Simply..the longest day....

21/6/2018

The morning of the longest day finds me on my hands and knees in the back garden sniffing the exquisite scent of a newly discovered orchid!

I'm pretty certain it is platanthera bifolia or the lesser butterfly orchid. Who knows how long it has been there waiting for it's chance to flower? I leave different patches of grass to grow each year just to see what comes up.

Everyone loves the mini-meadow in the front garden and a lot of visitors say they will try leaving a patch of lawn to grow in their own garden - even a metre square as an experiment might be fun to do.

If your soil is rich you may just get the coarser grasses but if you rake off the cuttings thoroughly each year you will gradually reduce the fertility and then are more likely to get the kind of flowery meadow we all dream of!

Little midsummer posy for the breakfast table

We're having a family party on Sunday.

Do you celebrate midsummer where you are?

My most memorable midsummer was in Sweden where they really know how to celebrate it!

12 Comments

Susan

21/6/2018 10:43:53 pm

I do like that you make your breakfast, a small but special occasion.
And that you eat it outside when you can.

Freda

22/6/2018 12:46:35 am

It's such a simple pleasure and so easy really!

Mary

22/6/2018 03:11:16 am

Brilliant breakfast.

Our first day of summer was very warm, humid and mostly cloudy. But considering that unbearable heat and humidity generally defines summers where I live, not surprising. Sadly, I have no desire to be outside and I am eternally grateful for air conditioning. As a result of its swampy nature here, summer is my least favorite season so I really don't celebrate it. Sounds pathetic, eh? :(

Freda

22/6/2018 03:21:19 am

No, sounds very rational and sane to me! And I;m sure you celebrate having air conditioning (and can still have a lovely breakfast..) Of course you could always have a midsummer holiday in Sweden - highly recommended!.

Julia

22/6/2018 03:22:14 am

You are reminding me that we may have missed the annual lady slipper orchids in bloom about an hour from here, is a remote fen! There are over 16,000 of them..and we just completely forgot! No mid-summer celebrations honored here in canada or the usa..but we do have our two countrys’ birthday celebrations around this time. Canada day is july 1 and usa, july 4th. It’s been cool here and we’ve been bundled up in polar fleece on the dock in the morning and still at noon on the deck.

Julia

22/6/2018 03:28:14 am

And meant to add, thank you! I did not know that we needed a less rich soil for wild flowers..now i feel a lot less guilty for our latest hacking back of the growth in the forest! There were certainly no wild flowers..way too many shade plants...

Susan

23/6/2018 02:13:46 am

Hi Julia, The plant 'yellow rattle' is good for weakening grass (it is parasitic on the roots) and enabling wildflower meadows (so says BBC Gardeners' World).

Freda

22/6/2018 03:31:26 am

In Sweden I took the traditional dip in a very cold Lake on Midsommar Dag! Brrrr...Those orchids must be a fantastic sight.

Viv link

22/6/2018 09:52:53 am

We leave a patch of grass on our lawn each year after the crocus die back, usually for about 6 weeks during which time a very 'helpful' neighbour keeps passing and saying " you want to get your long grass cut" - it seems to annoy him so much that we leave it long - he thinks we have missed a bit! I always feel like saying well actually we don't - if we didn't cut it back after the 6 weeks I think he would drive me mad all summer - but I do like the idea of a small flower meadow, I remember seeing yours and thinking how wonderful to have a tiny meadow in the lawn and now with orchid.

Freda

22/6/2018 02:18:35 pm

You must convert him Viv! (I can't see where to comment on your new blog....)

Susan

23/6/2018 02:10:24 am

I think you should do what you want with your garden, Viv.
And just give your neighbour a salute with a smile, when he offers his instructions.

Mary B

23/6/2018 05:08:57 am

We celebrated midsummer in Denmark for 7 years, beach bonfires , barbecues and cold Tuborg. Fun ! Sadly life changed but I still have lots of treasured memories. Breakfast this morning was identical to your photo!

Simply..the longest day....

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