Dont get blue: lilacs keep summer cheer

This week the garden is full of unusual lilac blooms. The stars of this week have been the lovely lilac poppies that have battled to survive the changing weather. It's been glorious sunshine one minute and torrential rain the next. Their delicate blooms are only lasting a day before being battered.

The veronica "fascination" is also living up to its name - forming some very fascinating and somewhat spooky shapes. Dont you think this one looks like a hand?

It's planted next to the lovely contrasting orange helenium or sneezeweed which is also battling bravely not to be trampled by the rain.

The lilac/purple theme is continued round the garden by the lavender, alliums, foxgloves, primula vialli, lupins, campanula, buddlejia and callicarpa and the new buds of the echinops, gladiolli and agapanthus that are yet to make a show.

In the veg patch things are progressing nicely. The peas and potatoes are cropping heavily and the beetroot and carrots are coming along well. I had to rehome dozens of chillies and peppers this week as all the seeds had grown into strapping young plants. The peppers are flowering but I'm battling the greenfly which arrived on 2 plants this weekend. It's such a pain but such are the trials.

If you turn your back ....

Turn your back on your garden for a month in June and it goes mad. I imagine its like having teenagers that are left at home while your away. Things start appearing everywhere, lying around where they're not meant to and generally letting their hair down and getting unruly. But then there are the surprises. The plants that blossom and sprout to greet you when you get back. It's like a new garden.

Talking of new gardens I've spent the last month in Australia trying to landscape a new garden. Now that's a different challenge. No soil just sand. And no I dont mean sandy soil like you get here, it's just like a visit to the beach! More on that in a later blog.

Since I've got back I've spent the last few evenings trying to pull out the worst of the weeds - some of which, like the giant lobelia - are taller than me! Speaking of giant plants - there's a fantastic 7ft tall purple foxglove by the shed. The drift of pink and white wild foxgloves on the bank looked great when I got back.

The purple lupins are in full bloom and still looking very striking in contrast to the gold and orange geums they're planted with.

I'm still trying to work out what I've missed. A few daylilys maybe, but the tall cardocrinium lillies are open now and sporting lovely white trumpets with yellow centres. The delicate lilac, purple and white bells of the campanula are all round the garden. While the profuse pink roses are fading now the delicate buds of the white and red roses are peeping out. The ligularia has thrown its tall yellow flowered spires and the two tone primula vialli spikes are standing tall.

The veg patch is looking fantastic. Luckily my dad did a fantastic job of keeping it (and the grass) under control while I was away (thanks dad!) so other than some shot salad leaves and radish everything else is progressing nicely. We've been savouring the first of the new pototoes, turnips and peas and the last of the strawberries this week. The tomatoes, beetroot, carrots and caulis are growing nicely and the chillies & peppers have formed this amazing dense wall of green!

Back to it... more weeds to pull.