Warm summer days...........cool summer nights.

 Queen of the Meadow smells slightly of almonds, it attracts numerous insects.   It grows along the verges of the lanes near our home.  It now grows in the garden.

 Queen of the Prarie reminds me  of a trip to America to meet blogging friends.   I shall meet them again one day, when Mr P retires :)

Hydrangeas and Persicaria such a pretty combination.

 I walk the garden looking at the flowers and thinking how beautiful everything looks. 

My father loved this time of year.   I miss our strolls around the garden.     I miss his daily jokes, and his smile.    I tend his little garden each week, Mum cannot manage it.
I do it for my Dad, I know that sounds strange, but he loved his garden, I would not like to see it fade away due to neglect. 

The year is passing so quickly, July will soon be here.    Enjoy your garden, summer is so fleeting............

Sunrise......sunset.

 It is always good to have company when you walk a garden.   I am never alone these days.   I think I have made a real friend :)

 A view from the tree house.     The Grand-children and I play hide and seek in the summer.    There are plenty of places to hide in this garden:)

 It is also a wonderful place to watch the sun rise.    

 And this is where I watch the sun set..........the deck at the other side of the garden is covered in pots of flowers.

Each evening when the weather allows you will find me pottering here.     Dead heading the plants and just generally tidying.   For me, it is the perfect way to end the day.

Be careful - it's a jungle out there...................

 Around ten days ago I decided to have breakfast at the tree house.   It was a lovely morning.  Camera by my side, I sat down to enjoy my coffee, cereal and toast.

 I had only been there a short while when I was aware of buzzing.   I noticed the start of a wasp nest beneath the acer tree.     I picked up my camera, took a photograph, and decided to  make a hasty exit.    I was totally unaware that a wasp had followed me, and suddenly felt a sharp pain on my inner elbow.   Before I reached the house, my arm had started to swell, and had turned red around the elbow area.   I have never been stung before, so was totally unaware that I am in fact allergic to wasp stings.   I should have realised because our son is also allergic and a few years ago ended up in hospital.   Anyway to cut a long story short, I am now fine.    Poppi has a severe allergy to nuts so I had a medicine chest full of treatments.   After ten days my arm is back to its normal size....hooray.

The wasp nest has now been removed.

Thinking back, the day I had breakfast at the tree house was Friday 13th  ....................I wonder !!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

 More and more I have let nature take a share in this garden.    I no longer worry if something seeds in the wrong place, not fitting in with the original scheme.   It has made life easier in many ways :)      A good example is Hemerocallis Golden Chimes and Sisyrinchium with her straw coloured  flowers.   Sisyrinchium is short lived and often not hardy but seeds itself in any good soil.   She pops up here and there, and seems to blend with most plants in the garden.

 White campion has appeared in the mixed borders alongside Hypericum, to my delight a sweet pea is growing amongst them.....a lovely deep burgundy.     Where it has come from I do not know, but it is more than welcome. 

 Now this I did plan.....Elder black lace, the Pheasant Berry and Mallow.    I love this combination, I think it works really well.

 As you can see Black Lace is a particular favourite of mine.   Here she is with another Mallow, this time The Bride and red campion has seeded alongside......lovely arrangement.

I love our native willow herb.......it covers the lanes here in the summer.     When I saw the white form for sale in the local nursery a couple of years ago I was smitten.     I bought several plants, they have spread around the garden, which is just what I had hoped for.     They add an ethereal beauty to the garden, especially at dusk, when white blooms take centre stage.
The seed clocks are exquisite, almost persil white :)   In fact, I am not sure which I like best the blooms or the seeds.

If anyone in UK would like seeds later in the season, let me know, I am happy to send some to you but be warned this plant can be invasive...............

The wind is coming from the North today and it is very dull.    It has been a good day for gardening...............

Sunshine came softly through my window today.

 A hot air balloon hovered above the garden early this morning.  Nella let it know it was not welcome.   Running around the garden barking loudly.

 Mexican fleabane seems to have self-seeded in all the cracks on the patio.   I think it looks really pretty, also it is much loved by the small copper butterfly, that is why it is a keeper.

 Lavender in terracotta pots just coming into flower.    I love the fragrance as I walk by and run my fingers through the stems.

 'Wedding Day'  reaches the top of the Old Hawthorn and seems to be heading for the wild plum.    I love roses climbing through trees :)

 Oak barrels are planted....lots of 'Hot Lips' this year.   A plant I love as it is always so accommodating.

It would seem summer days are at last with us.       Time to enjoy the garden, to sit back and reflect or perhaps to have supper with those we love.     Whatever you do enjoy,  summer passes so quickly...............

 Will summer ever arrive?    It has been another dull damp day with brief spells of sunshine.

 I managed to tidy the garden today.    Cutting back plants that have finished flowering.

 Enjoying those that are just coming into bloom.

 I cannot imagine why I planted these.   Primula Vialii ........I really am beginning to dislike them.    I bought them several years ago from a local nursery.  I thought at the time they were unusual and that appealed.    I think I shall have to find a new home for them....possibly my daughters garden, I have a feeling she will like them.

Now these I do like.   I grow lots and lots of strawberries.    I believe these are 'Tosca'.
I bought them years ago from the farmers wife and they are a firm favourite with the whole family.

I can see in another couple of weeks Strawberries and cream will be on the menu :)

Lavender and Roses

 I wonder if Mr P will ever retire.   When he comes home after a long day, I prepare supper, and if the weather allows we sit on the patio and chat about our day.    Although my husband does not garden, he loves scent.....the perfume of roses, honeysuckle and lavender.    I have the most beautiful honeysuckle that now climbs the arches near the patio area.....a self sown and a very welcome dinner guest :)

 This year I decided not to plant annuals in the half barrels which edge the patio.   Instead roses, under planted with lavender.

 I wanted pale lemon roses and a variety that had a long flowering season.   I chose floribunda Authur Bell.    I am not disappointed, she is so delicate and the perfume is quite lovely

Alongside her is Lavender Ice Blue, not in bloom yet but I am pretty sure the deep blue flowers will compliment the pale lemon of Authur Bell.

We all hold a place in our hearts that can be reached by a sight, a sound, a smell.   Indeed roses take me back to a garden in Essex, watching my Great Grandmother cutting a rose and pinning it to her black velvet jacket.        Apparently she did this every day during the growing season until at the grand old age of 93 she passed away......the memory stays with me, for it is one that is so charming, I do not want to let it go..............