We’ve had a lot of rain recently so the garden is growing fast…including the weeds! We’re tackling our perennial weed problem differently this year, rather than waiting for them to grow big enough to apply weedkiller (which I rarely get chance to do!!) we’re just pulling up as much as we can as it appears with the hope of weakening it. All this rain has brought the bindweed and marestail out in force so I’ve been busy digging up what I can, I’m just working my way round the beds steadily.

The white cytisus by the patio is glorious at the moment, covered in tiny creamy white flowers. I bought this a few years ago at the Harrogate show, it was one of those plants which when you’re carrying it round the show people keep coming up asking where to buy it! Once it finishes flowering I’ll give it a prune. I’ve probably not planted this in an ideal spot so I think I’ll give it a fairly hard prune to keep the size down.

There’s a couple of pretty aquilegias in flower at the moment. I tend to have a bit of a soft spot for aquilegias, there used to be a stall at the Harrogate show who sold beautiful tall ones, I bought a few over the years but I seem to have lost a few when I’ve had to move them. I’m keeping my eye out for some more.

The acer in a pot by the patio is looking beautiful, this is the one I bought when James was born so I’ve had it 26 years now! The other acer up in the autumn garden needs a bit of a prune as a few branches have succumbed to the late frosts this spring. Ithink I’m going to have to move my water feature to the front as it’s not getting enough sun so the ‘fountain’ is just doing little spurts! Unfortunately this entails emptying it again as it’s too heavy to move.

The old lilac behind the summerhouse is looking glorious, the photo was taken with evening light and it really doesn’t do it justice. I’m not keen on the scent of lilac but the trees look beautiful.

I think my favourite vista at the moment is through the arch to the patio. It’s already looking fairly full and with geraniums, aquilegia, iris, violas, brunnera…there’s plenty to look at whilst I sit in the arbour with my morning cup of tea.