Nipped out to take some photos and just wander around the garden which was full of delicious smells after the rain last night. I also emptied two buckets of rain water mostly on the shrubs under the spruce where it was completely dry. The Hydrangea Brussels Lace looks wonderful this year and is covered with bud clusters; so nice after it had no flowers last year probably because I cut it back. House garden even got rain right against the house wall last night. By then it was raining again and rained all the morning.

The afternoon had a couple of sunny breaks, lovely to soak up the sun and empty the rainwater buckets again. I also got rid of 3 sacks of leaves onto the compost heap. Clouds swirling around the sky and building up over the peaks but no thunder storms, thanks be. The garden is full of buds waiting to burst into flower, the roses in particular.

Photos: the Alpine Sea Holly must be one of the strangest and most spectacular plants in the garden. I always assume an ‘alpine’ is going to be low growing but this is at least a foot high; the Sea Holly with Salvia ‘May Nights’, Yarrow ‘Moonshine’ and Iris formerly ‘Best Bet’.
Cranesbill (why did I list all the other cranesbills as geraniums or rather why did I list this geranium as a cranesbill – or did the program change the name?)
Hartstongue fern;
Goat’s Beard grows wild around here, I love this airy flower which catches the light beautifully. There are great clumps of it in neighbouring gardens but, as with a number of flowering plants, I prefer them in a small clump like this which emphasizes the distinctive shape and texture of the flower heads. And talking about goat’s beards, I am off to see DD’s little flock of goats including Bella of which I am part-owner.