Long, lazy warm summer days

This years large poppies are soo beautiful I have never seen such large and beautiful poppies such as these I have planted in my garden...I never thought that they would grow to something like this...I cant for the life of me think where I bought this plant but I think it is a wonderful addition to my cottage garden..! Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. William Shakespeare

Oh how lovely are the English country gardens!

How beautiful english country gardens are just look at all the gorgeous array of cottage garden flowers there are to create a wonderful canvas of natural beauty and colour. The photo above was taken at the wonderful English garden that is in my neck 'o' the woods called "Snowshill Manor Gardens." of course this is only part of the garden and there is much more to see and take in. The surrounding countryside is really also something that one should not miss if you should happen to be visiting The Cotswolds....

As the song goes...

English Country Garden

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know,
Those we miss you’ll surely pardon.
Daffodils, Heart’s Ease and Flox,
Meadowsweet and Lady Smocks,
Gentain, Lupine and tall Hollihocks.

Roses, Foxgloves,Snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots,
In an English country garden.

How many insects come here and go
In an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know,
Those we miss you’ll surely pardon.
Fireflies, Moths, Gnats and Bees,
Spiders climbing in the trees,
Butterflies drift in the gentle breeze,
There are snakes, Ants that sting
And other creepy things,
In an English country garden.

How many songbirds fly to and fro
In an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know,
Those we miss you’ll surely pardon.
Bobolink, Cuckoo and Quail,
Tanager and Cardinal,
Bluebird, Lark, Thrush and Nightingale,
There is joy in the spring
When the birds begin to sing,
In an English country garden.

How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?
We’ll tell you now of some that we know,
Those we miss you’ll surely pardon.
Daffodils, Heart’s Ease and Flox,
Meadowsweet and Lady Smocks,
Gentain, Lupine and tall Hollihocks.
Roses, Foxgloves,Snowdrops, blue forget-me-nots,
In an English country garden.