What a worry the last couple of months have been. And what a surprise. It had been a fairly wet winter and certainly there was rain until the end of June. So it was a shock to see how quickly plants started to suffer. It is a real pleasure therefore to see some recovery now there has been a little rain. The primroses are putting out lovely, new fresh green leaves, and, although they will need to be divided this Autumn, I don’t need to fret so much about them now.

The peonies were flowering very well until the later blooms, particularly the double flowers, got spoiled by rain. You see there is always either too much rain, or too little, or its at the wrong time! Yesterday I was measuring the pre-First World War herbaceous peony beds to work out which one could be most effectively enlarged to take more plants. I had a very good summer in terms of finding more varieties of herbaceous peonies bred by Kelways. Now I shall have a busy Autumn getting divisions and getting them planted – there is still space in the beds for the Kelways peonies (I am glad to say). I meet lovely people during my search for the old peonies: many very kind people who love their plants and want to ensure they have a future. And I have made many new friends during my quest. So the peonies bring me joy in many ways: beautiful flowers of course, and knowing that they will be conserved for the future, and the connections and memories they each have attached to them.

Although not entered by me, Paeonia ‘Gleam of Light’ won the judges’ choice in the Threatened Plant of the Year competition run by Plant Heritage at Hampton Court. It was my photo of my plant that had been entered so there was double pleasure. Pleasure for Ros who entered it, and pleasure for me to have been able to help her. My plant is a division that Ros gave me and since her plant wasn’t in flower early enough for her to meet the deadline for entries I was able to help her with a photograph.