Lilies and Agapanthus on the terrace last week
And there was I, intending to run, with all banners blazing, into a return to this blog on 1st August…I've missed you all, my friends. But as with so many of my good intentions these days, it just didn't happen. At least, nowadays, I can be kinder to myself and not feel either guilty, lazy or a total waste of space - I just shrug and say 'so be it' and get on with things anyway. Life is so much easier as a result.
The Great Oil Tank Adventure (for which read 'pain in the backside') dominated far more of the first part of this year than I could ever have imagined. Not so much the leak - which was pretty well contained by standing in the rain, in December, in the dark, pushing a series of buckets, bowls and bins under the offending part…but more the environmental clean-up - which was very necessary but also vast.
Mid February - water, water everywhere -
- and pots all over the place...
Add to that torrential rain, broken water pipes, and an overflowing septic tank as a result of both and I am sure you can imagine what merriment ensued over two months in spring when the actual work was being carried out - but also many weeks since when the garden has been slowly put back to order. Hundreds of pots and garden equipment had to be moved to allow the clean-up to take place - and hundreds of pots (and wrecked plants) have had to slowly be moved back again. It's taken a long, long time - but the flowers do finally come back - the sun shines once more and we are catapulted into spring and summertime.
Sunshine and snowdrops in February
The upheavals have also allowed me to make changes to the siting of the potting shed and other layouts in the garden; major weeding has been carried out by A - heroically dealing with the worst of ground elder infestations - so that we now feel we are now almost 'on top' of the maintenance, and as we approach autumn (very much too soon if you could see the miserable weather here today) are able to turn our minds to actually planning and enjoying planting and redesigning.
June - Roses in abundance (Paul's Himalayan Musk)
...and Paeonies
The old Victorian loo
I'll leave you with just a brief 'catch-up' in this post, of some of the vagaries of the spring but also some images of the garden in its much happier summer incarnation. A Blessed Lammas to you all - and I won't leave it so long until next time!
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