I suppose I keep saying this – possibly every year – but what a strange year for weather. After months of heat and bone dry weather the rain came in the nick of time. The hot weather brought the peonies on extremely early. My first started to flower on May 11th, that is two if not three weeks earlier than normal. The flowers on both the roses and peonies have been wonderful. The peonies stood up well and even the singles lasted very well. I had about a six week season for the peonies this year. The bees loved it. It was difficult to take a photograph of a peony without a bee in the picture. Different peonies caught my attention this year: ‘Germaine Bigot’ with huge flowers – I measured over six and a half inches one day and it got bigger over the next few days, ‘Mme Jules Dessert’ looking really lovely and ‘Mme de Galhau’ with a nice shaped flower that stood up well. It was a real relief when the rain came even though it came in torrents! The peonies newly planted last autumn were in real need of it, and the ground that had turned to concrete has softened up enough to let me get back to weeding!

We have had an amazing few months of weather: clear blue skies and sunshine. The swallows came back on Good Friday and around the same time I was seeing orange tip butterflies – truly a sign of Spring! The last of the double primroses finished off the season in style. Here ‘Sunshine Suzy’ living up to her name.The weather allowed a great deal of work to be done. After such an incredibly wet winter there has been a lot to do too. Edges to flower beds have just melted with the weight of the rain, and weeds had taken advantage. So while circumstances kept us all at home I have been able to catch up a lot on work. It has also been an opportunity to think about what works well in the garden and what I should just change. So easy to keep looking at something without really assessing it! One thing I have noticed this year is a gap in flowers in the garden once the daffodils and double primroses are over. In May the peonies and irises start, as do the roses. But there is an in-between period that I need to think about. I am being very tempted by some flowering trees and shrubs but I don’t think they will help with “the gap”! I have made a note for more tulips, more bulbs generally. Spring is such a wonderful time of year – you can’t have enough of it! Things like viburnum have such a lovely fresh look to go with the gloriously bright new growth of grass. The Horse Chestnut tree is buzzing with bees – all just wonderful!