Heatwave

The canicule (heatwave) came early this year. However by and large we and the garden have managed quite well, with the odd exception when the temperature was into the forties. Here are a few photos of the garden at the end of June.

Presumably the visiting deer were also very thirsty as one morning I got up to find that they had eaten everything juicy in the Christo bed, alstromerias, buds of anything, leaves of the young geraniums (pelargoniums) that I had grown from seed. Therefore we had to net the entire bed. The next night they ate the flowers of the impatiens in the alley and all the large begonias which were just about to flower. The joys of living in the country!

We also have to announce another joy of living in the country, the hatching of the kestrels. John has only seen two fledglings but he is delighted to witness their arrival as we were not sure that the pair would raise a brood.

You will recall that I told you in the Spring that we would all need faith that the plants in the sundial garden would grow. With the exception of a few gaps, which I had every intention of filling in but never got round to, they have flourished. The following photos were taken one early morning before the mist burned off.