Was that summer?

The rain finally went away, followed by mostly bright and sunny weather with some pleasant temperatures, at least when the sun was shining and the wind not blowing.  The sunshine is still tempered by cool winds, though it did feel reasonably summery for a few days.  Back to mizzly rain and bright spells, and a rather fresher feel.  Was that summer?

One of the 'posh' Aquilegias

The Wisteria

Tulip 'Orange Princess'

Work in the garden has mostly been trying to keep on top of the weeds as they come into flower; there have been clear-up campaigns against the cow parsley (pretty, but lots and lots of it clearly visible in the field beyond the bottom of the garden, so I don't need to grow it myself), the nettles, the herb robert and the herb bennet.  I also need to tackle the vetch that is flowering rampantly under the dining room window, but the bees have been enjoying it so much that I've left it for them for the moment.  The bees are also flocking to the comfrey which is in full flower.  Other colour is coming from the last of the spring flowers - Doronicums and honesty, and the Brunnera (which also needs to be cut down before it seeds too much).  Coming out now are the Aquilegias, Sweet Rocket, Wisteria and the first roses - 'Mary Queen of Scots' and Rosa altaica (in spite of the hard pruning I gave it).  The last of the tulips are also still here.  Those in the big pot have taken a bit of a battering from the wind, but 'Black Hero' is continuing to stand up well; it's rapidly becoming a favourite with its nearly black, shiny, dark flowers.  On the patio, 'Professor Roentgen' was already past its best when we got back from holiday, but I've been impressed by 'Orange Princess', which has lovely glaucous leaves and has also stood up well to the weather.  'Super Parrot' hasn't been a big success; the leaves have gone over very fast, and the flower stems are too short for the flowers to show properly (perhaps lack of water?).

Another big 'tidying up' job has been cutting back the big Osmanthus, which was getting to 10ft tall and in need of bringing down to size (and into shape).  In the event I took out rather more growth than I had intended, but at least lots of light will get in there now and give it a better chance of a healthy future. 

The big Osmanthus, before pruning

I'm starting to think that this is likely to be a year of cutting back and digging out - there's a lot that needs renovation.  I would like to get some more colour in the garden too, though.

The birds are still feeding little ones; there are two baby blackbirds around, and probably more in a nest in the ivy on the neighbours' garage wall, facing the kitchen window - a hen blackbird has been taking food in there.  She doesn't seem put off by the large skip that is sitting on our drive in front of her nest (part of indoor renovations going on!), and the associated activity around it.  The sparrows' broods are also coming on well and, while we haven't seen any young starlings yet, they are being very vocal in their nest high up on the gable end.  A thrush has appeared from time to time, and a jay visited briefly the other morning, to the great concern of the blackbird, which fought it off.

We have a self-sown Shining Cranesbill in the path under the dining room window.  I wonder if I can get it out and transplant it?