Friday Bliss #45: Visits to our local garden centre

A short drive from where we live is a reservoir and two garden centres set in extensive grounds overlooking the valley.  There's a café in both garden centres so we're drawn there often for a few hours of relaxation without having to go far to find beautiful views and ideas for our garden.

There are many mature trees and areas where plants are growing so one particular garden centre is a favourite as it's more like wandering around a park and you can sit outside at the café and watch the birds feeding from the bird feeders surrounded by beautiful plants.  It also has a loyalty card system so if you go often you can get a little off the price of plants and there's a good stock of unusual plants. At the moment I go and look for bargains in the end-of-season sale section.

Usually there are different varieties of bird. The little sparrows are

just as welcome as the more colourful ones.

I 

I like the way the garden ornaments are displayed alongside pots of plants that would look good together to create a themed area.  The peacock was standing on a display surrounded by bonsai and Japanese garden accessories. 

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Delphinium 'Excalibur Pink and White', 

'Excalibur Dark Blue and White'

I found two delphiniums in the bargain section £2.50 each

and also a yellow hollyhock for the same price.

Yesterday we went back to the garden centre to get a lining for a hanging basket  and there were lots of new plants in stock so we chose a tray of mixed Sweet William. Thinking ahead for next year I chose a packet of oriental poppy seeds 'Lauren's Grape' and an aloe vera.  The aloe vera has seedlings that I can transplant later.

Joining Riitta's Friday Bliss # 45

This and that

Whilst Mr P was away I spent quite a lot of time at our local daughter's home sitting in her garden and enjoying nice meals.  Mr P and grandson have returned from Italy where they had a productive time sorting out the land around the house and doing the usual chores indoors.  They ate well too!  Travelling  proved to be straightforward and I'm thankful that they're now back home and we're all getting back to our normal routine especially as I'm feeling a lot better.  I have a check up appointment at the dental centre today so I'm sure I'll get the all clear, but I'm still waiting for the results of my recent hospital tests.

Meanwhile there was a family gathering on Sunday hosted by our daughter.  It was a cheese and wine party with various salads included followed by cake and strawberries and cream.

A few months ago our son and his family were devastated when the two family pet dogs died within a few weeks of each other.  They had been in the family since our grandson was little, but old by human standards and both had underlying health problems. They've recently collected their new puppy and brought him with them to the family event.  He's an Italian Spinone and has a lovely calm temperament. He spent most of his time lying quietly on the decking after a good explore around the garden. Although he'll grow to be a big dog our daughter-in-law is used to handling and taking the bigger breeds for walks.

What else have I been doing lately? Well, there were the garden plants to look after and water whilst Mr P was away and one day Daughter M took me to the garden centre  where we had a cool drink in the cafe, wandered around the displays of plants and I bought some seeds and also some plants that were in the end-of-season sale section.  More about that another time.

I got an old tin of chalk paint from a shelf in the garage and did a makeover on two occasional tables that I'd bought a few years ago in a second hand centre. The top layer needed replacing as it had got discoloured due to the fact that whoever had done the job before reselling had only used wallpaper and had stuck this on top of the glass top instead of taking the glass out and sticking it underneath it.

original table top

When I removed the glass inlay I found that the original leather covering hadn't been painted properly either.  I had to remove this layer as well and then I painted the wood underneath with the chalk paint before replacing the glass. I also painted the edge of the table top, but left the rest white. I did the same with the smaller occasional table which I've put back in the living room.

This is all for now.  Thank you for your visit to my blog.  Have a good day!

Linda :)