Summer colour

Hurrah, the water butts are full, the soil no longer resembles dust, June arrives at the weekend and the roses are starting to bloom. I took a few rose snippets when we left the gamekeeper's cottage and now, two and a half years later, those snippets are performing well. "Isaphan' from a neighbour's garden is forming a healthy bush.

'Constance Spry' and what I thought was a cutting from 'Charles de Mills' are now flowering in a very inhospitable strip of ground at the side of the drive.

The rain has caused all the growth to rampage and we've had to do a bit of cutting back to avoid getting a swat of wet leaves and branches whenever we walk outside. I like it but Himself gets a little grumpy about water going down the back of his neck or slapping against his legs.