June | 2019 | Cardesque Garden

There is a bit of warm sunshine about with a few showers. The slabbing is now under way so I cannot get access to the garden for the time being. All very frustrating as I was ill last week and had neither the time nor the energy to get on top of the weeding and dead-heading before the landscapers started. I am itching to get back out there as some of the plants in need of a bit of TLC. I haven’t been able to do my slug patrols either, but, maybe all the upheaval has meant they are less active. I can but hope. I will have to just potter about on the patio for the time being, which means a lot of scraping between the slabs to get the weeds out, and scrubbing the wall near the bird feeder (mostly pigeon poo). There are plenty of butterflies about now and I did get a nice photo of a Red admiral but just missed my chance to get a snap of a Speckled wood. Too slow getting my camera out.

Vanessa atalanta (Red admiral)

in amongst the rain showers. The lawn is like a huge sponge, full of water, and every time my wheels go over it, it gets churned up so is like a quagmire now. The sooner I get more paving the better. When the sun does come out, it brings the bees out with it. They are everywhere. Here is a list of plants in flower now that they visit: deutzia, heuchera, syringia, foxgloves, aquilegia, centaura, rhododendron, geraniums, daisies, thyme, hebe, saxifrages, cirsium, erigeron, geum, clematis and philadelphus. The garden is literally humming with them. I have been playing with my macro lens again trying to learn how to use my mirrorless camera.