shots of other people’s flowers in their gardens on my walk, I had already thought last night that I would ask Mr. HCB if I could use one of his new perpetual carnations to use for today’s Flower Friday challenge.  He was happy for me to cut one, so this is Carnation “Montoya”.  This is the first one of his new ones to bloom and it is, as it says in the Woolmans catalogue, “a large blousy bloom”.  

I know I have mentioned before that Mr. HCB’s father would be proud of him, as he too, used to grow carnations, but I’m proud of him too.  He is out in the garden in all winds and weathers - not when it’s raining too hard, but he is definitely not a “fair weather” gardener and I know how much he enjoys it.  

We have been delighted this year because having let the grass grow instead of cutting it  every week, we have been rewarded with seeing so many more pollinators.  We have decided that in the autumn we are going to prepare the ground, after the grass has been mown in a few weeks’ time, and will plant wild flower seeds that are good for clay soil.  I have put in an extra to show a white-tailed bumble bee, taken a couple of evenings ago, showing how much pollen it has collected from our hollyhocks, which have been wonderful again this year.

Have a happy Friday and a good weekend, whatever the weather. 

“Where there are bees there are flowers, 
     and wherever there are flowers 
          there is new life and hope.” 
Christy Lefteri : The Beekeeper of Aleppo