Summer in the garden

Its been very wet this summer, over here, in contrast to over there. A normal Cambridge summer features cracks in the ground and the grass fading; this summer all is a riot of green. I cut back the overenthusiastic hedge halfway down the lawn a week or two back, which has lead to the emergence of some kind of red berry plant looking luscious - better backlit, I think.

I also wanted to show you a gorgeous beech leaf but the delicate copper-red colour of the new leaf doesn't really come through in the image; nor can you see the slanting light.

The bees are living in a sea of tiny pink-purple flowers which is folksy. Indeed the whole bottom of the garden is turning into an interesting and possibly successful ecological experiment in disturbance. It was heavily shaded; I cut down the elder and bramble in order to get the bees some sunlight; this exposed some near-plantless ground. All I've done is pull up the nettles and thistles and see what else grows.

This makes it look a bit like a wasteland, and it is a bit. Peer closely and you can see the potatoes - ah yes, I admit, I also planted some potatoes. But the poppies came of themselves.

Last are the houseleeks, which are Sempervivum if you speak properly. They got even better later but the weather didn't. We first met them on the Tour du Mont Blanc, many years ago, and they were a complete surprise.

Oh yes, and we were visited by a little deer. Very cute, but it has been nibbling my broad beans.

Misc

* Watts stupidity is skewered by Tamino at 13.
* I went rowing - alas, not too successfully.