Floribunda

wisteria maySo lovely to come back to abundant flowers all over the garden.

The white wisteria is still hanging on; and although most of the irises are over, my magenta gladiolus are up and making me smile.

These are a long way from the garden gladdies you might see waved by Dame Edna. They are delicate and light and quite small. courtyard gladdies

Well small in the planters in the courtyard; quite danty in fact.  The ones on the edge of the soft fruit orchard are a bit beefier.  And I must cut them for the flowers tomorrow.  They are going to get knocked by people walking along the potager path.

And the best news on the flower front was to find all the planters put back in the right place in the courtyard. Hurrah. I hate to think how much hard work that must have been for Etienne and Bebere.

roses back in placeBut they are in situ and I can now nurture them properly. And maybe coax some more roses into bloom.

I had enough for a large batch of strawberry and rose petal jam.  But I will need to wait a bit for more blooms.

I shouldn’t grumble; last year the roses didn’t flower until the first week of June. So I’m three weeks early.

Other flowers are the ones in the barn garden. Stunning display this year. I think it takes about four years for these small plants to really take on size and presence. barn garden path

The santolinas are huge.  And the nepeta (cat mint) are billowing all over the bed and spilling onto the path up to the potting shed.

The garish Barbara Cartland pink of the cistus is doing its thing. Goodness it’s pink.

flowering cistusBut luckily the rest of the barn garden is crowding it out and it doesn’t stick out like a mad pink tutu on a hippo.