Changing season

The purple clematis

The white clematis

The garden moves on. Now the clematis on the pergola is white rather than purple. The apple tree is full of blossom. The rhododendron is opening peachily. The azalea in the front garden is turning red.

 

The peach rhodedendron

 

The azalea in the front garden

It has to be admitted in the absence of our gardener, there is an increasing abundance of yellow dandelions & celandines around. Spanish bluebells are appearing everywhere. I’m trying my best to get rid of some of them. I don’t dislike them in their place. It’s just they are such bullies, they’ll take over the garden if I don’t look out.

The Solomon seal is now opening up. I’m already on the look-out for the greyish mauve sawfly caterpillars that devastate the leaves each year. I wish how knew a way of getting rid of this pest. The caterpillars appear in their hundreds & chew all the leaves, leaving bare stalks. They don’t seem interested in any other nearby plants, just the Solomon seal. The battle will soon recommence.

Yesterday was wonderfully mild. The wind had finally settled down. We felt warm enough to sit outside playing dominoes. We haven’t done that for a while – a real sign of summer on its way.