It's Now or Never

The last full day's work for gardener and me today before the Grand Opening next weekend.We

have one more evening to give the lawn the final cut, strim the edges and deadhead the roses.

If I know anything about myself on these occasions, I'll be going frantic every spare moment

next week, pruning here, staking there, tweaking this bit and tidying up here, there and everywhere.

Gardener has staked the delphiniums to within an inch of their lives.

I hope these beauties will be fully out by next Saturday. Unfortunately, they have the habit of keeling over the moment wind or rain catch them once the flower spikes are fully developed. They are just too heavy to hold their almost 2 ft heads up.

A bench to catch the evening sun.

This is where we sit before dinner, often with a glass of wine.

The pots of geraniums are awaiting a decision on their final resting place.

The rusty milk churn sitting in the hostas in the golden elder bed

is purely for decoration.

A shady spot for hot days.

Very suitable for tea in the afternoon.

The "hot" bed under the dining room window.

The plants here love hot and dry conditions. The bed is south-facing and gets any sun

there is in the English summer.

We have many roses in the garden, for which our climate

is totally suited. The air here is so pure and clean and unpolluted,

that the roses tend to suffer from blackspot.

Strange but true.

Clematis "Abundance" in an old plum tree on the lawn.

Abundance by name and abundant by nature.

At the end of the summer this plant almost smothers the tree.

Wish Me Luck

you can click on all photos.