What a difference 2 weeks makes

I was longing to see the garden again as we returned from holiday a few days ago.  There were some lovely surprises, the sunflowers, dahlias, heleniums, anthemis, liatris were all flowering.  The helenium and dahlias were new plants this year so it was good to welcome them into the garden.

The pink border was looking pink and the yellow border was was looking yellow, so they were behaving themselves well and I could see gaps where more colour was needed. There are still more plants to flower, like the sedums and the rudbekia which will enhance the colour schemes.  I'm quite pleased that the colour effects I'm trying to achieve seem to be working. Maybe a trip to the garden centre is needed to fill in those gaps.  Some plants looked as if they had grown about 2 feet taller, like the marguerites and the phlox.

At first as I wandered around I thought there was loads of work to do,  2 weeks growth, made the garden a bit jungle like and overgrown.  But on closer inspection everything was doing well and all that is needed is some deadheading.

The only casualty seems to be my 'Margaret Merrill' rose whose leaves have  gone brown and another one 'English Miss' whose leaves are going a strange colour. Don't know what's going on there, but I've never been very good with roses.

The birds seemed to have deserted us.  Before we went away the garden was full of bird life--on the feeders and tables, in the hedge and trees and generally hopping about everywhere.  Obviously once they'd emptied the feeders, they went to find food elsewhere.  But in the last few days since we've returned there are birds gradually coming back.  I've seen blue tits, the robin, the sparrows, doves and the magpie.  And as I write this blog, I can see a lot of activity on the bird table and a female blackbird perched on the garden chair.

There seem to be a lot of butterflies about now, peacocks especially.  We have a buddleia bush which they love and there are other flowers soon to bloom which will attract more.

So generally, everything in the garden is looking good and we can do what one should do at this time of year--wait for the sunshine and sit back and enjoy!