This post is for J - he loves Foxgloves, they are his favourite flower. Lots grow in the garden, none of which we have sown.
Neither of us spotted them arriving with their baggage, but they have put down their roots, firmly planted their feet well and truly under our table, scattered their seeds, and seem intent on staying.
J is very patient with me, he never complains when I say "quick, stop the car here, and let me take a photograph." He happily goes along with suggestions of interesting places to visit. If it was left up to him we probably wouldn't go anywhere, so that is an even more compelling reason to say "thank you J."
Hiding in the foxgloves - a very large May Bug/Cock Chafer (melolontha) - a Scarab Beetle
He was very strong and flipped back onto his front within seconds
On J's birthday I asked a lady to make him a cake, and wondered if it was possible for her to make a realistic clump of sugared foxgloves growing in one corner - cleverly she did.
Other wild things in the garden are lots of these common spotted orchids which must have arrived via the wind and birds from the countryside around us.
They are much more luxuriant than the ones growing in the meadow over the wall from our garden. May be it is J's nourishing compost that they like?
J and I are celebrating a special Wedding Anniversary this weekend so the sugared foxgloves have left their tissue paper to decorate our cake. I made the rich fruit cake quickly before leaving for France and finished it off on my return even though I am still knee deep in holiday washing. From tomorrow all the immediate family are arriving, so please, do forgive me, if I do not have time to comment or visit all your lovely blogs.
Normal service will be resumed soon.
Dearest Rosemary ,
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary to both of you ! It is so lovely to celebrate for these years full of love and happiness !Your flowers are beautiful in your garden !
Deaarest Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you and Mr. H on your wedding anniversary this weekend..
What a beautiful ,handsome couple you were...AND still are, after many years.
How super that your family will be with you.
The cake is so so original... its stunning.
wishing you a wonderful time.
your photos of the foxglove are so lovely.. I grew them about 5 years ago, and somehow never got round to it.. now seeing yours.. they will be hopefully in my garden again ...
special wishes to you both
val xx
Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteJean x
What a beautiful wedding photograph, beautiful cake and beautiful flowers. Enjoy your special day with your family. M x
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary, Congratulations on this special wedding anniversary. I hope you both have a wonderful celebration. Your wedding photo is beautiful, as are the lovely foxglove pictures.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your special wedding Anniversary Rosemary and how nice to celebrate it with the whole family. I wish you all a wonderful time together.
ReplyDeleteYour wedding picture is so beautiful. Two very goodlooking and very happy people I see there. And those costumes for the men. On our wedding all the men were wearing exactly the same and with those hats as well. Loved it! It was a bit of a thing to convince them all that that was what I wanted but they agreed in the end.
A big 'Chapeau' to the lady of the sugarised flowers as well; wow, she is an artist! And you are as well of course for making the fruit cake.
Gorgeous beauties, those Foxgloves that came by wind to settle down in your garden. Maybe the wind will blow them into our direction sometime ;) No Foxgloves here yet.
Marian
Congratulations Rosemary and H, on your special milestone anniversary. Dare I guess, it is No. 40? Foxgloves are beautiful, and, to me, very typically English. The remind me of Beatrix Potter's illustrations. Of course we cannot grow them in our climate, but I have seen them in Tasmania. Your wedding photo is lovely: a happy couple looking forward to your life together. Enjoy your celebration with that gorgeous Cake of Foxgloves!
ReplyDeleteHappy Wedding Anniversary. You both look dashing. I love the flowers you have photographed them well. Enjoy.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a Happy Anniversary! I too love foxgloves and the bees disappearing into the flowerheads are wonderful to watch. Loved your photos.
ReplyDeleteJune
Happy Anniversary! What a lovely wedding photograph! I love foxgloves, too. The sugared ones are amazing.
ReplyDeleteI wish you the happiest anniversary Rosemary!I love foxgloves and these flowers don't exist here, not at all!I can only enjoy them though your amazing photos!
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary - The last photograph is the lovliest; I wish you and H a happy anniversary and many, many more!
ReplyDeleteOh Rosemary, I love foxgloves too. Your flowers and photos are so beautiful. The cake is gorgeous too and I bet delicious. Enjoy the festivities. Greetings to you and H.
ReplyDeleteHappy wedding anniversary, Rosemary and H. I have seen and sighed for so many fascinating photos by you, rosemary, but the last photo is the most impressive. It’s like one scene from a film. The anniversary cake, sugared foxgloves on the sugar frosted fruit cake, is so unique and simply beautiful. Wish you the happiness and warmth of family getting together and prosperous future for all of you.
ReplyDeleteMy eldest 2-and-a-half years granddaughter has been staying with us for a week and I’ve been inactive in commenting. My husband invited her to our home to give her mother with a sister baby a break.
Yoko
Hello Rosemary! I love foxgloves, too! I had never seen them in Italy, so I remember very well seeing them for the first time at a place called "Butcher's Wood" In West Sussex, in a part of the woods where the ground became a massive dip, totally covered in foxgloves and ferns. I can still smell the moss and remember the little water stream. So beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI bought a grapevine, today, and bouganvilleas. Things grow so easili in Italy, you wouldn't believe it!
The cake looks beautiful! When I got married, I designed my cake. The person who made it had to make nearly two hundred roses and buds (in pink) I still have some of the roses, in an airtight tin. I love roses!
you looked beautiful in your wedding gown, and very happy. I get the impression you and your husband are still as happy as you were on that day! Do you actually call him "H"?
Anyway... yes... looks like a very traditional English wedding. I was very happy to be a witness at my nephew's wedding, last month, in the Orthodox Church. Never been to a wedding as beautiful as that. But so long (2 hours!)I thought I was going to die! My poor feet suffered a lot, I must say, but... what a wedding!
Well--- all there is left to say is: FELICE ANNIVERSARIO DI MATRIMONIO! HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY, though... you put Digitalis on your wedding anniversary cake!
HAVE A LOVE TIME!
Happy Anniversary, Rosemary and H! Your wedding photo shows a lovely moment in time, and from this distance seems quintessentially English.
ReplyDeleteFoxgloves grown like weeds here. On Saturday I cut the tops of about a dozen before pulling them out of the beds. I hated to do it, but there are enough others growing around the house to give lots of seedlings for the future. I noticed one lovely pink and yellow mutation while I was working - so pretty. Foxgloves are among my favourites too, and the first flowers I learned to paint.
Congratulations dear Rosemary , H sounds like a wonderful companion, and what a great couple you two are !
ReplyDeleteNothing is more wonderful in a garden than when beautiful plants/flowers just arrive 'by themselves' , and spread and spread ! Wish you a wonderful Anniversary day ! xx
Congratiulations Rosemary. A beautiful cake made by an artist.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful evening.
You're such a handsome couple! Happy Anniversary! A stunning cake! I love foxgloves and I'm so sorry because they're too small to bloom this summer. Next summer I'll have a lot of blooming foxgloves.
ReplyDeleteMany congratulations to you and to your H. He sounds like a super guy and those Foxgloves are so pretty. Enjoy your day. Minerva x
ReplyDeleteA lovely post, Rosemary. Happy Anniversary! The special cake decoration is beautiful and I love the wedding photograph. Gorgeous photos of the orchids and the foxgloves. I find self-sown foxgloves here, too, and I'm delighted.
ReplyDeleteHello Rosemary, Congratulations to both of you on your special anniversary. The cake looks beautiful with it special foxglove addition.
ReplyDeleteAs always, your nature photographs are wonderful, illustrating how the beauty of wildflowers is part of our complex ecosystem.
--Road to Parnassus
As my children used to say "It's so not fair!" Foxgloves for free, with no coddling, planting, begging? As you know that has not been my experience. You really must have an enticing compost :) Rosemary, your pictures are gorgeous, both in colour and composition and that cake is a masterpiece! Happy Anniversary, have a wonderful celebration, your wedding photo is magical (top hat and tails for the men and your wedding dress is perfection.)
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary, How lovely it is that you are sharing your very special day with us. Happy Anniversary to a beautiful bride and groom. As always, your photographs of your lovely flowers lift the spirits. And seeing a picture of you and Mr H on your wedding day was a very special gift. How handsome a couple you make! Wishing you both many more years of health and happiness. ox, Gina
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary and H , Congratulations on your special wedding anniversary, your must have such wonderful memories of your years together and the lovely visits aboard you have taken that you have shared with us. The sugared foxgloves are fantastic as well as your flowers growing in the garden. Have a wonderful weekend of celebrations. It is our anniversary too this weekend so we shall be thinking of you too.
ReplyDeleteSarah x
Congratulations with your wedding anniversary.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
Filip
Congratulations with youre wedding anniversary, enjoy the party.
ReplyDeleteThe foxgloves is one off my favorite flower, they are so nice.
Have a fine weekend with youre family and friends.
Greetings,
Inge, my choice
What a onderful birthday present. And I,too, love foxgloves.Happy birthday, H!
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary Rosemary!
ReplyDeleteI have to add that every woman I know says "If I left it to him we probably wouldn't go anywhere..." The thing is, they seem to enjoy it as much as we do when we get there.
Hello Rosemary
ReplyDeleteYour garden is full of beautiful uninvited flowers. What a joy this is.A very Happy Anniversary and enjoy your visit with your family. Thanks for all the times you have commented on my blog
Helen xx
Dear Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteI send my warmest congratulations to you and H on your anniversary-- how wonderful for you! Your flower photos are, of course, lovely, but nothing can compare with your beautiful wedding picture. What a perfect couple you are! May you have many more years of love, health and great adventures.
Best regards,
Erika
What a gorgeous couple you and H made, dear Rosemary. Wishing you a very happy anniversary and many, many more years of contentment together.
ReplyDeleteH will be pleased to hear that the foxgloves in our French garden are spreading and thriving and bring a wonderful splash of colour.
Hello again, Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteWhat a thoroughly delightful post! Your foxgloves are beautiful and even more so for being "naturally" introduced into the garden. I wish we had some, as well as those sweet spotted orchids. The only time I've seen them en masse was in the meadow at Great Dixter.
I'm in awe of the foxgloves on the cake – how did she do that?
Mostly I'm wishing you a very Happy Anniversary!! Is that you two in the photo? Such a gorgeous, classy, beautiful image.
I hope your celebration with family is just fabulous!
Congratulations to you and your husband, Rosemary. Celebrating with family will make it extra special. Your photographs are stunning, the close ups in particular. Hooray for the fruitcake. Is it still used for weddings. Here they use white cake, a pale imitation of a Victoria Sandwich. Simply does not have the same sense of occasion.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you both and hope you have a great day.
ReplyDeleteThe foxgloves... real and sugar are just superb!
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary and congratulations to you and H :-)What a beautiful couple!
Happiest of anniversaries to you and dear H. I have been away with our Mini Wee's and am catching up. I am glad I did not miss that last image or the foxgloves. My antique booth partner grows foxgloves but one rarely sees them here, Your foxglove images are beautiful. Your photos keep getting better and better. Olive
ReplyDeleteHi Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteWOW! Those foxgloves look really. I hope you had a really great anniversaries and the cake looks amazing. :)
Hello Bea - we gave some cake to our neighbour and then we finished the last two slices today. Hope you are rested and having a relaxed day♥
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI hope your neighbour enjoyed it a lot because it looks really tasty. :P I really love the wedding photo and you both look amazingly beautiful. I like your white foxgloves a lot. Where did you find them?
From: Bea Cupcake
The foxgloves just arrived in the garden we not from where. P enjoyed the cake very much and now it has all gone.
DeleteDear Rosemary,what a beautiful couple you are!!!You're so preety!!
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary and congratulations to you and Mr.H!!!
My best wishes!!
Dimi...