end of May 2020

The relief about the rain was short-lived. Weeks of no rain and high temperatures. The only good thing about it, the slugs and snails seem to have been curtailed by this weather.

bee on a green alkanet

first lupin in bloom and some buds coming below

lupin buds

I got this yellow flag iris last year. It was a small plant and did not bloom last year but I guess it's gotten established in the small puddle that is my pond and is happy enough to produce flowers. I look forward to those buds opening. I see a bee on a green alkanet I didn't even realize was there when I took the photo nor when I processed it until just now.

iris foetidissima, it's nice to have a few stalworts in the garden that will flower with zero effort on my part and regardless of it raining or not and regardless of how much sun it gets, I even saw a bee on one in the front garden

the melancholy thistle has required constant slug survelliance, it's the one plant I keep on my patio table but it has some buds so maybe I'll actually get some flowers this year

the first bloom in that huge red poppy that self-seeded in that pot

the nepeta is blooming and it's tempted the bees away from the green alkanet, nice fat lupin buds to the left, foxglove just blooming, sea holly front right with flower stems, sadly one stem was destroyed by slugs, I was putting the pots on the table every night for a while but couldn't keep that up

I do find the seed sowing can get stressful but I feel I've turned the corner this year where things are a bit more manageable. The nepeta cataria (catnip) is potted up.

I have 5 seed trays left, easier to deal with than the 10 I had before. 

delphinium, centaurea dealbata and rudbeckia Green Wizard on the top shelf, hopefully to keep them away from slugs and snails, if the Green Wizard actually blooms it will be my first after years of trying from both seeds and purchased plants, each time the slugs have had them

the slugs and snails have also been savage with the melancholy thistle so I am keeping them on the table