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.