Author: susurrus

Please visit my blog, where I celebrate gardening, nature, photos and creativity. As you'll quickly discover, I love most flowers. I'm here to have a little fun with other bloggers, finding new insights at every step of the way. I enjoy all forms of photography, from macro to more impressionistic shots, so often visit photography blogs to see what other people are sharing. I write about my other interests too including marketing, design, travel and writing - and, rather to my surprise - about the odd issue affecting us all that I just can't resist commenting on. The website link will take you to my home page, but please click on 'Blog' to see what I'm really up to!
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Cheeky Roadside Memorabilia (With A Coulrophobia Warning)

Retro advertising signs and characters

I’m sharing these pictures, taken in the backyard at Austin’s Roadhouse Relics, for the weekly photo challenge, cheeky. I recommend you take a look at the other submissions, if only to see Michelle’s cheeky parrot, shared for our inspiration.

The figures along the roof are the cheeky bit in this picture, although the picture is doubling as a delaying tactic as I know there are increasing amounts of people with a fear of clowns.

I assume quite a few of these are not familiar with the term coulrophobia, which makes me wonder why we give such strange terms to fears. Believe me, if you have a phobia, you want a good clear warning. Obfustication is the last thing you need with danger approaching (that word must have more than a hint of irony in it, surely?).

But, to back to my ~~~warning~~~ if you share this fear, please look no further.  Continue reading “Cheeky Roadside Memorabilia (With A Coulrophobia Warning)”

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Food For Dreams: Reclaimed Terracotta Pots

An assortment of recycled plant pots

If you live in one of the places where trees and most plants are shutting up shop for the winter, and your gardening thoughts have turned to plant catalogues, here’s food for dreams.

An interior designer might see these reclaimed pots from Yew Tree Barn as the perfect accessories for a cottage-style home, but when a gardener looks at them, they see a range of plant possibilities. It all depends on your personal plant fascinations: you might plant fancy auriculas or culinary herbs in the medium sized pots and mother-in-laws-tongue, Christmas cactus or cyclamen in the larger ones.

Those tiny clay pots with saucers intrigue me. Too small for most plants, they would dry out so quickly to need assiduous watering for anything other than miniature succulents. I’m not sure I’d want to trust seedlings to them, but wouldn’t they look cute with green, variegated and silver thyme spilling out, artfully staged for one of those impractical but bewitching Instagram shots?  Continue reading “Food For Dreams: Reclaimed Terracotta Pots”

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Serene: Path Framed By Rambling Roses

Rambling roses trained against pillars

My idea of serene… Rosa ‘Phyllis Bide’ grows on a simple framework of pillars and crossbeams on both sides of a path to The Gallery tea room at David Austin Roses in Wolverhampton, England. It’s just one of many climbers and ramblers showcased along the pathway, but I always used to take a moment to linger beside this pretty rambling rose, and I’m sure you can see why.  Continue reading “Serene: Path Framed By Rambling Roses”

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Transformation From Rosebud to Bloom (Plus Photobombing Gnome)

A rose in different stages with a gnome

A gnome has photobombed my picture that was supposed to show the transformation of a rose from bud to bloom.

Before the gnome arrived, the roses looked underwhelming, despite my best efforts. The shrub is shapely, and covered in a mass of blooms, but each rose is a dainty size, even when fully open.   Continue reading “Transformation From Rosebud to Bloom (Plus Photobombing Gnome)”

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Air Potato Vine Leaves

Green leaves against a blue sky

The air potato vine (Dioscorea bulbifera) is a vigorous plant that can be hard to shift from the garden once it takes over. While it may become a menace, the veined, heart shaped leaves are very decorative backlit against a blue sky. This plant was tumbling over a bottle tree in Jackson, Mississippi.