Hexenhäusli Device Garden Update : August

 Here's a quick update from the gardens of Hexenhäusli Device.  There's not a lot to see at the mo, but there are one or two feature plants still going through the drought.

 

Eucomis comosa "Sparkling Burgundy" on 7th & 23rd August

 

 

Allotment and garden foxgloves still doing their thing on 20th & 22nd

Eclipsing the Foo-Foo Valve

 It was a bit of a damp squib here on the eastiest part of the country (I'm sure Ms Scarlet had a much better view over there in the west), but here are some photos of yesterday evening's partial eclipse which followed me & Bitey on our walk and spent some time sniffing around his foo-foo valve* 

 

As we walked up Madams Lane, the eclipse made it's way across the field parallel to us.  The landowner has put up 'Private Land - No public right of way' signs, but they obviously don't apply to celestial phenomena.

 

 

At the base of Skylark Hill the eclipse, having made its way over the trees, descends towards Bitey.

This is an INFOMANIAC Garden Photos Event Reminder

 It may still be months away but, if you haven't already made a start, now is the time to start taking photos of the plants in your garden, courtyard, balcony, windowsill (or other green and pleasant area) for this year's

 

I N F O M A N I A C

Garden Photos Event

☙❧

 

 As always, the Event will begin on Hallowe'en with the Terrifying Triffids exhibit obstacle course, then the next day will be the official opening ceremony along with the Great Triffid Survivor Count (hopefully most of you will make it through if not in one piece, then at least alive).  Your garden photos will then feature every two or three days throughout November culminating in the Grand Finale.

 

 The Garden Photos Event is open to all - you don't need to be an Infomaniac Bitch or member of the Bloggerati to take part.  You don't even need a blog.  Or a garden - a couple of house plants will do (and at a push, a can of cranberry jelly...)!  We would love to see gardens and greenery from regular and irregular commenters & visitors, friends of friends, and any lurkers, as well as the aforementioned Bloggerati and Infomaniac Bitches.  You can find out more, including links to previous events, on my GPE page. 

 

 And remember, despite what certain people may say - I'm looking at you, Savvy! - the Infomaniac Garden Photos Event is NOT a contest! 

 

☙❧

 

 Speaking of contests - not that this is one, mind - here are some more of the first flowers at Hexenhäusli Device.  But no bumblebee - I haven't seen her since the last First Flowers post, sadly.

 

27th May : Iris siberica, possibly?

 

 

28th May : They're growing!  They're actually growing!!!

White and black bat flower stumps (Tacca integrifolia and Tacca chantrieri respectively)

It's all a bit pants, really

The Grand and Circular Payshos of Hexenhäusli Device on Friday.  But wait - what's that on the table?

 

 

 It must be the time of year, Mitzi.  Not only did I find my nephew's pants on the paysho table on Friday, but on this morning's walk with Bitey another two pairs of pants made themselves known:

 

This pair on the High Street looked like they belonged to another child.

 

Whereas this pair dropped on the old railway line between Cromer and Overstrand were adult sized.  Overstrand is obviously up there with Chester, Jon.

 

 

 In other news: Bitey managed a whole walk without killing anything.  Although he did find this dead muntjac on the beach - handily already half buried!

 

CARNAGE... THE HORROR III: DEATHMONGER

 Emboldened by snuffing the life out of Raspberry the rat, Bitey has embarked on a killing spree.  First, that unfortunate sea gull last week.  Then yesterday evening a peasant* pheasant!

 

* Well, peasants aren't really people, are they.  There are always more where they came from, anyway.

(Good old YT captions!)

 

 

Original concept by Mistress Maddie. 

Sounds of the Sea (and Swearing)

 

 "Please make more audios of the sea!!!" Ms Scarlet instructed in no uncertain terms.

 Your wish is my command! (I'm sorry about the birdsong.  I know you didn't request it, so I hope it doesn't detract from the sounds of the waves lapping gently at the shore.)

 

7:37 am, Overstrand beach.  Yes, that's Bitey having a paddle.

More First Flowers but the same Twatted Bee

My recent bearded iris purchase, "Black Tie Affair", put forth its first bloom on Wednesday.

 Every day this past week I've been going up to the allotment with Bitey.  Not to do any allotmenteering, but to check when the first foxglove flowered.  Tuesday was First Flowering Day, but not from the foxglove I thought it was going to be.  Before I get to that, here's a video from Wednesday's wander up there: 

 

This barn owl treated me to a flyby at about five-to-eight.  Bitey didn't seem interested, but I was thrilled to see it - and have time to whip my phone out and take this video!

CARNAGE... THE HORROR II

A sequel

 

The Garden Murderer has struck again.  This time on the beach!

 

 The morning started with a walk along the beach to Cromer with a couple of friends and their dogs, a black lab and a dobermann.  While the two other dogs were chasing a ball, Bitey veered off into the breaking waves where he somehow managed to bring down a MASSIVE sea gull that was taking off!

 He immediately ran off with it leading us on a merry chase.  It took the three of us to corner him so I could grab him and wrest the dying bird from his jaws of death.  Although there was no blood, the scene was harrowing.

 

 The murderer is currently stretched out on my bed probably dreaming of his prowess.

 

 The little git.

Of First Flowers and Twatted Bees

 Around midday on Saturday, I was happily perched in a paysho chair surveying the garden when movement from the lawn got my undivided attention.  It was Bitey, obviously.  But rather than digging a hole, or having a mad turn, he was industrially twatting something in the grass.  I leapt up and rushed over. 

 A bee!  Bitey was twatting a bumblebee!  I scooped it up and returned to my chair.  Fortunately, it didn't seem injured although one of it's wings was sticking out a little.  Still, it crawled around and buzzed a few times, so I got up and encouraged it to disembark my thumb onto one of the Echiums where it guzzled down nectar like nobody's business!

 

Anyway, back to me

 Yes, it's back to the normal content and sporadic posting now that I've finished my self-inflicted stand-in daily blogging for Jon (who should be back off his sunny, Spanish holiday today).  I didn't have plans to post anything this soon, but an impromptu walk with Bitey yesterday evening left me with a load of photos to do something with (and a couple from the prom this morning, above), so here they are.

 

 On the right, my bearded irises are about to burst into flower.  Below, a tantalising glimpse of cherries to come up at the allotment.  They will all be devoured by Beaky and his gluttonous family before I get a look in, of course.

Of Tiny Treehouses, Triffid Trees, Sparkling Seas, Bluebells & Biteys, and a German vs Sun Loungers

It's another snippets post, dear reader (but this one's almost all about me!):

• 
  At the end of April, I finally got around to making this Forest Cottage, a Tiny Treehouse kit that Inexcuseable got me for my birthday.  It was one of the more fiddly kits and took me several hours - on and off - to complete.  Well, I say complete, I have one piece left over - I just hope it isn't structural!

• 
  This is my favourite tree in Norwich - or at least the bits of Norwich I walk through on my way to work.  However, I don't know what type of tree it is, so perhaps one of you, dear readers, can enlighten me?

• 
  My giant vipers buglosses (Echiums) started to flower on the last day of April - you should be able to make out a couple of the pale purple/blue flower buds in the close-up.  There are loads of flowers on them now - I'll be posting more photos soon.

• 
  Saturday morning's walk with Bitey found us walking along the promenade and over the base of the cliff (because the tide was right in) to the east beach.  Or the narrow strip between the revetments and cliffs.  I tried to get Bitey to strike some poses on the steps over the revetment, and eventually (after looking at me like I was losing my mind), he managed one. 

• 
  Bluebells blooming in The Gardener's Retreat behind the garage.

• 
  Oh, Bitey. What have you got?

Don't worry, this is not Raspberry.  It is Raspberry's 'friend' though.  He died quickly.

 

• And finally: Although Mr Mago is currently on holiday, I don't think this German tourist is him.  He doesn't strike me as one for sun loungers, anyway.

 

 And the weather?  Blue skies abound!  For now, anyway...

"Did Someone Say ----?"* : The Sequel!**

The aftermath of an orgy in the pond Lake.  Disgraceful!

 

 

* Answers in the comments, please.

** To this post from a year ago.

 

 Hello!  Here I am!  I don't have much to say, so I will just bombard you with gardening-related photos (mostly) which may also serve as a prompt to start photographing your own gardens and/or green patches for the 16th annual Lady Garden Presentation

 

I N F O M A N I A C

Garden Photos Event

later in the year.

 

 But first some music to accompany your scrolling, from the Project Hail Mary soundtrack, Daniel Pemberton's "Amaze Amaze Amaze (Life on Erid)": 

(I loved my birthday viewing of this film - and the soundtrack - so much that I went to see it again on Tuesday afternoon!  The similar, but not quite as euphoric "Amaze Amaze Amaze (Fist My Bump)" almost made the cut here.)

 

MARCH

The 15th to be precise...

 

The Echiums (pininana, I believe - AKA Giant Viper's Bugloss) made it through the winter.  Phew!

Adventures in Allotmenteering: The Grand Map & Plan of Allotment Device*

 After some very light haranguing, may we present The Grand Map & Plan of Allotment Device!

 Above, at last, is the layout of Allotment Device.  It is too long to fit on one page... 

 I spent a good half an hour yesterday striding up and down, back and forth measuring my allotment in steps (because it was easier than fannying around with a tape measure), sketching and jotting as I went.  Which is why it is rather rough (instead of grand) and somewhat illegible (I added the black biro labelling today - I hope you can read it).

 

 Anyway, one enters the allotment from the south (lower left corner)...

 

... and is accosted by the staging area/dumping ground and Leaning Shed.

(It's easy to miss the three thornless blackberries and the greengage tree in the far right corner.)

[Photo from 21 03 2026]

Wot I Did On My Birthday, by IDV (aged 44 & fourteen halfs*)

 Well, yes, I did go for a walk as the photos above attest, but the evening before, I actually went out.  With actual people (four friends).  To a bar (for cocktails)!  Yes, I know.

 

 Anyway, we went to Shoreline in Cromer because I didn't fancy spending all night standing in a noisy, packed pub getting hot and bothered (and not in a good way) and not hearing what anyone was saying.  I had three cocktails - a Cromer colada (basically a piña colada with apricot rum or schnapps or something), a Garden sour (a Spring special made with rhubarb gin, lemon juice and syrup), and an Ameretto sour - and didn't have to open my purse once because my lovely, generous friends bought them!

 Shoreline doesn't seem to have a website but they are on IG and FB (I'm not linking to them as I don't approve of the whole Meta thing, but if you're curious you can find them under shorelinecromer).

 

I neglected to take photos of the place or the cocktails, so I nabbed these from the web.  It was not raining or wet when we went.

  Right.  That's Saturday night out of the way.  Here are the rest of the photos from Sunday morning's birthday walk with Bitey. 

Of sunshine and hideous, snap-jawed sea creatures

 We've actually had rather a nice weekend, weatherwise: sunshine, balmy temperatures when the wind wasn't blowing, and when it was, it was coming form the south which meant that at least it wasn't frigid as per.

 As well as spending time up the allotment and in the garden, I also took Bitey down to the beach for his now traditional Sunday morning walk (we meet up with one of my friends who has a black lab who Bitey is always very excited to see, and vice versa).

 

 Anyway, here are some photos from that very walk: 

 

 

"Surprise!"

 In the absence of anything with any substance - an impromptu adventure over the Cusp, for example - may I present another excerpt from 2017's Ms Scarlet in the Pantry with the Can-Opener, the unofficial and unauthorised biography of our very own Ms Scarlet!

 

 

 Today we'll be looking at chapter 4, "A Day Without Rain":

 

Vos Grace*

 It's been a lovely sunny - if a bit cold - day here, so this morning I took Bitey down to the beach for a walk.  We came down the cliff just before the east slope and slipway and made our way west. 

 (That's Trimingham sticking out into the sea on the horizon in the photo above; and the view north-northwest from halfway down the cliff, below.)

 

Adventures* in Allotmenteering

 * Adventures are not guaranteed.

Particularly at this time of year when growing has barely begun.

 

Here we have Allotment HQ seen through the bare branches of a Bramley apple tree.

On Sunday I spent over an hour manoeuvring between my shed HQ and next door's, cutting back the dead loganberry canes and pulling this year's fruiting stems back onto my allotment and tying them to the lean-to and freestanding frames.

The smoked plastic cloche and wonky waterbutt are blocking gaps in the fence to prevent deer from getting in - and Bitey from escaping.

They still do, though.  And so does Bitey.

 

 

This is the view up my allotment from the Bramley.

That's a big plum tree on the left, an apple on the right with another apple behind it, and a Victoria plum in the net.  On the far right left is a raspberry bed which leads up to a couple of loganberries and some more raspberries (and that netted plum).

No Snowdrops Were Harmed in the Making of This Post

 Just in case anyone was wondering, hibernation-mode (i.e. eating lots of chocolate while slumped in front of the telly) had set in this month (along with some ill-timed visits and events), and somethings had to give - one of which was blogging.  However, I do have a few photos from various to-ings and fro-ings in the last three weeks, so I've managed to slap together this post to show a little of what we've been up to.

 

Saturday the 3rd: We had a little snow.

 

 Thursday the 8th: On the way back from delivering a friend's birthday card, I noticed this pine tree with a twisted trunk.

 

 Sunday the 11th: I found this little number, "Dance The Pain Away" by Haute & Freddy, and was going to post it but must have been short on time or got distracted.

Jon has since featured it at his place.

GPE 2025 : The Finale

* C R A C K *

 

 Drat it!  Who stood on that twig and startled my woodsman?  Now I'll have to leave him be for a while before I can sneak up again and snatch that horrid flannel shirt away.  Bah!

 Well, seeing as you're all here, we might as well get on with the closing ceremony.

 

 Thank you to everyone who took part in this year's Event.  Whether you shared your garden photos, visited and left comments, or just wandered around gazing at the various botanical specimens on show (and avoiding the triffids - unless you didn't, in which case, thanks for acting as fertiliser!).

The gardens and greenery were full of gorgeousness once again and, as always, served as inspiration for next year.

 Here's what we got up to:

 

Programme of Events

 

The  I N F O M A N I A C  GARDEN PHOTOS EVENT 2O25

 began on Hallowe'en with the now traditional TERRIFYING TRIFFIDERY!

 

 

1st November

The  I N F O M A N I A C  GARDEN PHOTOS EVENT

opening ceremony