Come rain, come shine.

Whilst we have battled with constant rain, there has still been some success in the garden.

I love the Agapanthus. So enormous I can't work out how it manages to stay upright.

Japanese anemone always heralds Autumn to me so it's a bittersweet time when the first bud opens but they are lovely.

Helenium - I used to shy away from orange or red in my garden but as I get older my tastes have changed and I now embrace the cheery, warm shades.

 What a range of colours.

 My lovely Crown Princess Margarita shining in the sun.

Geoff Hamilton rose is abundant despite suffering from rain and wind for so long.

My furry plant. As this opens up more it takes on a fuzzy appearance. Makes me smile every time I see it, like a little joke in the border.

I think it's fair to say I've been seduced by Verbascums this season. Sadly I was too mean to buy many full price but hopefully next year I will get a good show from the half price and almost fully flowered ones I purchased late in the season.

The reality of our weather. This old bucket shows four day's downpour in it.

Now the roses take another battering.., but they will be back. I just know it.

The girls in the garden

Where there's sun, there's fun.

What a difference a day makes, as Dinah Washington sang. From being do fed up with not being able to garden or to even enjoy the fruits of my labour we suddenly had a break in the rain and it stayed dry and very hot for my day off too. Oh joy!
Whilst they say every cloud has a silver lining I think that every sunny day has a dark cloud and my cloud is in the shape of my compulsion to visit and spend money at the local garden centre. So yesterday I popped there, just to have a little look (am I still kidding myself?) and before I knew it I'd bought some two for one Gerberas, some alpines for the rockery and some sweetcorn for the empty patch in the veg garden where the potatoes had been till I dug those ruby beauties up.

Three types of potatoes, first earlies, earlies and maincrop.

 Once bonemeal was sprinkled on and the ground well dug over to ensure the potatoes were all recovered and the soil aerated I planted up some sweetcorn. It's possible that with good weather (some hope) we will still get something to harvest..

 Holes dug and watered, plants dropped in before being backfilled and firmed in.

Talking of holes being dug - look who else has been 'gardening'..,

 Mrs Bun and Poppy!