Late this afternoon rain had brought abandonment to the first day of the fourth Ashes Test match, but here it was reasonably warm and sunny.
Jackie, hindered by Nugget, continued planting, while I wandered around the garden.
Clematis Marie Boisselot, in her third flush, has now toned down her blue rinse.
Other clematises, such as Polish Spirit,
and the tiny white campaniflora, have weathered the storm.
A Lidl pink one still climbs the arch spanning the Brick Path beyond the pelargoniums flanking the Nottingham Castle bench.
Here are some of those pelargoniums.
Begonias are in their prime.
Fuchsias, like these two chequerboards, continue to thrive.
Mama Mia, Absolutely Fabulous, Winchester Cathedral, Festive Jewel, Crown Princess Margatera, and Hot Chocolate are all examples of roses still holding up their heads.
Long shadows streak across the tiny lawn.
Honesty and Hollyhocks are displaying seed pods.
Earlier in the summer Aaron moved the miscanthus from the edge to the centre of the Palm Bed. It has survived.
Pelargoniums drape many of the hanging baskets.
Petunias and bidens are equally prolific.
The New Bed and Elizabeth’s Bed still offer much colour.
The first of this set of pictures show cosmos and echinacea alongside Elizabeth’s Bed, the second is of the Weeping Birch Bed, and the last two lead us towards the house.
Now, “Where’s Nugget?” (14)
Jackie can’t settle to drinks on the patio without taking a trowel to stir the pudding for her little friend.
This evening he looked askance at her first effort and
took up a stance on a stone above some slate chips as if, like a stroppy toddler, to say “I don’t like that dinner. Get me something else”. I can assure you that the Head Gardener had none of that nonsense from her own children.
I certainly didn’t turn up my nose at our delicious dinner of spicy pork paprika, mushroom rice, and runner beans, with which the Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Shiraz.