Pink Christmas

It may be Christmas Eve, but the pinks are still flowering.  A nice little posy of them picked today for the Christmas table; the progeny of cuttings taken from a stem in a bunch of supermarket flowers some years ago.  The buds are pink, but the flowers open white with a deep pink base.  Unseasonal, but welcome.

The weather is still windy and mostly mild, although tomorrow is to be clear and colder.  Still nothing really cold in the forecast - just as well, as I haven't got round to putting up the greenhouse bubblewrap yet.  Most of the tulips are now planted.  I'm taking comfort from the memory of the winter a few years ago when the ground (and bags of compost) were too frozen to plant anything until January; the tulips still came up all the same.  Here's to a floriferous 2015!

Mild December

Despite a few frosty nights, with the frost hanging around in the shade all day on a couple of occasions, on the whole the weather has been relatively mild; particularly so this week.  Plants are refusing to die back; I'm still waiting for the dahlia stems to blacken.  There have been windy spells, and some rain, but sunshine too.  a real rollercoaster of weather.

There hasn't been much work done in the garden, other things having intervened.  The tulips went into the bottom border yesterday, with last year's leafmould as a mulch; the soil down there needs a lot of improvement.  Most of the pots are still to be planted up.

The last apples have been pecked off the cooking apple tree by the blackbirds (up to a dozen of them at a time) and the fieldfare. There's a stash of apples stored in the garage, both for us and to keep the birds going through the winter; I'm putting one or two out at a time in various corners of the garden to keep the blackbirds spread out.  There are still several robins about (one was very pleased with my leafmould moving yesterday), lots of sparrows, a few dunnocks and starlings, plenty of woodpigeons (including our lame friend, who hasn't been about much recently but has been seen a couple of times this week) and collared doves and the occasional jackdaw and magpie.  A woodpecker (gt spot) comes to the peanut container from time to time, and blue tits and great tits have also been in the bushes and occasionally bathing.  A female bullfinch has come to the patio for a bath a couple of times, a wren was checking out the vegetable garden wall yesterday and a nuthatch has been tapping away in the trees. There's usually a pheasant not too far away, and the other day two dozen partridges were wandering about the lawn.  Out and about, there are still lots of berries in the hedgerows, attracting the fieldfares and redwings; with the mild weather, the wildlife shouldn't be doing too badly at the moment.

Tidying up

I don't believe in too much tidying up for winter; the wildlife prefers things left as they are.  Realistically, though, some work has to be done otherwise it all gets out of hand and there isn't time in spring to catch up.  There are plenty of rough areas, both in the garden and in the fields beyond, to keep the wildlife happy. 

The greenhouse has had a bit of a clean (it still smells of Jeyes Fluid, which probably isn't great for the plants inside but I'm hoping it might fumigate out any greenfly that survived my washing of all the cinerarias).  I wasn't as thorough as recommended, because there's still a lot of stuff stashed in the greenhouse for want of anywhere better to put it, but all the working area had a scrub.  The tomato and aubergine plants have been turfed out (the aubergines had succumbed to grey mould anyway); I was about to do the same with my three-year-old chilli plants, but they're looking a lot better after I cut off the brown bits, so they can stay.  I'm now gradually clearing the summer pots, planting up the frost-tender plants (argyranthemums, phormiums - 'Tricolor' has bulked up well and I've divided it - and phygelius) for overwintering in the greenhouse.  I'm also going to try to keep one of the Ricinus communis going, to see how big it will get next year.  The bulbs (mostly tulips, but some belated crocus, daffs and alliums) are going in the pots with some winter/spring interest on top (mostly violas, forget-me-nots, wallflowers).

The remains of this year's veg plants (beans and courgettes) have gone to the compost heap, and garlic and 'Aquadulce Claudia' broad beans have gone in (better late than never).  There are still some lettuces near the back door, despite some frosty nights.  The dahlias are still outside; the frosts haven't blackened them yet, although 'Ambition', which failed to live up to its name, is looking particularly ropy.  Next year's colour is already on the way, however; the 'Atkinsii' snowdrops are nosing up through the ground.

The damp weather is giving way to cold, windy days and slightly frosty nights, which is preferable on the whole.  The blackbirds and redwings are working their way through the berries on the holly tree, so some branches have been cut for Christmas and are in a bucket in the greenhouse.  Other birds continue to come looking for food; there are still plenty of windfall apples, and the digging in the vegetable plot has attracted the partridges (11 of them today).  A greenfinch appeared one day, which is encouraging after all the disease locally; we've also had a tawny owl in the ash trees, calling after dark.  The mild autumn has obviously benefited the wildlife; there was a butterfly (tortoiseshell or red admiral, I couldn't see the detail) in the village hall garden on Saturday.

Hello November

October finished unseasonably warm, but we were abroad and unable to enjoy it.  Back in early November to very November-ish weather; occasional sun but mostly damp and chilly.  The last couple of nights have seen a frost, but it's supposed to turn mild again (with more of the damp).

November is supposed to be "no-flowers", and certainly most plants have finished for the year, but the chrysanthemums have flowered nicely, and there have been quite a few dianthus flowers for picking, and the Bidens aurea in one of the pots is still doing quite well.  In the wild-ish patch by the drive entrance the primroses are in flower, paired with the winter jasmine.  Otherwise it's now the winter-flowering shrubs that are providing the flower colour, with a few pansies planted in pots for winter colour.  I'm gradually pulling up and composting the remains of the annuals, as well as clearing fallen leaves.  Lots of tulip bulbs waiting to be planted, in the bottom bed and in pots.

The last of the tomatoes were still clinging on in the greenhouse when we got back from holiday; they've now been picked and brought indoors to ripen.  The two larger aubergines never softened, but I cooked them anyway; the tiny one rotted off.  The greenhouse needs a good clean out, especially as the cineraria have got greenfly and I really should do something about that before the winter.

Despite our absence of nearly three weeks, the bird population hadn't taken itself off elsewhere, probably because the fallen apples and other wildlife-friendly corners provided lots of food for them.  Within a few days of returning I had clocked up 25 species in the garden: woodpigeons and collared doves; rooks, jackdaws and a magpie; pheasants and partridges; the fieldfares and redwings, already here from Scandinavia, and a mistle thrush; a green and a gt-spotted woodpecker, feeding on the fallen apples and peanut feeder respectively; blackbirds (quite a lot) and starlings; a chaffinch which obviously survived the trichomonosis outbreak, a male bullfinch and two females, and goldfinches feeding on the seeds of Big Yellow Thing; many sparrows, several robins and a couple of dunnocks; blue tits and a coal tit; a wren, a pied wagtail and a treecreeper.  Possibly also a goldcrest - I couldn't get a close enough look.  Not a bad list, really.

Goodbye summer

Well, apart from a chilly August, summer hasn’t been too bad.  September was dry and, although showers started to creep in early in October, the first week of this month was mostly quite pleasant with a couple of outdoor lunches.  But this week has been wet, cool and miserable, with low cloud all day – November come early.  The leaves have started falling from the ash trees (the plum tree has been bare for a week or two now).

It has been a good year for fruit in general, with lots of hips, haws and elderberries as well as cultivated fruit.  But why can’t I see any ash keys in the trees?  Is this ash dieback taking hold?

The weather is gradually toppling the cosmos, and the salpiglossis, asters and larkspur are pretty much finished.  The zinnias produced about four flowers between them and I’m not sure I was sufficiently impressed to want to bother next year; the didiscus was also something of a non-event although I might give them another try and pinch them out earlier.  The sweet peas have been sown in pots, and I have lots of sweet william, forget-me-nots and bellis to be planted out, as well as red wallflowers. 

The front garden has been almost entirely ripped up and re-gravelled; I’ve started replanting the borders under the front wall (Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’, narcissus ‘Jenny’ and crocus ‘Blue Pearl’, with a seedling hellebore) but there’s still plenty of space for new ideas, as well as some weeds still to be removed under the ‘Blush Noisette’ rose, which has remained in place.  The space over by the holly tree and along the hedge, which was always intended to be an open area, has also been dug out and now needs some weed-suppressant on it (once the rain stops …).  The borders between that and the house will need reworking and there should be some scope for better planting!

Down in the vegetable garden, the runner beans are finally running out of steam (the freezer is full of them) and the courgettes are also slowing down.  I’ve sown some late Chinese salad greens and prepared a trench for autumn-sown broad beans.

Ginger lily in flower

In the greenhouse, the ginger lily duly flowered impressively and is now throwing up a second leaf spike (will it flower too?).  The last tomatoes are gradually turning red, but I’m still waiting for the aubergines to ripen; there are three, one big, one medium and one tiny, and all are rock-hard.  I’ve taken cuttings of the two osteospermums (the one from the front garden was rescued before the digger went in) and the two argyranthemums, the lavender, euonymus and ‘Bowles Mauve’ erysimum.  Also there is a 3-inch avocado tree, the result of an avocado stone that was sprouting when I cut the fruit open; I’m interested to see what will happen!

The birds are sorting themselves out for the winter.  We have a lot of robins; one, the last to get its adult plumage, has taken over the patio, while there are several others in different parts of the garden, all singing to each other over territory.  The sparrows are still plentiful, and the occasional blackbird and great tit turn up, as does a wren.  I’ve seen hardly any finches for some time, probably because we’ve had an outbreak of trichomonosis in the village (pigeons, which carry the disease, are still very much around, nesting in the holly tree and producing large and demanding young).   There has been a flock of long-tailed tits around, also a couple of nuthatches, and two red kites have been seen overhead.  The pheasants are gradually turning up in the garden, although the shooting hasn’t begun yet; one day we had a whole parade of them through the garden but usually it’s the odd one or two, sometimes with a partridge in tow.  The wet weather has probably seen off the last of the butterflies, or forced those that hibernate into their winter quarters; there was a red admiral around the other day and a couple of dragonflies last week but there has been less and less obvious (desirable) insect life recently. 

Hail in August

August has apparently been one of the wettest and coldest Augusts for a long time.  We didn't have any frosts, but some chilly nights and none-too-warm days; not a great deal of sun and plenty of rain.  One heavy shower turned to hail; quite impressive when viewed from inside the greenhouse!  The last few days have been better, and, although today was showery, when the sun came out it was beautifully warm.  The forecast is for a warmer and mostly dry week.

We're into the late summer flowers.  The Japanese anemone and the phlox are doing well, and the dahlias are picking up after a slow start; the cosmos are flowering prolifically (they make a good informal 'hedge' along the edge of the veg plot) and the asters are now starting.  The zinnias have buds; I wonder if they'll manage to flower before the frosts?!  The pinks are still soldiering on, backed by the late Sweet Williams.  There's very little colour, or interest, in the bottom border; it needs some rethinking.  The verbascums and sidalceas (both long past flowering) are looking extremely scraggy.  The border that is supposed to be a 'hot' border has little happening now that the crocosmia and lilies are finished; there's the rudbeckia, and the perennial asters have buds, but it too needs a rework.  In the greenhouse, the ginger lily spike is spreading out its bracts, but as yet there's no sign of actual flowers inside them; there is, however, a new spike starting from the base.

The apples are ripening; the eaters are small but there are a reasonable number of them.  The cookers (Newton's Wonder) are huge as usual.  The runner beans ('Moonlight') are still flowering rather than fruiting, but I've had a few pods off them; the French beans have pretty much shot their bolt.  The potatoes didn't do particularly well this year and are mostly dug up now.  The courgettes are giving a steady crop of nice small fruits; they won first prize at the village show!

The autumn sowing and planting is underway; the forget-me-nots and sweet william are pricked out, and there are lettuce seedlings waiting to go in.  I'm starting to think about spring bulbs; so many to choose from!

The squirrel is still about but has been leaving my courgettes alone recently, I'm glad to say.  Of the birds, there are still at least two young robins around (the smaller one keeps chasing the older one away), and a couple of young blackbirds have been down.  Mum blackbird is still here, feeding and occasionally sunbathing on the patio.  The bullfinches, including a juvenile, and a wren have been here, and the warblers are continuing to visit.  Less desirably, a kestrel has been overhead a couple of times, and was buzzed by the house martins.

Plums, beans and Big Bertha

Plums.  Plum jam, plum chutney, plum sauce, frozen plums, plum tart, plum cake, plum frangipane, plum vodka.  And just eaten as plums.  Plums given to friends, neighbours and anybody, really.  The freezers are full up.  And the apples are still to come (actually some of the Discoveries are already dropping).  The beans have been less prolific, but we were garden-sitting for neighbours and have gained a whole load of frozen French beans as a result.  I won't have to buy beans for a long time ....

The plums were a magnet for blackbirds; we counted eight in and under the tree at one point.  Then they just seemed to disappear; I haven't seen any of the youngsters for days, so I assume they've just scattered now.  Mum, and another adult female, are still around.  There were a few wasps but not too much damage.  Now that the tree has shed its load for another year, I've got in there with the pruning saw and loppers and taken out as much dead wood as I can reach, as well as most of the crossing and badly-placed branches.  It's a little late to be doing that but I hope it should avoid the dreaded silver leaf disease.

Something has been eating courgettes on one of my plants (just one - why?).  There are teeth marks, so I'm guessing it's the squirrel, who has been at the cobnuts.  I've been harvesting the courgettes while still small, which I hope will put him off.  The tomatoes are doing well, and there are now two aubergines coming along.

Dahlia, cosmos and anemones

On the flower front, the cosmos are doing well now, and the asters are just starting.  The few surviving didiscus are flowering - small but pretty; the salpiglossis is still soldiering on, but the ipomoea has flowered itself out, I think.  The ammi is a no-show, and the single cleome has died for no apparent reason.  The two zinnias are looking healthy but without flowers.  The dahlias are producing on and off; they probably need a richer soil than I've given them.  The sweet william that I overwintered are now starting to flower, alongside the pinks which are still doing well.  Enough to keep us in cut flowers; this week, the dark dahlia looks good with the deep pink cosmos and the pale pink Japanese anemone.

Ginger lily flower spike

In the greenhouse, I've been watching the ginger lily with interest.  I acquired it at the spring plant sale and have been fascinated by the way it threw up its new growth and gradually unfurled leaf after leaf.  When it got to the top of the spike I thought that was going to be it for this year (apparently they sulk a bit for the first year after being divided), but this week I noticed the beginnings of a flower spike, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next!


The summer weather lasted into August, but last weekend we had the tail-end of Hurricane Bertha, which brought heavy rain and knocked things about a bit; no real damage apart from a couple of bent cosmos plants, but the weather has now become much cooler and breezy with showery spells.  It's back into long sleeves, with a sweatshirt at times, and the occasional thought about putting the heating back on; there are a couple of cold nights forecast for this week (single figures).  I've already started putting the tender plants (the house plants, the chilli peppers and the brugmansias, which haven't flowered) back into the greenhouse at nights.  Everything is looking and feeling quite September-ish.

Although the baby blackbirds are gone, they have been replaced by baby robins.  We had three of them on the patio the other day; they appear a bit wary of each other, and there has been some scrapping, but nothing too serious.  An adult has been chasing at least one of them away, though.  Still lots of sparrows, including little ones being fed, and dunnocks, but in general the feeding frenzy is lessening; there must be lots of food available out in the fields.  The swifts are long gone, but the swallows and house martins are still around; a female bullfinch was about today, and there has been a flock of what I think are willow warblers, including little ones being fed, flitting from tree to tree and making an enormous twittering.  They're very hard to see in all the foliage, especially as they don't stay still.  There have also been a good number of butterflies: peacocks, red admirals and small tortoiseshells, although I've also seen a brimstone and a speckled wood.

Summertime

Still warm and mostly sunny; occasionally cloudy and a shower from time to time, but overall not bad summer weather.  The greenhouse plants need daily watering, and the pots are starting to wilt after a couple of days without attention.

The late summer flowers are starting to come out: the buddleia, Lilium henryii and the Japanese anemones (the latter well hidden behind the rose 'Mme Hardy', which as usual is looking brown and horrible now its flowers are over).  The alchemilla flowers have been pulled up, and some of the dreaded pink geraniums; I'm hoping to reclaim some of the border fronts from them.  The annuals are still holding back a bit, although the cosmos is producing more flowers now; a bit of feeding may be in order.  In the greenhouse, the first freesias have flowered;  we've had the first few tomatoes, and there's an aubergine swelling impressively. Outside, the French beans are just reaching picking size, and we've had a few tiny courgettes and some much less tiny broad beans.  The gooseberries are now finished (ie frozen and jammed), the raspberries are producing occasional small punnets and the plums are beginning to mature, to the joy of the local blackbirds.

There are at least three independent baby blackbirds around, and I can hear another somewhere close by, still calling for food (maybe the one that had lost its mum the other week?).  There are young robins still about, but they're not showing themselves much here; one got into the summerhouse one day and couldn't find its way out for some time.  The butterfly boom is also starting; we've had peacocks and a red admiral, as well as a comma and meadow brown (and the whites of course).

Two days of sun and a thunderstorm

Rather more than two days of sun, actually, and definitely more than one thunderstorm.  Two nights of spectacular flash and crash (and downpour), and intermittent daytime bouts since then. This coming week should be more settled, less hot and humid than the end of last week but dry for a few days at least.  I managed to thin the plums, rather belatedly (some are already starting to turn purple), in advance of the storms, in case there was wind as well, but fortunately there was no damage.  Some of the plum trusses were huge, and I removed a whole bucketful of plums; it goes against the grain to cut off big, healthy fruit, but it's for the best.  There are still lots on the tree.

The apple cordons have also been pruned, and this year I've tried to tidy up the shape of the trees as well as cutting back the long growth.  There's a lot of aphid damage on them and I put the prunings in the green waste bin as some of them looked a bit diseased.

The garlic (a bit small, but not too bad) and shallots (better than I had feared) have been lifted, as well as a healthy crop of potatoes that had come up underneath.

A bit too red

The flower display in the garden is tailing off, as it tends to do at this time of year.  There are still a few roses, but the big display is over.  There's the crocosmia, and the Lilium henryii is still to come; the francoa is in flower, and of course the Big Yellow Thing, but the general picture is a bit colourless.  Even the rampant pink geraniums are going over.  Nearer the house, the display is better, with still lots of pinks and the lavender, and of course the pots on the patio; the salpiglossis in these is fading a bit, but the overall picture is still colourful.  The flowers on the ricinus plants are striking, but I hadn't bargained for the bright red that they bring to the mix; it goes not too badly with most of the other reds in there, but not with Penstemon 'Garnet', which just looks wrong with them.

The last baby blackbird seems to be mostly independent now, although still hanging around with mum a bit.  Mum is taking it easier, and sunbathing a lot, even just a few feet behind me as I was picking the last red gooseberries; she's quite trusting.  The fruit has been attracting a pair of bullfinches as well as the blackbirds, and the odd sparrow has been in there too (we have lots of sparrows, and they're still mating and nesting).  There were glimpses of a small brown bird today - a warbler of some sort, probably.  The butterflies are coming out; a red admiral was around the other day, and a few meadow browns.  The buddleia is starting to flower, so I'm expecting more soon.

Growing our own

Although the veg plot isn't as productive yet as I'd hoped (mostly because much of it still needs to be cleared of weeds), we're doing not too badly so far.  The lettuces are still going strong, there are more gooseberries than I can reasonably deal with, and the blackcurrant bush that was fleeced up against bird attack has yielded three jars of jam.  There are broad beans ready to pick, and the first courgette is fattening up.  The leeks need to be pricked out (when I can find somewhere to put them), and I'm hoping that the garlic and shallots aren't too put out by the potatoes, obviously left over from last year, that are sprouting among them.  The runner beans are starting to flower.  A stiff breeze earlier this week has knocked down some of the cooking apples but there are plenty more; there are fewer eaters this year.  Lots of plums, though, and I need to thin them and prune the tree.

Much more exuberant

We're still doing well with cut flowers too.  There are still roses available, and lots of pinks.  A jugful of pinks, oregano and sidalcea with variegated dogwood foliage was very tasteful but not necessarily in a good way; they would have made nice bridal flowers but were a bit too pale.  The first dahlia flowers are now out, however, and a few orange dahlias with Crocosmia 'Lucifer' and purple salpiglossis is making a much more exuberant arrangement.

The windowbox has been planted up with the leftover salpiglossis and some red-foliaged amaranthus, around a couple of small pale pink fuchsia plants; it's a bit sparse but it'll do.  The pots on the patio are doing quite nicely; they're a mix of ricinus (all flowering, remarkably, although I put them in as foliage plants), cosmos, more salpiglossis, the amaranthus and various fillers including a phygelius, a crimson-flowered agyranthemum rescued from the garden centre at the back end of last year and overwintered in the greenhouse, the purple osteospermum, a purple sedum, some bidens which is making a splendid show, and the phormiums for structure.  The big pot at the bottom of the garden is also still doing very well.  The sweet peas have not flourished, however; Tutankhamun is hanging on in there quite well but only one other plant, a purple bicolour, has survived.

The biennials have been sown in the greenhouse: sweet william, forget-me-nots, bellis and pansies, and some cineraria in the cooler situation of the kitchen windowsill.  All are starting to germinate except the pansies, which as a genus seem to have taken a dislike to me.

The area over by the hedge is a bit of a disaster, seriously overgrown with geraniums and long grass, but the butterflies seem to like it; there was a comma in there yesterday, also a tortoiseshell and what I think was a small skipper.  Also in there was a very vociferous baby blackbird which seemed to have lost its mum; when I had lunch out on the bench it came and joined me for a bit, then went off next door.  I hope mum was just having a siesta, but it did seem to be on its own for a long time.  Our usual hen blackbird is still feeding a youngster, and there are still young sparrows about, but the birds have mostly stopped singing so I think most of the nesting is now done.  A robin appears from time to time, and a linnet came for a drink today.  Our lame woodpigeon has also returned; he hasn't been about for a while (we think he had too many competitors to chase off) so it was nice to see him back.  The other pigeons seem mostly to have dispersed, although there's a persistent individual that comes to the patio for food quite a lot.

The weather has been on the cool side, with some showers and a fresh breeze earlier in the week; one night I put the tender plants back into the greenhouse to be on the safe side.  There has been warm sun for the past couple of days, however; a little more of that would be welcome.

Catching up

Mixed old shrub roses ....

Catching up, both with the blog and with the garden, after a trip away.  Things are looking very lush, very green and romantically flowery (at least in certain corners).  The roses are all out (or, in the case of the yellow pimpinellifolia, been and gone); they've done well this year - obviously my pruning paid dividends this time.  A jugful of them is on the table at the moment.  Recent cut flowers have all been from the garden - roses, peonies, and earlier, a jug of sweet william, pinks and lady's mantle (the pinks have also flowered well).  The aquilegias are over, but there are some good foxgloves down in the bottom border (and a rather less good self-sown mullein, complete with very impressive mullein moth caterpillars).  The annuals were planted out, or put out in mixed pots, before we went away; the odd cosmos has flowered but the main show is still to come.  I'm pleased with the pink ipomoea, though; they grew on well, no damping off, and are now flowering successfully in the big pot at the bottom of the garden, with a blue penstemon for company.  The windowbox needs replanting; the current incumbents, a pair of blue violas from the garden centre and some of last year's calendulas - a lovely bright pairing when in full flow - are looking very sad now.

... and sweet william with pinks

In the veg plot, some batch sowings of beans are getting underway, and the courgette plants are managing well enough for the moment.  The two winter squash plants have both died; I'm not doing well with those!  The lettuces have done well, however, in their fleece tent.  In the greenhouse, the neighbours' ministrations kept the tomatoes and aubergines, in their growbags, settling in nicely, and flower trusses are now setting.

This year I've got at the green gooseberries early, and have made jam; there are still quite a few to pick, but I'm more relaxed now about the blackbirds going in there.  The red ones are still colouring up, as are the blackcurrants; I've put a fleece tent around one of the blackcurrant bushes, which I hope will keep the birds off!

The robins' brood seems to have fledged and gone; before we left there were three quite friendly little ones about, but no sign of them now, and the adults are singing lustily, suggesting that they're back on the nest.  The blackbirds are feeding quite large fledgelings, and the sparrows and starlings are also taking food away; and there were two little thrushes following a parent around the other day.  Various finches are about too, a nuthatch was pecking about in the big ash tree one day and young woodpeckers have been coming to the peanuts.  The jay has been back (and was scared off), and also the red kite; the latter was hunting quite low over the garden last week.

Weather has varied from wet to warm and sunny, with a thunderstorm thrown in.  The latter didn't deter a hedgehog which was snuffling around the cold frame, apparently quite oblivious to the lightning.  After a warm and dry week we're now back in the heavy showers phase.

Nearly Great Dixter

Too spotty, but colourful

When I planted red, dark purple and orange tulips in the bottom border, I didn’t reckon with them still being in flower when the pink rugosa rose started to bloom, not to mention the pink aquilegias that found their way into that border. The astrantia 'Hadspen Blood', also just starting to flower very nicely, is just the right side of the pink/red shades to be acceptable.  Fortunately the overlap was very short, and the orange tulips were by chance not close to the pink flowers, so the Great Dixter effect was avoided (just).  Actually that border could do with a bit more Great Dixter; it’s turning out a bit too pink and needs something to spice it up a bit.  And a memo for next year: either plant more tulips, or plant them in groups instead of sprinkling them across the whole border - the effect is too spotty otherwise.

The latest of the tulips, the little orange species ones, are also now going over.  They’ve proliferated very nicely, despite being sat on by a couple of self-set euphorbias.

Species tulips - urumiensis or batalinii?

The wisteria is in full, heavily scented, swing, and looking rather fine.  The early roses are out: Rosa altaica has responded remarkably well to the heavy, late pruning it received, and ‘Golden Showers’ is in flower although going through its blackspot stage.  The aquilegias are also flowering, as is the orange potentilla; just starting are the white camassias, the sweet rocket, some pinks, the Sweet William planted last year, and the numerous (too numerous) pink geraniums.  We also have some lady’s smock which has seeded into the lawn, next to some daffodil leaves that haven’t been mown back yet.

The contents of the greenhouse are being hardened off gradually, and accustomed to the rather cool and breezy world outside.  The weather went through a very warm and dry spell but has become very unsettled, with a mix of rain (and even some hail), wind, thunder and warm sunny spells.  Out of the sun it’s decidedly cool, and the forecast is for more of that to come.

I hope the rain holds off enough for me to clear more space in the veg plot so that I can plant out the remaining seedlings!  The lettuces have gone into a patch behind the gooseberry bushes which is really meant to be a grass path but had to be cleared so that I could get the weeds out; they have a fleece tent to keep the pigeons off but I'll need a much bigger fleece cover for the brassicas.

The summer birds are here, including the swifts screaming by, and a pair of linnets.  We’ve also seen a bat, and a newt in the pond (and lily beetles).  Other bird visitors include the male bullfinch and, twice today, a jay – unfortunately (but unsuccessfully) in search of a baby sparrow for lunch.  The sparrowhawk has had more success, making off with one of the little sparrows the other day.  There are a lot of baby birds about: we’ve seen blackbirds, robins and dunnocks, and two woodpigeons, besides the sparrows, and bluetits are taking food into the nestbox.  One of the robins is becoming quite friendly, probably because he's hoping I'll put more food out for him; he and his mate are very busy feeding youngsters at the moment.