Surprises in the Garden

A warm day up here brings out everything. I was drawn to the garden. The sun was so warm that my snuggled up in my lap cat sought the shelter of the bushes at the back of one of the unweeded flower beds in the walled garden. I suspect I'll be combing goosegrass seeds out of her fur this evening, but the warm earth and the cool leaves are worth it not doubt to her and certainly to me. I won;t even chide myself (much) for having an entire bed unweeded so that pesky goosegrass can have its way with her.

The long days make for rapid growth in this time of year, so my foxgloves have gone from a single tentative stem to several well developed flower heads.

I spotted this little guy in the flower bed on the other side of the walled garden. I don;t recall making her acquaintance. If anyone can give her a name, I'd be grateful.



This iris started blooming the other day--a nice surprise. I thought the iris were so close together an possibly overcome with iris borer or slugs that they could never bloom, but this is one of the loveliest iris I have ever seen. And, when I went to photograph it, I discover it has an incredibly wonderful fragrance as well. If anyone can give me a name for this, I would appreicate that very much, too.



As we prepare for the "flit", I am taking cuttings or thinning bulbs or genrally trying to tidy up the garden and prepare for re starting from scratch. It makes me sadder to leave the garden than to leave the house.