Silver, Gold and hanging up the bunting!

escapetotheshedeau

Jun 3

Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold

Maurice Setter

Silver leaves in the garden and the gold of sunflowers in France

Listening to the radio the other day I heard that silver-leaved flowers are very drought resistant. The silver colour acts like sunscreen, meaning they are able to withstand higher temperatures than their green-leaved cousins. The Lambs Ears or 'Stachys byzantina' is also soft to the touch, producing a delicate pink flower at the top of a spike, loved by bees. Here it is paired with a Lychnis that I brought back as seed from our garden in France. We are a little further south than the traditional sunflower growing regions so the odd field of these wonderfully golden flowers is a real treat. The last photo shows how these soft colours merge with one another and also how the Gazebo sits amongst the flora in the garden

So this week end marks the Platinum Jubilee, when Queen Elizabeth II has been on the throne for seventy years. This is a feat unlikely to be surpassed, as she was so young when she came to be queen, at just twenty-five years old. If you ask anyone, whether they are monarchist or not, what they think of her, the words they tend to use are, service, dedication, loyalty and consistency. She has been a guiding hand to many Prime Ministers, met countless foreign heads of state and seen so much change in her lifetime. Whoever succeeds her will, despite her small shoes, have a tough act to follow!

Only party with people who celebrate life!

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I love any excuse for a party, so the Jubilee provides a perfect reason to dig out the bunting and celebrate with our neighbours on Friday. We are all bringing a plate of nibbles, something to drink and wearing something appropriate in red, white or blue. My bunting has rather more colours than that, but it's made out of my husbands shirts so the palette is quite varied!

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