July, in between ninja showers…

it is muggy, sunny, and hot. Lots of my plants have some kind of rust or mould on them.. The meadow sweet, verbena bonariensis and a few others have powdery mildew. Some of the roses have rust and black-spot. Some huecheras have rust. I have sprayed the roses again, and have just given them their final feed so I hope they will pick up a bit. I have taken off most of the rusty leaves form plants, but the powdery mildew can be quite stubborn I am having the constant battle with the humongous slugs and have resorted to using some ‘Sluggo’ near my new delphiniums as I am sick of my new plants disappearing overnight.
Normally at this time of year I see loads of bees covering the purple lavender, veronica and agastache out in the front garden but this year there are only a few about. The agastache to the left of the mahonia is devoid of all leaves courtesy of slugs and snails, while the ones at the right side are fine. The purple loose-strife, persicaria, hedge woundwort, verbascums, geraniums, delphiniums, cat-mint and a foxgloves are still attracting bees and other pollinators.
I finally moved the old bird-bath plinth from the patio as it was falling apart and found it had been a good home for the green cellar slugs (which are good guys) so I let them find a new home behind the patio plant pots. I found a cricket on the garage wall (horrid photo taken with my phone) which was nice. We used to hear crickets when we first moved here, but haven’t seen or heard any for years now so maybe they have come back this year? All over the garden are lots of tree seeds: mainly sycamore keys and tiny silver birch seeds. They really make the place look untidy but I have finished dead-heading and weeding for today and I am off out to enjoy the sunshine before the next lot of torrential rain due tonight (along with thunder and hail so they say).