and there's more.............

day lilies are out at last. Michaelmas daisies beginning to flower too................one dahlia poking its head up in the perennial bed..............cream escholzia in the annual bed, v. pretty..........

veggie and rhubarb crop

beans beans beans

........and peas..........mange-tout and sugar snap. the asparagus peas are extremely pretty, a beautiful deep crimson colour. lots of things have come on since our short break in Cornwall..........most notably the cornflowers which are now cornflowering madly and look really beautiful..............and the California poppies. a stray Shirley poppy has appeared in among them.........the day lilies now have buds but are still very slow to actually flower. more love-in-a-mist and cosmos on the way...............and more roses. strawberries and gooseberries slowly ripening, raspberries going over................salads coming on in their tub and the rocket not deterred by having the nasturtiums fall on it..............small runner beans now appearing and tiny tomatoes......and some courgettes big enough to eat. it all looks extremely pretty. some Oriental poppies still producing flowers.............the pink jasmine absolutely flourishing and the variegated one coming along..............and "clotted cream" has flower buds. we are picking beautiful sweet peas..................herbs doing well although only the dill has come up of the old seeds. one coreopsis has managed to struggle into flower and the rudbeckia are still very small............but we now have a row of lovely sunflowers in the perennial bed. the lysimachia is out and looks great against the purple leaves, its own and the persicaria. can hardly see the pond for all the vegetation and the froglets are roaming................

and there's more...............

...........and the RHUBARB!!
............and the BEETROOT!!
and the ASPARAGUS PEA!!

in another part of the forest.................

........not a huge amount happening on the houseplant front as all the action is outside...........Hoya now flowering and Stephanotis finishing..............orchid growing another flower spike. but in a corner of the greenhouse, planted ages ago and forgotten..................two of the Stephanotis seedlings have sprouted!!....................now potted on and in the ITU, growing very slowly if at all, but we'll see.................alongside them a bit of geranium that fell off, and some bits of Mum's Christmas cactus. for some reason most of the forest cacti died, i suspect it was still too cold when they went out for their summer holidays. however the MCC looks very healthy so hope the cuttings take..............

summer harvest

Just about to eat our first dinner made with things from the garden............the funny weather of sunshine and showers has brought everything on in a sudden rush and it can only be described as burgeoning...............have picked the first sweet pea but the oriental poppies are just finishing so everything is still all coming out in the wrong order. Paeonies just finishing too after a magnificent display, and the first love-in-a-mist are coming up through them, very pretty. the organic rose was as usual first to flower............"Curiosity" now has buds and also the one Carrie uncovered under the clematis, no idea what colour the flowers will be..............the VJR (Very Jaggy Rose) has put on loads of leaf but no buds yet. orange patio rose now flowering beautifully but other one not out yet. the canna lilies were obviously insulted by me deciding they were dead and putting a tomato in their pot............the tomato has met a mysterious fate and fallen over and the cannas are putting up superb leaves! Various things just on the brink of flowering...............lilies, sunflowers, more sweet peas..............sweet rocket still going strong and first night-scented stock just appearing. very exciting, i've never managed to get them to grow before. Some California poppies in the pot with the lilies, brilliant orange.............the ones in the beds coming on but no flowers yet. red scabious out, godetia growing well, cornflowers just about to bloom. first honeysuckle flowers appearing at the bottom of the garden but the big honeysuckles not out yet. alliums never showed at all this year..............the day lilies have been very late and have only now put up flower buds. there also appears to be another day lily in the perennial bed, not a clue where that came from - did we bring it from Mum's or is it a SQ survivor?
Morning Glories after a slow start now taking off, at least in pots but i see that one of the ones in the garden has actually survived though still very small. nasturtiums in flower of course...............variegated jasmine is doing well, again with more light after the clematis had its haircut. the pink jasmine was also slow to get going but flower buds have now appeared. the two hebes in the purple patch are both flowering and look very nice, with the Lysimachia "Firecracker" beside them and almost ready to flower. Rudbeckia seedlings are now all planted out, along with the Coreopsis..............i hae ma doots about the latter, they were very slow to germinate and are still very small but seem to be growing away quite well. Cosmos seedlings from the greenhouse and straight into the ground seem to be about neck-and-neck.
In the greenhouse..................the tomatoes are romping away but we've moved most of the rest out.............courgettes and squash into containers because they're already flowering and tiny courgettes are manifesting themselves..............i've taken the chillies out of the raised bed and into individual pots and we'll try some indoors and some in the greenhouse to see how they get on. moved the poached-egg plants outside because they were taking up too much space. salad containers are now planted..................the pak choi and other salad thing in the barrel have bolted but the flowers are pretty so we've left them as a nice contrast with the red runner-bean flowers. Thai basil and lemon basil into pots but staying in the greenhouse and some of their siblings off to Angi's balcony. i bought a new variegated oregano.............the old golden oregano is on its last legs, it never really got over being tramped on by the guys laying the patio, but the pot marjorams are doing well and i've divided the variegated oregano to make an extra plant. Carrie has cut down the lovage...............allowing more light to The Fig. don't know if The Fig will ripen but if it does it will be very exciting................we are now eating fresh raspberries and the crop promises to be heavy, although if we keep picking them as each one ripens there won't be enough for a full meal.............we're doing that anyway with the sugar snap peas and mange-tout, hovering over the veggie bed like the Witch in "Hansel & Gretel" waiting to see if they're ready to eat yet............we're in a between-salads phase but there's chard, small purple cabbage leaves, sorrel, nasturtium, parsley, and even beetroot leaves in the meantime.............my herb pot is slow to get going but the dill is in the lead having just started to sprout. and we do now have borage flowers for our drinks, and sheaves of applemint to make our summer fizz.............
............definite froglets in the pond, much splooshing and splashing every time we approach................the irises haven't flowered this year but the watermint is doing OK...............all the aquilegias are down now and i've trimmed the lower branches of the lilac and tidied the under-tree bed a bit..............meadowsweet just about to flower and huge clump of Michaelmas daisies same as last year................i've taken some cuttings of Isabel's prostrate rosemary and the clematis for Runa's fence. very pleased to see that the passiflora has not only survived being moved but seems to be growing madly, i didn't expect it to flower but i see at least one bud.............
in the front.............clearing all the bulb foliage and putting down the cocoa shell has made it look as neat as it can when everything's covered in big shaggy clumps of thyme............i've toasted all the weeds with the flamethrower thing which was very satisfying and it has helped.............the patio clematis is in flower but the rose shows no sign of buds.............honeysuckle just finished and needs tying up. it still all looks a bit of a mess, but it's a pretty mess................Mum's snow-in-summer has established nicely and has flowers, and i've tied up the floppy rose, also no sign of it flowering but it's still "early summer" after all................