A mystery revealed.

A deep red Penstemon, I love it.

Although our garden is less than four years old it still manages to deliver surprises to us. Plants appear that we know nothing about, where they came form how they got there and what might it be. Last autumn a new bed was created to make room for divisions coming from a local friendly plant nursery. We had placed our order and knew what was coming, Delphiniums, Bergamot( two different colours) Phlox, deep purple double blossomed Aquilegia and Rudbeckia.  Apart from bulbs and Dianthus cuttings nothing else was planted. Several weeks ago we noticed three clumps of something appearing, the leaves were not particularly attractive but as we didn't recognise them we let them be, to see what they turned into. They grew, and grew, they are about three foot high now,

I love this woven basket effect.

then large brown woven balls started appearing, about two inches across, we were still none the wiser.

Then one day last week a tuft of yellow appeared from the tops of the woven balls,

two days later and all was revealed.

Nearly three inches across, if it stops raining the butterflies will love it.

Yellow Knapweed, Centaurea macrocephala. We think they are stunning, the flower pods before the revelation are fascinating, and the flowers are a true lemon yellow, bees and butterflies love them. They are a welcome addition to the garden, but we still do not know where they came from! We have been assured by the nursery owner that they were not from her, but we wonder, as another friend also has them and he swears that his came from this nursery. I guess we will never be sure, but they are a keeper as far as we are concerned. I love things that just seem to turn up in a garden, especially if it's something we are not familiar with.
We also love spotting wild plants,

Agrimoney, once so common.

at one time Agrimony would have been a common sight in the country side, we spotted these growing along a verge a few days ago, we have never seen them in Ireland before, although they should be common,

Scarlet Pimpernel, such a pretty little plant.

another what used to be common plant is Scarlet Pimpernel, again, something we seldom have seen here. Too much scorched earth, it's killing all the common wild flowers, people use Glyphosate like Henry Cooper used to use 'Brut' the man's 'after shave', splash it all over, never mind the biodiversity. Now if you want wild flowers you have to buy a packet of wild flower mix and plant your own patch, yet things that should be controlled if not eradicated are left, things like Japanese knot weed which are taking over vast areas of the country side, Gunnera, which is a real menace in Connemara

Giant Hog Weed, something you don't want to touch.

and Giant Hog weed which we also spotted along the road side.

It promises to be a good broad bean harvest.

The broad beans are coming fast now, this week they will have to be harvested and frozen.

Quite a weight range, I wonder how supermarkets manage to have theirs all the same weight?

 The table birds are now all in the freezer, there was quite a difference in weight, ranging from 2.02 to 3.16kg, the larger ones have all been portioned for midweek meals, the smaller ones we have left whole for our Sunday roasts, and we have sold two, in fact we could have sold the whole lot, but the aim is to provide our own food. We might however do extra next year for people who want  genuine Organic free range chicken and not the things that purport to be, that are sold in supermarkets.

All legs and neck, but so cute.

The Llamas that we saw earlier in the year are now starting to give birth, this little one is just a day old, so cute, all legs, but grazing already.

Penstemon