Hello Friends and happy Tuesday!
Today’s post is one to share with Elizabeth and Bleubeard and the T Gang over on Altered Book Lover’s site as it is Tuesday and due to illness, I feel like I missed quite a lot of August, but in reality probably not as much as it seems. As the weather has been so unusually pleasant, I have been able to sit out in the garden and enjoy the plants that are normally being battered by wind and rain around this time but instead this year are all flourishing. So I thought I would share some photos of the garden…
The apple trees are managing to hold on to their apples so I am hoping for a good harvest. This particular apple tree is an Egremont Russet, my favourite apple. They are considered to be a type of dessert apple. They have a rich, nutty flavour and crisp, firm and fairly juicy flesh. They are a Victorian apple, first recorded in 1872, and is believed to have been originally raised by the Earl of Egremont at Petworth in Sussex, UK.They are smallish brown/green apples with russeting (the brown parts) on the skin. They can be hard to find in supermarkets and usually appear in the shops after Halloween. My mum always referred to them as Halloween apples. They tend to be grown in the South of England, and don’t like the cold, but mine are doing OK here in the usually frozen north lol.
My plum tree was quite badly damaged in some stormy weather last year but even with the damage it has produced a nice crop of plums this year! This is a Victoria Plum tree; I had ordered a Japanese Plum tree but they were out of stock and substituted a Victoria Plum, I wasn’t so sure about it at first but it produces a reliable crop of excellent plums. Usually by this time of the year though, most of the plums have ended up on the ground and been eaten by snails but since we’ve had such nice weather, these plums have managed to stay on the tree and are just about ready for picking.
Next to the apple trees, I have a Rosa Rugosa, also known as a beach rose, which is native to China and other parts of Asia. It is a little bit of an invasive plant but it has beautiful pink, scented flowers and now it has these enormous rosehips, that are about one inch in diameter. I am planning to collect them when I feel up to it and maybe make some rosehip syrup with them. Like everything else this year, it has grown very well because of the good weather, so I will have to give it a bit of a pruning when I feel a little better.
The rest of the photos are of the butterflies on the buddleia (butterfly bush), again this poor tree is usually battered by wind and rain at this time and I never get to see butterflies enjoying it so much as they are now. There were countless numbers of multiple species on this tree, it’s unfortunate that my camera couldn’t capture them all. I tried to take photos showing multiple butterflies but although they were plain to see with the naked eye, they just didn’t show up on the photos. There was a really big Peacock butterfly that I was following around as it flitted from flower to flower but it wouldn’t settle long enough for me to capture its photo, so what I ended up with was a lot of Red Admiral photos as they were in abundance and seemed to stay put for longer.
Red Admirals like the one below were in plenty, along with Peacock butterflies, small Tortoiseshell, and Cabbage Whites.
Even with tattered wings this poor thing was still able to fly about and enjoy the buddleia.
And since it’s Tuesday, I have some tea to share, and a little chocolate…
These were from Christmas, I received them all as gifts and put them away after Christmas and forgot about them! It was a nice discovery, all this lovely tea and a big chocolate letter E. I really like the box in the middle, the one with the birds on it, and I might have to do something with it, maybe add it to a journal page or something. But first I will have to drink all the tea!
Hope you enjoyed the photos from the garden, let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading!
Ingredients–
Challenges
T Stands For Tuesday – T stands for apples, plums, rosehips, butterflies and tea 
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A great garden post, Elle! I don’t kow what variety our apple tree is. Your plums look amazing. We bought a plum tree this year and it’s not looking too healthy – I think it’s holding its own, and we’ll have to see how it goes next year. My parents used to have a plum tree and supplied us with many pounds of plums for our freezer! I adore them. We also have rhubarb which has done pretty well this year (new plants last year). One of my favourite combos is rhubarb and strawberry. I’ve got a very nice crumble recipe for that.
Shoshi x
Love the plums. I remember plum picking as a child, nothing better! Our apple tree is in a big pot. It used to have three types of apples on it but only one survives now. They are small but nice and sweet. :Love the little yellow bookworm reading critter you have by your books. Sorry so late. But I guess it’s better than not turning up at all! Happy T day…on a thursday! ((Lyn))
Your garden is so beautiful. How nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the beauty. The butterflies are amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many different types. That chocolate E would never have survived past New Year if it was at my house! Happy T Day
Beautiful pictures! The beach rose plant that I remember from NY had tons of tiny thorns and was very invasive too. Your fruit trees, butterflies and teas are all a visual delight. Enjoy!
What a great selection of fruit in your yard! Yum!
The tea sounds delicious and I bet would be perfect with the chocolate.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate
I think it’s fun to find those gifts again, you probably already had forgotten about them. I enjoyed your photos from the garden, it seems that you’re having a good harvest this year.
Happy T day!
Wow, your fruit trees look amazing with all that fruit! So lovely when it’s homegrown ?. Those butterflies look so pretty, we haven’t seen as many here this year so I was delighted to see all those visiting your garden. I’d love to try that tea too, I bet it’s delicious – Happy T Day wishes! Hugs Jo x
Wow these are amazing photos. I love seeing the rose hip and the butterflies. The teas are wonderful. Have a great day.
beautiful garden photos!!! Love the butterflies. Sorry to hear you haven’t been well. I hope you’re feeling much better now. Happy T day!
Hi, me again,
I forgot to comment on those gorgeous butterflies. I think you did really well, as butterflies are notoriously difficult to photograph.