A turbulent day for Europe after the EU referendum and we are spending some quiet time in our garden to recharge with books, tea, biscuits and the cat keeping watch from the castle…

The pond has been planted up, at least in parts and looks better than ever, I have more plans for that and will write more on it later. The wildlife has really started to colonies it, which was the idea of course and it is such a peaceful place to sit next to and just watch to see what is there. Today I have been watching the beetles diving and the water snails busily munching algae on the undersides of the lily pads.
The peonies are almost completely done and the roses are taking over in the garden. These orange ones are a colour I would never have chosen but in the evening light they really shine out so beautifully. A good renovation prune by my husband has really got  them in to great shape this year, compared to last. It always feels very brutal at the time but it’s worth it. .

We don’t have so many roses in the garden, though I gather the ones we do have are a remnant of the tiem the garden was a rose garden, before the current hostas- azalaeas and rhododendrons were brought it. Anyway, this means thta June is really a bit of a lull in the flowering time and at mid-summer some of the beds are looking rather straggly and a bit neglected so some action will need to be taken this weekend there.
 However, our hostas are again looking fantastic, we’ve been mostly lucky so far, a dry spring kept the slugs at bay while they emerged from the ground, now though after a truly torrential downpour yesterday (and more forecast this weekend), they seem to be making up for lost time. I will post some pics tomorrow of these plants. I have even planted some new ones round the pond to bring it together with the rest of the garden.

I cut a few flowers this evening for the house, here is the ever reliable alchemilla mollis, ladies mantle, together with a few sweet peas, and a purple flowering plant. I’m actually not quite sure what it is. It grows like a weed especially in gravelly places but I like the feathery leaves and it is very hardy and reliable. It contrasts well with the yellow alchemilla and the vibrant sweet peas. I also added some pink persicaria flowers (these have been another revelation from this garden, it’s a superb plant and rightly has an RHS medal) and a pelargonium flower, again for the contrast with the yellow. We’ll see how long they last but for now it has a nice home made cottage garden feel .

I finished up this evening drinking Scotland’s finest and reading by candlelight after a spectacular sunset. It is a risk when you have a garden (and are interested in gardening), that you spend all your time working in it, not just being in it. Today I think we both really needed to just be, we are so lucky to have a garden and it is really a solace in difficult times, as Voltaire also recognized in Candide “il faut cultiver notre jardin”.

Red sky is usually supposed to be a sign of good weather but today it’s stormy sunset. Hopefully this is not an omen of stormy times ahead for Europe. As I write I can already hear distant thunder. May be a rough night for the garden is ahead.