Nobby reviews the late summer flowers in Duthie Park

Yesterday Gail reminded me it's been a while since I took you on a walk around Duthie Park, and suggested I might do a Nature Friday post showing you some of the late summer blooms.

To be honest, I always think that the other dogs we meet are by far the most interesting aspect of our local park, but according to Gail, it's "debatable" whether that would count as Nature*.

So here goes with the flowers. 

Some of the displays are uniform and orderly, such as the Begonias near the park entrance. 

We often see the gardeners hard at work weeding the flower beds first thing in the morning, and Gail says it's a bit unfair of me to criticise, but I feel I do need to point out they missed some groundsel just here.

At the opposite corner of the park we see more Begonias, these ones in a neatly kept circle.

Maybe it's the terrier in me, but I have to say, I prefer things to be a bit less regimented. This border is more to my taste. 

Such a fine display of vibrant colours. The Montbretia is spectacular this year. I wonder if a warm, dry June followed by a cool and rainy weather in July and August is to the particular liking of these showy red flowers?

The Heleniums (aka Sneezeweed), seem to be thriving in the cool late summer conditions too. 

Finally, perhaps, like me, you're wondering about the identity of the silvery grey plant in front of me here.

Let's have a closer look.

According to Gail's 'PlantNet' app, it's Stachys byzantina, commonly known as Lamb's-ear, after the furry texture of the leaves.

If I was ever allowed within stroking distance of a sheep, I would be able to tell you if the name is appropriate, but Gail is saying "dream on Nobby".

Well that's about it for today for the plants. Now let me look around and see if there are any dogs who want to play.

*If anyone would like to contest the implication that garden flowers count as 'Nature' but dogs do not, please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments box...

Happy Nature Friday friends! Thanks once again to our LLB Gang friends for hosting the blog hop. Do go and visit the other participants. 

A choice of blooms in Duthie Park

Do you prefer your summer flowers big, bold, bright?

Perhaps you favour a less showy bloom? 

Or rock plants, here a delicate delight?

We love them all, and hope that you do too! 

Happy Nature Friday, and thanks once again to the ever wonderful LLB Gang for hosting this our favourite blog hop.

Ooops, I did it again...

It's totally not my fault.

So Gail takes me on a walk in the woods on a hot for Scotland (27ºC!) afternoon.

She ignores me, focussing instead on the pretty summer flowers.

Germander Speedwell

Twinflower

Mouse-ear Hawkweed

I would like to have cooled off in a nice clear stream, but all I can find is a muddy ditch. 

You would, I think, have done the same.

PS from Gail: I had hoped Nobby's ditch crawling exploits were a thing of the past, but the recent warm weather seems to have prompted an unwanted revival of this behaviour...

My new accomplishment

I can't believe Gail wants me to show pictures of flowers in the park today when I have something much more exciting to report! 

OK, so here are some of the Duthie Park blooms, to satisfy at least the requirements of the LLB Gang's Nature Friday blog hop.

Good. Now on to more interesting matters.

It all started a few weeks ago, when I noticed my grown up friends in the park, the big boy dogs, looking at me askance as I squatted to empty my bladder. I then saw that they were lifting their leg, usually against a tree or wall, and spraying a satisfyingly large area with their pee, thereby leaving a clear message for other pups to detect.

I started feeling an urge to copy the big dogs. I'll be honest, my first few attempts were somewhat tentative. Keeping one's balance while achieving a satisfactory height is a skill that takes some practice. At first I could only lift my paw an inch or two from the ground and hold the position for a few seconds, hardly long enough to empty one's bladder properly. 

But this week I am proud to announce that I am now a fully fledged and ambidextrous leg cocker. And I am sure you too will be impressed with these photos of my new accomplishment...

Pee ess: Gail tells me that my predecessor Bouncing Bertie did not reach this notable masculinity milestone until he was eight months old. Not that I'm boasting or anything...

Nobby hails his first Nature Friday

I bet some of you looked at the photo above and thought: "Naughty Nobby, he's gone and de-stuffed a bean bag, and covered the place with those pesky polystyrene beads". 

But you would be wrong on two counts. 

First of all, I maintain that I am Nice Nobby and not Naughty Nobby. And no, that is not supposed to be an April Fool joke!

Secondly, the little white balls are not polystyrene beads at all, rather they are pea-sized* hail stones (or at least petit pois) which fell from the sky and landed on our back garden earlier in the week. 

All clear now? 

And not only did we have hail, but the next morning I woke up to a different type of cold white stuff.

My first ever opportunity to make yellow snow! Yippee! 

Sadly, it - my own personally manufactured yellow snow that is - disappeared before Gail had a chance to capture it on camera for posterity.

Oh, I'm being told it is customary also to post a photo of flowers on Nature Friday. 

The truth is, we only have a couple of unremarkable daffodils in the garden at present, but I hope you like this Mother's Day bouquet, which Gail babysat for a few days as the intended recipient, our neighbour Yvonne, was away, something her daughter in Paris had not realised.... 

 

*Gail tells me that some of my readers, who live in places like the American Midwest, will be less than impressed with pea-sized hail. But we can promise you it is quite unusual in these parts. 

P.S. Huge thanks to Ann from Zoolatry, who kindly designed the special new blog header for me. Isn't it grrrrreat! 

This is my first time joining in with the LLB Gang's Nature Friday blog hop. Did I do OK?